itm? is delighted to be able to bring you an exclusive – the video premiere of ‘Spectral Index’, the debut single from new Scottish/Cypriot outfit Jewel Scheme.
Whilst the name will be new to most, the band is the latest project involving Martin John Henry who took the time last week to introduce the band and the video to us.
“Jewel Scheme is a new band consisting of Chris Connick, Allan Carroll and me. I’m the ex-singer of the indie band De Rosa and the other two used to make sleazy electronic music as Knockout Ned.
“We all write and play a bit of everything but I do most of the singing. We met as school friends in Bellshill, Lanarkshire but now we have two members in Scotland and one in Cyprus.
“We recorded most of the album on a visit to Paphos, Cyprus last year, during which we visited many sites of the ancient world and I saw a centaur although that might just have been two goats mating.”
‘Spectral Index’ may be the debut single from a new band but the song itself originated well before the band as Martin recalls.
“‘Spectral Index’ came from a demo I made in the 2000s that was instrumental and never found a home until Jewel Scheme started.
“I had wanted to make a song that used minimal chord changes and let the voice and drones do the work. A bit like some of the Blue Nile stuff on ‘Hats’.
“The demo was pretty sparse with piano etc so the Jewel Scheme treatment has added layers of texture and electronics. There’s also a sample of the waves at the beach in Mandria near Paphos which makes me miss the pints of beer at the beach bar.”
For the video for the single, the band turned to someone that Martin has collaborated with before.
“Our new album cover uses imagery of shop mannequins and our friend Kris Boyle directed a video that took that theme and developed it into a collage of automatons and wondrous colour. I think he’s captured the song’s themes of layers and memory in his own unique way.”
The single is a taster for the release of the debut album in the autumn and Martin hinted at some of the band’s plans after the summer:
“We’re just starting a couple of months of promotion for the album ‘Jewel Scheme’, coming out on Gargleblast Records in September. So there will be another two singles and some video stuff too, hopefully including a live streamed performance nearer the release.
“Getting us together in the same country is tricky but we’ll definitely be playing live in September. We’ll be announcing news of that soon.”
There’s plenty to look forward to from Jewel Scheme but in the meantime here’s that promised first look at Kris Boyle’s video for ‘Spectral Index’: