Pedro Cameron (aka Man of the Minch) has been making music for a while (by himself and with others) but this newest work is a thing of great beauty, contrasts, collaboration and thrills.
Hailing from the Highlands and with a traditional music background, he is not afraid to mix this with electronics and other modern gadgetry. Identifying as a queer artist, these songs are layered with musical and lyrical subtexts which break some new ground, but most of all this is just great music.
Pedro’s voice resonates through the tracks, a crooning baritone at times, but emotionally wracked when required to be, and he has gathered some great collaborators around him for this record.
The slow-burning opener ‘Mountains’ turns into an electro stomper in the last few minutes while ‘Fallen Man’ channels some Celtic melodies through skittering synths and chiming guitar work, very impressive.
Further tracks (there are 13 in all in what is a lengthy work altogether) which catch the attention are the electro-tinged ‘Don’t Go’, a higher bpm number which could potentially fill dancefloors and sounds like Erasure strangling early Depeche Mode in a Stornoway garage (in a good way!), Gone (which features David McGregor aka Broken Chanter) another upbeat number which for some reason reminds BM of Aztec Camera, and ‘Gone’, which has some Edge-esque guitar licks…
There are many quieter and reflective moments as well, including the country-flavoured ‘The Wall’ (featuring guest vocals by Rachel Sermanni) and last track ‘Hello, Goodbye’.
In summary, this is a great album which will repay repeated listens and BM hopes to catch some MOTM live shows as we finally open up for live music once again…
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