It must have been blatantly obvious to even the most casual of observers that we were going to love this compilation album. Promising to bring together ‘twelve of Scotland’s best new artists’, it’s clear from the first glance that they’re not talking about Paulo Nutini or Amy Macdonald. Instead the line-up includes long-term ITM? favourites like Frightened Rabbit and De Rosa’s Martin John Henry, along with some lesser-known gems like Gig and Tall Ships. So do we love this album? Does the Pope shit in the woods…?
Afterchristmas’s ‘About Death’ is a revelation, a wildly manic pop-folk-rock jam that sounds like now-defunct whiskey-sodden indie favourites Grandaddy. None of us were expecting them to be resurrected on Scottish shores, but you certainly won’t hear anyone complaining here. Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Modern Leper’ also offers up some wild and fractious folk-tinged madness, while Martin John Henry is just as delicately poignant in his solo effort as he has been with De Rosa, albeit with a slightly softer edge.
For those of us who didn’t already know it, Off The Beaten Track offers us proof that Scottish music is undergoing something of a renaissance at present. With full-length albums due from several of the acts on show here, it also acts as a tantalising taster of what’s to come over the next twelve months or so. The future’s bright – the future’s tartan.