SNACK magazine: Issue 47 – February 2023

FREE LOVE

WENDY ERSKINE

LEILA ABOULELA

TEN SCOTTISH

BOOKS FOR 2023

CONTENTS

WHAT'S ON P8

A Mother’s Song – Granite Noir – Paisley Book Festival

Festival of Light: Spectra – Royal Scottish National Orchestra Spring Season

Glasgow Film Festival – Cabaret in the Dark – LGBTQ+ History Month

INTERVIEWS P 16

TAAHLIAH – Free Love – Wendy Erskine – Leila Aboulela

FOOD & DRINK P26

Recipe: Hearty Plov

LGBT+

The (Not) Gay Movie Club

P28

TEN BOOKS FOR 2023 P30

Kirsty Logan – Allyson Shaw – Catriona Child – Doug Johnstone

Rachelle Atalla – Alan Warner – Iona Lee – James Kelman

REVIEW P34

The Go! Team – Emma Grae – Craig Jonathan Reekie – Carsick Charlie

Núria Graham – Ross Little – Maja Lena – Little Simz – Juliette Lemoine

Big Thief – Salt – The Murder Capital – Alcarràs – Too Rough

WORDS P54

CREDITS

Editor: Kenny Lavelle

Sub Editor: Leona Skene

Editorial Assistant: Lara Delmage

Food and Drink Editors: Emma Mykytyn and Mark Murphy

LGBT+ Editor: Jonny Stone

What's On Editor: Natalie Jayne Clark

Film Editor: Martin Sandison

Design and Illustration: Joanna Hughes

Cover photo credit: Kyle Crooks

Spine quote credit: Jonny Stone

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SNACK is a supporter of the global Keychange movement.

Disclaimer: Snack Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reproduction of this magazine in part or in whole is forbidden without the explicit written consent of the publishers. Every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content of this magazine but we cannot guarantee it is complete and up to date. Snack Publishing Ltd. is not responsible for your use of the information contained herein.

Hello and welcome to SNACK issue 47,

Have you ever wished you could bypass January altogether and skip straight to February? Well, that’s exactly what we’ve done. January is always a quiet one for new releases and events so this time round we’ve taken the time to take a step back, reflect, and work on our plans for the new year. We’ve not just been hiding: it’s a cape, not a blanket, honest. So, here we are, kicking off the new year, late but rested, and, in theory at least, ready for the dance floor. As you’ll have seen: the mighty TAAHLIAH leads the way with our first front cover feature of the new year. She’s been blazing a trail since we last caught up in 2021, with an unforgettable Boiler Room just one highlight of her ’22. We’re delighted to be able to showcase one of Scotland’s rising talents – this is, after all, what the mag was built for. Personally, I’m delighted to have more techno/electronica in the mag, as was always meant to be (see elsewhere in this month’s issue for our interview with the ever cosmic Free Love). Anyways, I’ll stop rambling and let you get on with the rest of the mag – I’m sure you’ll find your way around. Enjoy your February. Remember: it’s a cape, not a blanket.

Kenny Lavelle Editor

A MOTHER’S SONG

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling 23rd till 26th February

You are in for a treat – the world premiere of folk musical A Mother’s Song. Brooklyn-based protagonist Sarah, who is not in contact with her family and has zero connection to her Celtic cultural history, becomes obsessed with two of her ancestors after sorting through a box left by her late aunt. Within this box is Aunt Betty’s assiduous research into their family’s balladsinging tradition, especially that surrounding Cait (whose story centres in Stirling in 1609) and Jean, a ‘fiery teenager’ who was part of the Scots Ulster community in the 1700s. Sarah’s fresh start with her girlfriend Alix in modern day New York is woven with these women’s stories of being on the cusp of womanhood, and fear, and risk, and music. The emotions of this show swing to and fro, like a baby being cradled, like the Celtic diaspora, like the fiddle bow.

macrobertartscentre.org

GRANITE NOIR

Various Locations, Aberdeen 23rd till 26th February

If you’ve been caught practising your Benoit Blanc accent lately, I do declare you should attend this festival concerned with all that is fascinatingly fatal and cunningly criminal. A whole host of writers and events to sink your daggers into. Dr Kathryn Harkup looks at ‘the reality behind the silly and not so silly ways to die in the world of everybody’s favourite spy, James Bond.’ Wendy Joseph KC, the third woman to ever hold a permanent position at the Old Bailey, delves into six extraordinary cases and what we can learn from them. Check out the panel with Kaite Welsh, Vaseem Khan, and Johana Gustawsson discussing how they write historical thrillers.

Writers of Colour Workshop

Don’t miss superband The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, composed of legends Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Stuart Neville, Doug Johnstone, Luca Veste and Chris Brookmyre, who do energetic covers with murderous themes. There are a range of workshops too: a virtual event from the Scottish BPOC Writers Network for Black writers and writers of colour based in Scotland, a Zine Noir crafternoon and a Poison Pen session with crime writer E. S. Thomson, who will drip doses of discourse regarding the ‘potential of poison’ as a murder weapon.

Ever Dundas is also hosting a workshop online to introduce you to the concept of ‘defamiliarisation’ — intriguing! A cornucopia of the events will be livestreamed as well — check their website for details.

aberdeenperformingarts.com/granite-noir

MOONSET

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 3rd till 11th February

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 16th till 18th February

This is the Citizens Theatre’s first production of 2023 and chronicles four teenagers – Roxy, Gina, Bushra, and Joanne – who start delving into witchcraft to make sense of their transitions from girls to women. With a backdrop of a housing estate on the outskirts of Paisley, this fierce show follows them on their journey to ‘search for the power they were promised’. Writer Maryam Hamidi said of her new writing that she is exploring ‘that bone-cracking transition… To capture the messiness, rage, hope and hunger we feel at that age as well as the ache we have as older women looking back.’

citz.co.uk/whatson/info/moonset

Ever Dundas

Photo credit: Cinnamon Curtis

PAISLEY BOOK FESTIVAL

Various Locations, Paisley

16th till 19th February

The fest kicks off with an incredible rabble of rebels — mystical life guides spoken word music duo 2 Stoned Birds, arresting and enrapturing Bibi June, and ebullient and down-to-earth Michael Mullen (aka the Adele of poetry). There’s The Anxiety Cabaret, a night of ‘anxious art’ spanning poetry, comedy, rap, and music, curated by dynamic and delightful Kevin P. Gilday and featuring Sean Wai Keung, Dr Katie Ailes, Elaine Malcolmson, MilesBetter and a flyin DJ set from Alan Bissett. Jackie Kay and Michael Pedersen team up to explore the magic of friendships; Alycia Pirmohamed, Mohamed Tonsy, and Jessica Widner discuss debuts; and Natasha Thembiso Ruwona, Maria Sledmere, Nisha Ramayya, and Lila Matsumoto perform their ‘work that incorporates the surreal, mysterious, and ephemeral characteristics of dreaming’. Can you tell I am a poetry groupie??

Families are catered for too, with events including children’s author David MacPhail. He not only reads from the latest in his Velda the Awesomest Viking book series, but will help you discover your own Viking name, draw a Viking longship, and have you snorting at his cheesy jokes.

There’s lots for opening doors for writers as well as audiences – check out their website to see all the events to do with getting published and marketing yourself. I’ve not even got space to cover their array of workshops. Check out their website, and remember – Paisley’s only a 20-minute train ride from Glasgow Central.

paisleybookfest.com

FESTIVAL OF LIGHT: SPECTRA

Various Locations, Aberdeen

9th till 12th February

The theme this year is ‘Home’ and and this year’s festival is one of the first major events to be held in the historic Union Terrace Gardens after its revamp, which keeps being referred to as ‘multimillion pound’ so one assumes a lot of money was spent on it – make your tax worthwhile and use the space! Spot the incandescent insects, fluorescent forestry, and well-lit wildlife of Nature Nocturnal from The Lantern Company. Sound Intervention continue the nature theme, with Luminosi Trees, six-metre tall jellyfish-like trees sitting in the smackdead centre with scintillating, sound-responsive LEDs.

Luminosi Trees by Dan Fox

There are many, many blends of the eye-wateringly vibrant scenes to immerse yourself in — probably the best way to see the usually grey grey grey Granite City.

spectrafestival.co.uk

IS WHAT WE HOLD IN OUR ALL THAT WE ARE

OUTSTRETCHED HANDS

CCA, Glasgow

10th February till 25th March

This exhibition centres on Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s 2019 film, The Specter of Ancestors Becoming Sit inside this installation and be enveloped into this world through ‘simultaneous yet different perspectives moving forward in time…fragments’ added to with archival and additional material. It delves into the stories of the descendants of the tirailleurs sénégalais, West African colonial soldiers who were part of the French forces sent to attempt to quell the Vietnamese liberation rebellions in the 1940s. Memories, hopes, fears, legacies, forced migration, displaced bodies.

cca-glasgow.com/programme/all-that-weare-is-what-we-hold-in-our-outstretchedhands

THINGS I HAVE LOVED BOOK LAUNCH PARTY

Typewronger Books, Edinburgh

15th February

Writer and visual artist Sophia Hembeck presents her second book of essays. She is the founder of Muse Letter Publishing, which has enjoyed the boost of two successful crowdfunders.

She’ll be in conversation with Dr Rebecca Macklin on issues of love, loss, longing, and self-worth. Come along to find out why her parents are absolutely forbidden from reading this book.

museletterpublishing.com

ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA SPRING SEASON

Various Locations, Glasgow and Online

January 7th till 10th June

The RSNO have several free to watch digital shows and behind-the-scenes videos. They also offer a tiered ticket system for other parts of their digital programme, such as Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, available online from now until the end of June. On Saturday 11th February you can see Scotland’s award-winning baroque ensemble, Dunedin Consort, who are joined by guest director Peter Whelan. The night of 22nd February sees conductor Junping Qian inject zest and pizzazz into recognisable Shakespeare-inspired and movie music. Conductor Gemma New leads Pictures At An Exhibition over a whole weekend of ‘witches, troubadours, luminous skulls and dancing chickens’ from the 3rd till the 5th March. And if you’re aged 26-35 you can attend all nine of their spring season concerts for just fiddy quid! See their website for more details.

rsno.org.uk/whats-on

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL

Various Locations, Glasgow

1st till 12th March

Hold tight onto your popcorn, Glasgow Film Festival is back with another belting line-up. Go see Skin Deep, where people are paired up and experience the world in each other’s bodies for two weeks; Stone Turtle, which follows off-grid islanders dealing with the arrival of Samad, who claims to be a researcher (sold as Groundhog Day meets The Wicker Man); and watch the ever brilliant Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King, which features Kelly MacDonald as the mental health carer of artist Audrey Amiss (played by Monica Dolan) who was only properly recognised after her death.

CABARET IN THE DARK

Duncan Place, Edinburgh

10th February

Come and hear this show! Not ‘see’, for it is all in the dark! Feel fellow audience members’ shoulders jiggle with laughter, take in music with no knowledge of what the musicians look like, and join in with activities without seeing a thing. Put on by Visually Impaired Creators Scotland, a group of artists who promote the creativity and work of visually impaired performers and hold workshops and monthly online meetings.

visuallyimpairedcreatorsscotland.co.uk

The latter film is illustrated with the artist’s artwork and underpinned by eighties anthems. FrightFest, the UK’s biggest and most iconic international horror film festival is on every day from the 9th till 11th, with screams screening from 11am till midnight at the Glasgow Film Theatre on the final day. Words like ‘bloody’, ‘brutal’, ‘breathtaking’ abound in their programme. A stand out is Smoking Causes Coughing, another quirky absurdist comedy sci-fi fantasy from director Quentin Dupieux, following a fivesome called The Tobacco force who use the toxicity of tobacco to vanquish villains.

glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival

Stone Turtle

Typist Artist Pirate King

LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH

CINE[STHESIA]

Kelvin Hall, Glasgow

8th February

The National Library of Scotland at Kelvin Hall have collaborated with Solar Bear to select films and speakers for an evening of free queer film. Two significant films have been dug from the archives, one from 1983 and another 1997. The former is an STV documentary called Coming Out, which showed Scotland’s attitude towards homosexuality during that period. The latter is a Channel 4 film, Highlanders Too, featuring gay men from the Scottish Highlands discussing their ‘experiences and double lives’. There are then two recent films, both produced by Solar Bear, that show modern Scottish queer experiences and which will be introduced by their directors.

bit.ly/CINE-STHESIA

QUEER EXHIBITION

Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh

26th January till 28th February

A space of stories and memories, of identity and community, of activism and society. The collection is of everything from daily life: clothes, photographs, letters, campaign materials and more.

Not only is there a physical space, but an accompanying podcast – Queer Edinburgh: The Tapes – and a new digitally accessible map and walking trail called ‘A Walk Around Queer Edinburgh’ to enhance your appreciation of this city and its rich queer history.

oceanterminal.com

QUEER AS PUNK

The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh

11th February

All queer, all punk! Goth GF, Fingering at the Disco, Dear Srrrz. Prepare your torn garments and screaming-singing voice and head down for a night of deep dirty bass and sick drums.

visitscotland.com/info/events/queer-aspunk-p2753091

QUEER THEORY: PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

Glasgow

14th February

Hosted by the glittering Tom Harlow, the evening is a sculpted sanctuary of seduction, sensuality, and sex, from a ‘wanton procession of artists and transgressives’. Burlesque, comedy, live music, spoken word, and the wonderfully ambiguous phrase ‘performance art’ is used in the marketing too, all rounded off by DJ sets till one in the morning!

instagram.com/queertheoryglasgow

FRI 24 MAR USHER HALL, EDINBURGH

SAT 25 MAR SEC ARMADILLO, GLASGOW

FEATURING MUSIC FROM STAR WARS • JURASSIC PARK • SUPERMAN E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL & MORE! rsno.org.uk

The RSNO is supported by the Scottish Government

TAAHLIAH

TAAHLIAH

TAAHLIAH is an artist who needs no introduction to many of our readers, but to present this interview without one would be a disservice to her sheer stardom. The Glasgow-based multidisciplinary artist (if you will) has gone from strength to strength since SNACK last sat down with her in 2021. Her list of accolades since then include a viral debut Boiler Room set that gave (and continues to give) people heart palpitations through screens all over the world, her magical debut EP Angelica winning Best Independent EP at the AIM Independent Music Awards, touring with LSDXOXO and UNIIQU3, and co-hosting the raucous yet wholesome podcast The Dolls Discuss with Lourdes.

Speaking ahead of her live performance The Ultimate Angels this month at SWG3, SNACK chats to TAAHLIAH about the death of originality and the pursuit of uniqueness, the politics of DJing, and reading pure garbage.

The Ultimate Angels has been in the works for a while, and now it’s finally happening! What can people expect from the live TAAHLIAH audio-visual experience?

I guess it’s an amalgamation of what I’ve been working on over the past few years. And through last year, and perhaps a year before, the focus was a lot more on my DJ sets and that readily available way of performing. I think with this show and the shows that will come after, there’s more of a focus on the performance and the artistry performance itself. Rather than playing music to make people have a good time, this is playing music for people to experience something different.

It was always gonna be the case that I wanted to establish myself as a DJ as well as an artist, because I came into being a music artist through DJing. And it was never really something that I wanted to negate or ignore, but DJ sets are really limiting in their capacity.

The way that you play and the experience of it is very different [to performing live] as well.

I’ve heard that you’re playing some new tracks in your set. Is there anything you can spill about them?

There’s nothing much to spill apart from they’re new and not many people have heard them! It will be nice to play them out in a sphere where people will want them even more, because I don’t think they’re gonna come out for a little while. So I think it’s nice for people to be able to experience the music before it’s readily available.

There’s a mixture of different sounds on the new tracks: there’s some slower stuff, faster stuff, some more trap-inspired music, and more ethereal stuff as well.

Music by Lara Delmage

Photo credit: Kyle Crooks

If people want to know more they’re going to have to get tickets! BABYNYMPH and Miss Cabbage will be supporting you: could you tell us a wee bit about them and their sound?

It’s so difficult to describe other people’s artistry! Miss Cabbage’s sets are always so fast and so ignited and intense, but in the best possible way. And watching her go from wanting to be a DJ to literally being a DJ has been such a nice artistic journey to observe. I’ve always been so supportive of her, and we’re such amazing friends outside of music. I knew that I wanted her to be there with me, and I was so happy that she’s able to do it.

I met BABYNYMPH when I was living in Berlin. I had no idea that she made music at that point and she probably had no idea that I did either. But then, through the internet and a mutual love of sugary poppy sounds, I discovered her music and she discovered mine. I’ve been a fan of her work since ‘clown shit’ so I’m very excited for her to be there with me.

On The Dolls Discuss you and Lourdes were talking about how people struggle to listen to full albums anymore, so coming to your set and experiencing your music in a visceral context is a much more immersive way of engaging with your artistry.

When Lou and I were discussing that, it was something that I’m very conscious of as an artist, because as much as I don’t want to subscribe to the 2020 elements of music marketing, advertising, or album campaigns, I do also need to make space and create a way for people to experience the music that is accepted in the 2020s. You know what I mean? Which is so different to how people were consuming music in the 2010s, the 90s and the 80s. So it’s hard trying to stay true to yourself artistically, but then also applying it to make sure that you’re not falling through the cracks.

You’ve been open about having emailed festivals suggesting ways that they can make their spaces safer. It’s clearly important to you that your gigs are a holistic experience.

It’s been difficult trying to navigate being an artist and playing shows at festivals and clubs whilst maintaining a very, very marginalised identity, because there are things that I take into consideration that other people in my position just would not, and that’s a very difficult thing. Why is it the people who are affected by the shit who have to speak out and start talking about things? And then, that labour is not even justified unless the person that they’re talking to is willing to listen, if they’re not willing, then you’re just shouting at a wall. That’s probably been one of the most frustrating things from last year.

I think it’s hard for institutions not to take it personally. I understand that in this day and age and in this industry mistakes will be made; it’s just about not making the same mistakes.

I wanted to ask you about producing because there are still so few female producers, let alone queer femme producers. What advice would you give to somebody wanting to learn but who’s daunted by the boy’s club-ness of it all?

I understand that it’s shifting, but not at a rate where we’re being made to feel comfortable or considered for our artistry. It’s difficult because what’s worked for me would be different from what works for someone else. But I think in terms of your practice, just practice! Don’t feel guilty for not making music, because I know I’m a victim of that. But just keep working, just keep making, and find something that is not necessarily original, but unique about yourself.

In 2023 originality is dead, it’s been dead for years, so don’t get overwhelmed by having to offer something ‘different’ or ‘avant-garde’, because we then become victims of picking ourselves and what we do apart which just becomes a whole mess. Don’t think of doing something ‘original’, just provide something that is unique. Ultimately, as an artist, you’re the only person who can make the work you’re making. In essence it is unique, so keep going.

We’re all just a mismatch of loads of different stuff, and I guess that’s exactly what DJing is too.

Exactly! DJing is the ultimate form of appropriation [laughs], which is so funny, because as a culture we are so against appropriation now, but DJing is very much it. Again, which is why I’m trying to move away from doing just strictly DJ sets, because whilst I do play my own music in my sets, I’m also aware that half of it is not my own music, so I don’t want people to become confused.

There’s so much that goes into the politics of DJing itself that I can talk for hours on. But it is true, it is the ultimate form of musical appropriation, and I think that people forget that.

I guess it depends what you do with it, too, because in a lot of your sets some tracks become totally unrecognisable and take on a new form.

Completely, which is nice. That’s obviously what DJing is also: taking something that may be old and turning it into something new. But I think over the past couple of months since the Boiler Room, I have been very conscious of the fact that obviously that clip of me was everywhere, but that’s not my song [Joyryde, ‘Damn (Don Dirty Remix)’]. People shouldn’t forget the artist who created that song, because if it wasn’t for them, that clip wouldn’t exist – because I would not be playing their music, you know?

What are you reading at the moment?

Oh my god, that is so embarrassing [laughs]. So yesterday I went to Waterstones and bought the Prince Harry book because I’m a nosey bitch. I’m not a royalist, I’m just a nosey bitch! I just finished Ghosts by Dolly Alderton which was really good. The one that I’m gonna read next is Susan Sontag. And then I’ll probably read some like actual garbage after that, because I always need to filter the really intellectual stuff with cheesy stuff.

I read Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason last month and it was so good. She won like a bunch of prizes for it and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction last year. It’s a really good book denoting the effects of mental health.

So what’s coming up for you in 2023 – a Nicki Minaj collab, perhaps?

Potentially, but I doubt she knows who I am so I don’t know how that would work [laughs]. But 2023 is … I’m just going to be writing lots of music. I don’t know whether I’m gonna be releasing a lot of music this year, because I want to focus on the album writing process. I really want to get into curation, and hopefully curate some really fun experiences for people.

I don’t want to just sit being a DJ or a music artist, I want to do multiple different things, a multidisciplinary artist, if you will. I also want to do a lot more visual stuff this year and to look at imagery and the use of imagery in my work and consider how I can adopt that and make it better.

Go see TAAHLIAH play live at The Ultimate Angels, 18th February, SWG3

Read the full interview online at snackmag.co.uk

Lewis and Suzi Cook have been expanding minds and filling dance floors with their psychedelic disco utopianism since 2014, firstly as Happy Meals, then changing to the name Free Love in 2018. As they prepare for the launch of their new album, Inside, and a Celtic Connections gig celebrating ten years of Lost Map records, they took some time to chat about music, magic, and the joy of connection.

Your music has always had that kind of spiritual, mystical side to it. I think that seems a lot more to the fore on Inside: there’s a real sense of searching.

Lewis: Definitely. There’s a lot of elements and themes of the records that are very much looking inwards; we wrote it during lockdown and when we were literally inside. But there’s definitely a tip of the cap to this idea and we’ve been talking about it a lot recently as well, about what we want to do as musicians: what we actually want to connect with?

Suzi: Why do we make music?

Lewis: Yeah. And I think that a lot of that is ineffable. Something that’s about the experience of music and art, and I think the only way to really talk about some of those things is through magic and things that we don’t talk about in our general dayto-day, because it’s outside of the cosmogony of our existence. But I feel myself when I make music, you get that opportunity to touch on that. I think that’s probably leaked over into the themes of the record, and the lyrics as well.

There’s a couple of lyrics that stood out to me: ‘in doing we become’ echoes over the end of the album. That’s a very Alan Watts-y kind of concept.

Suzi: That track [‘I Become’] in particular, it’s almost like a spiral because it spiralled back to the first music that we ever kind of made together. So it was that idea of ‘I become’ in the present tense, but you’re always becoming.

Lewis: The first lyrics in that song are the same as the first lyrics of our first ever piece of music we made together, which is also our first track on our first record, ‘Crystal Salutation’ when we were called Happy Meals.

Suzi: It was quite emotional, looking back as well as trying to look forward and at where you are right now.

Your last album was recorded on Eigg, with Johnny [Lynch, of Pictish Trail]?

Suzi: It was part of a series that Johnny ran with Lost Map called Visitations. It was a really beautiful experience. It’s that thing of no phone reception, no internet. You’re just kind of existing where you are. So we wrote a concept record about aliens because we were convinced that they were there, because it was so dark. It was like the blackest black you could see outside at night.

I think that experience has really made us realise that you need to get out of your space to find what it is that you need to find, to make music or to be creative. I think it’s a good thing to be able to coorie in and really go inwards and just be yourself, but a big part of the reason that we make music is to connect with people, whether that’s through live shows or collaboration.

A quick look over your discography and you see almost every name in Scottish music tucked away in there as a collaboration or in the studio to the name. Is that an important part of how you work?

Lewis: A lot of what we do is also based on those interactions. Again, coming back to the idea of something which is real; that sort of ineffable joy, that fucking immediacy that you just want to be inside. And I’m not just talking about our music.

I mean when you hear music you love and you just feel this otherness and there’s no real words; you just experience it or you don’t. And if you do, then you get to connect with that and that’s amazing. And then you get absolutely addicted to it and you want more and more and more. Whether that’s hearing other people’s music, seeing their artwork, hanging out with other people, all the things that you can do with other people. And when you get excited about what other people are doing, it’s like, maybe we could do something together.

Whenever we’ve played live in the past, we’ve always had energy vessels, people who join us on stage. That’s been such a cool thing to do, because you get people that you know but also people we’ve never met before. It’s really nice to have that conversation through music with somebody in that moment and really channel that energy through them. It comes back to that question of why are we making music? This is why.

Suzi: It’s that connection.

Lewis: Yeah, community is a funny word because it almost implies there’s a beginning and an end to it, like a closed group. And the way that I’m most excited about things are these opportunities to invite somebody in who’s never done anything like this before. And that to me is as important as playing shows. Because again, you’re having that special connection.

Suzi: Maybe the spark gets bigger.

Photo credit: Marilena Vlachopoulou

WENDY ERSKINE

Wendy Erskine has just released the paperback edition of her acclaimed short story collection, Dance Move, published by Picador. Based in Belfast, with a plethora of publications printing her stories, Wendy’s an intuitive short story writer whose first collection (Sweet Home) was shortlisted for several awards, including the 2019 Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award.

Dance Move is a strong collection of tales, filled with characters who are difficult to let go long after the book is finished. Whether it’s Roberta and Mr Dalzell in ‘Mathematics’, Marty and Rhonda in ‘Golem’, or the insecure Linda in ‘Secrets Bonita Beach Krystal Cancun’, this collection has a wealth of conceivable people whose lives you want to imagine continuing on beyond the depths of the pages.

Wendy spoke with SNACK about how she started out, her writing process, and what she’s currently working on.

This is your second collection of short stories, and your name has become renowned for the short story format. How did you start out in Northern Ireland?

I’ve read that there is a trend in Spanish slang, when talking about someone who has an overinflated idea of themselves, to say something like he’s the ‘yeti of the fridge freezer’ or the ‘colossus of the corner shop.’

Renowned writer of the short story is maybe something similar! But you know what, I am delighted you think that.

I started out writing short stories in 2015 when I did a six-month course with Stinging Fly, who publish a magazine in Dublin. I travelled down to Dublin every Monday on the train. I had a story published in May 2016 and then Declan Meade, who runs Stinging Fly, asked if I would be interested in putting a collection together. I knew that this was a brilliant chance so I worked pretty hard and wrote one story a month for a year or so. Initially, however, I wasn’t drawn to writing short stories. The way they are talked about can be so off-putting: the short story arcana. So technical and soulless –all this discourse of perfection and polish.

Your stories carry trauma, heartache, humour, and joy. Do you set out intentionally for there to be balance in your collections, and often within one story?

My stories always start out with the characters. I let them lead the way and I try never to force them into the role of vehicles for particular ideas, or ciphers for certain concepts. Of course characters could be described as constructs and not ‘real’ in any meaningful way, but for me they are the whole point of what I write. And if these characters are to some degree recognizable people, then for me they need to operate in a world like our own where, as you say, you can experience heartache and joy in the same half hour. I don’t set out to do this really intentionally. It’s not schematic. It’s just how things naturally roll with me. But of course there also needs to be a degree of artistry at some point. I don’t want things to be mawkish or sentimental, or for a tonal shift to be jarring. In the story ‘Secrets Bonita Beach Krystal Cancun’, for example, we move from cocktail sausages bobbing about the deep end of a swimming pool to child sexual exploitation. It’s a risk but it is one I am always prepared to take.

You also can create entire worlds within a few pages, immersing readers into each of your stories. Have you ever felt compelled to transform any into the novel format?

Well, I can let you into a secret. ‘Cell’, a story from Dance Move, was originally going to be in Sweet Home, but I asked if it could be left out so that I could potentially make it into a novel. I felt there were a lot of complexities that could be further developed and that, since it covered so many decades, there was room for more exploration. I also just liked the idea of staying in the world of Maoist cults for a little longer. But then, I reconsidered. I thought that the story worked well enough as it was.

Do you have plans to return to any of these characters again? I’d love to find out more about these fleshed-out beings.

Isn’t that lovely that you should feel that way? But no, I don’t have any plans to return. I kind of think that it’s just over to you now. You can imagine a life for these people, these fleshed-out beings as you say (and I love that description). You can imagine an existence and eventualities for them, beyond the confines of the 6000-word short story.

Clearly the Wendy in the collection is modelled after you, and I appreciate the brief cameo. What is your secret to achieving this level of characterisation?

My usual way of working is that I produce a very long first draft: sometimes up to 20,000 words. That means that characters, even quite peripheral ones, have had, to continue your metaphor, a more fleshed-out existence than the one that appears in the final draft. My hope is always that the complexity, shade, and nuance will still find its way into the final version. When it came to putting myself there, I made sure I was a bit of a dick. Imagine a writer inserting themselves into the story as something other than a dick! I wouldn’t want that.

What are you working on next?

I am writing something a lot longer but which, I hope, has the same sensibilities as my short stories. It’s sex and class, humanity and sleaziness, community and isolation. But mainly it’s just about people.

Dance Move is out in paperback 9th February, published by Picador

Photo credit: Khara Pringle

LEILA ABOULELA

Those the Sudanese called ‘Ingleez’ and thought of as English – including myself, who studied history at school – were in fact Scottish! I have a huge plan of writing several historical novels linking Scotland to Sudan. River Spirit is the first.

The original proposal for the novel was to be set in Sudan in the early 1900s. Why did you decide to move to the late 1800s?

The 1880s and 1890s were dramatic times in Sudan, with the Mahdist wars, the siege of Khartoum, and finally the brutal British conquest of 1898. At first I wanted to skip all that war action and start off at a time of peace and rebuilding. But it would have been too much of a backstory for the reader to ingest and so I gathered my courage and faced the action head on.

Originally from Sudan but living in Aberdeen now for many years, Leila Aboulela has brought both cultures together in her fiction before. But in her latest novel, River Spirit, she focuses on the history of her homeland – although still with links to Scotland –using individual stories of everyday yet extraordinary people to examine wider themes and concerns. SNACK spoke to Leila Aboulela to learn more about River Spirit.

Why did you want to tell the stories in River Spirit?

I moved from Sudan to Scotland in my midtwenties. This means that I have now lived almost equally in both countries and no longer see them as worlds apart. I want, through fiction, to bring them together and explore their shared history. A disproportionate number of Scots played a part in Britain’s colonial administration.

One of the most important characters, although in the background, is the Madhi, who some claim is ‘not the true Madhi’. For those of us unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about this figure in Islamic theology? He is depicted as having enough charisma for the reader to believe he could command such devotion.

In the late nineteenth century, Sudan was part of the Ottoman Empire and the Sudanese were subjected to heavy taxes and harsh punishments. This oppression led to severe resentment and the belief that only a ‘messiah’ could save the situation. When Muhammad Ahmad claimed he was the Mahdi, many believed him. The figure of the Mahdi is not mentioned in the Qur’an. He is, though, described in detail in many of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the Hadith.

He is described as the expected Redeemer, who would, close to the end of time, bring justice and prosperity after years of tyranny and oppression.

Although set against the background of war and occupation, the novel is defined by individuals and their relationships. How many of them were real characters, and how do you manage to balance fact and fiction?

The more I researched the more I realised how fascinating the history was. It was so wacky and thrilling that instead of taking liberties, I just wanted to share the reality with the reader and to present the history as accurately as possible. All the main characters are fictional except for Gordon.

The characters really stayed with me after finishing reading. When a novel is published, is it easy for you to move on, or are the people and events hard to let go?

It’s great to hear you say so! No, it isn’t easy to move on and I did feel a sense of grief when I finished with the writing.

The central character is Zamzam, who has to change, in some ways literally, to survive and move on. Can you talk a bit about her and how you created her?

I found her name on a bill of sale in the Sudan Archive at Durham University. I knew that slavery existed in nineteenth-century Sudan, but to hold in my hand a bill, with an actual monetary figure and the names of the people involved, was still shocking. I also found a petition detailing the case of an enslaved woman who had escaped with a stolen item of clothing from her mistress. She had gone back to her former master, and it was against him that the petition was raised. This told me something about the woman’s character and she began to seem real to me.

The best historic novels resonate in the present day, and River Spirit does so in a number of ways. One is with the destructive effects of a country being invaded by others; another is the examination of how women are treated and mistreated, and how they manage to fight back. Did you consider the contemporary while writing or researching River Spirit, or is that all in the reading?

One of the characters in the novel, Yaseen, studies jurisprudence and singles out justice as being more important than anything else. Even in his personal life, navigating relationships with two very different women, he strives to be fair. The destructive effects of greed and the extremes people adopt in their fight against injustice is what resonates to the present day. Invasions are always fuelled by greed and rebellion from injustice. Victims of injustice will always fight back in one way or the other. It is impossible to repress them.

There is a Scottish strand to the novel concerning the painter, Robert, which shows a more domestic and intimate version of the clash of cultures which are playing out in the politics, diplomacy, and battlefields in the background. Was this vital to the novel overall?

Robert was the first character I envisaged, inspired by the Scottish artist David Roberts, whose lithographs of Egypt were widely popular. As my writing progressed, the fictional Robert became more ruthlessly ambitious, enslaving Zamzam in order to paint her. Culture clash played out in the domestic sphere can have more impact than on the battlefield. River

WINTER WARMER WINTER WARMER

Plov. Even the word sounds hearty and indeed it is, as this dish – also known as pilau, pilaf or many other names beginning with P depending on what country you are in – won’t leave you hungry. Plov can be found throughout central Asia and Eastern Europe. This version we have made is similar to that of those found in Uzbekistan, where it is known as Plov, the national dish of the former Soviet country. It is basically rice, carrots, and onions cooked in a broth/stock with spices. Everything else is an addition of whatever was most available in each country, be it lamb, beef, mutton etc. For this recipe, we used tofu as the protein to keep it vegan, but you can add whatever you want. This could include chicken, halloumi, or tempeh in place of those listed above. For an extra filling, chickpeas could also be added.

Traditionally plov would have been cooked over an open fire in a big pot. Not having an open fire handy, we made this in a slow cooker. Plov can still be easily made on the hob, but slow cooking will provide better results and will allow you to use your time elsewhere. We have included instructions for both. Another tradition is that plov is made by the men of the family (oops, says Emma).

This recipe is intended to feed a family or a gathering of friends. If you have no plans to share, it will make enough so that you can box it up for freezing. To reheat, either pop it in the microwave or add it to a pan with a little water whilst warming through.

INGREDIENTS

500g rice long grain or basmati

200g firm tofu, sliced (or your chosen protein)

100ml vegetable oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 onions, sliced

4 carrots, cut into quarters

2 tablespoons cumin seeds, crushed

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed

½ teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon turmeric (for colour rather than flavour)

3 tablespoons raisins or sultanas

400ml stock made with 1 vegetable stock cube

METHOD

Add oil to a pan and fry the sliced tofu until golden. Put aside.

Add onions, garlic, and carrots to the pan. Cook until onions are translucent.

After this first step, follow either of these two methods:

Slow cooker

Add the sauteed onions, garlic, and carrots, together with the rice, to the slow cooker. Mix in the spices and raisins/sultanas. Add the stock and mix it together.

Place the tofu slices on top of the mixture.

Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.

Check that the rice and carrots are cooked to your liking. We prefer a bit of bite with carrots, but you may prefer to cook these a bit longer.

Hob Method

Add the sauteed onions, garlic, and carrots, together with the rice, to a large pot.

Mix in the spices and raisins/sultanas. Add the stock and mix it together.

Bring to a boil and let the mixture simmer until the rice has cooked.

Add the tofu to the mixture for the last ten minutes, to heat up the tofu.

For both methods, once cooked through, place into a large bowl and serve with a green salad.

BEST IN SHOW

I love dogs as much as the next person, perhaps more – I have a ‘Dog of the Day’ calendar on my office desk; there’s a beagle charm on my work lanyard; and I sob at any film in which a dog is remotely in peril. However, I draw the line at dog shows, which are (to me) a bizarre social activity. I can’t fathom dedicating the time, money, or emotional sacrifice required to participate in one. It is surprising, therefore, that one of my all-time favourite films is centred on that very premise – a high camp dog show in which a dozen... eccentrics duke it out and vie for glory.

Our cardinal rule in the (Not) Gay Movie Club is usually that our chosen film cannot specifically be LGBT+ in theme, or include a main character who identifies as queer, but this month we are making an exception, and for good reason. Best in Show may place the cut-throat dynamics of pedigree dog competitions at the forefront, but the film presents a surprisingly queer sensibility, one that holds up 23 years after its release.

Christopher Guest’s genius mockumentary focuses on the fervent owners of five show dogs as they prepare for the prestigious Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. A film crew follows each bizarre participant as they steel themselves for a high-stakes battle of the breeds. Uncommon for our carefully curated classics, Best in Show was a modest success at the box office, but it boasts critical acclaim and a joyous cult following. My research took me to Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies’ unnerving impersonation of the characters last Halloween, which I urge you all to view. Finish reading this first, please.

The film’s all-star cast includes Guest’s typical collaborators: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, and the queen herself, Jennifer Coolidge, all bring their A game in what I consider to be an outing superior to even This is Spinal Tap. Each couple delivers a unique brand of insanity: take Levy and O’Hara’s middleclass underdogs Gerry and Cookie, always down on their luck but blissfully smitten with their delightful terrier Winky.

While travelling to the show, Gerry must endure a plethora of Cookie’s former paramours who kiss her and try to seduce her, reminiscing about her once hedonistic love life: it is gloriously excruciating. Each couple possesses layer upon layer of back story and detail, creating a compelling cavalcade of kooks. By the end, we are rooting for even the most odious of oddballs.

However, Ms. Coolidge, the patron saint of homosexuality, threatens to steal the show throughout, playing Sherri Ann, the airhead trophy wife of what may be the oldest living man caught on film. We are, of course, in the middle of the Jenaissance, in which Jennifer Coolidge has reminded audiences just how irreverent, beautiful, and hilarious she is and snatched numerous awards doing so. Her chemistry with secret lover, Lynch’s Christy, is palpable (Christy resisting her makeover and ‘Sophia Loren Egyptian cat eye’ from Sherri Ann is a particular highlight), and the revelation of their relationship is a scandalous wonder. After all, the film is much gayer than one may remember.

Perhaps our initial attention lies not with the iconic lesbian power couple but in Scott and Stefan, the proud (in every sense) owners of the most glamorous Shih Tzu in the world, Miss Agnes. Yes, reader, Miss Agnes. They love dogs, old Hollywood glamour, and adhering to a strict skincare regime –when I tell you I feel seen… Best in Show succeeds in depicting a charming, eccentric, but ultimately loving gay couple, a feat not commonly seen at all in early 2000s cinema. Are these characters, played by straight actors, stereotypical of the gay tropes churned out of Hollywood for, well, the entire 20th century? Admittedly, yes, but Scott and Stefan arguably bring the ‘heart’ of the film, and as previously asserted, some of us worryingly relate to the stereotype more than we’d care to mention. But they are but a small part of what qualifies Best in Show for our own illustrious club.

The film is hilarious from the jump; and given the nature of Guest’s filmmaking style, it is almost entirely improvised by the actors, with over 60 hours of footage ultimately filmed. There are so many camp, camp moments: Cookie and Gerry singing ‘God Loves a Terrier’ while their suburban pals watch on, glossy eyed; Parker Posey maniacally screaming ‘You obviously don’t know my dog!’ to a sales clerk who can’t replicate her dog’s lost bee toy; Sherri Ann scrambling to find something she has in common with her husband (‘We both love soup’); the magazine she and Christy create at the end of the film, ‘American Bitch, a focus on the issues of the American lesbian purebred dog owner.’ Each line is wildly funny, which is so impressive knowing each actor walked in with no dialogue. But the devil is in the details – the female actors put such care into looking so monumentally stupid (Meg’s braces, Christy’s spiked hair, everything Sherri Ann wears and eats) that the film is a camp visual feast.

Best in Show is a celebration of loveable outsiders; people unflinchingly passionate about something objectively (please don’t come for me) stupid. What queer person can’t relate, having wasted so much oxygen convincing a colleague that Eurovision is more significant than the World Cup?

The sincerity of the characters and the stakes of their quest grip the audience completely – our hearts dance when the winner is crowned, and break upon the realisation Miss Agnes goes home empty… Pawed? Effortlessly camp and quietly genius, Best in Show invites the reader to indulge in the empathy and compassion we should probably practise on the daily – by the end, you’re desperate to be everyone’s best friend, and this humble dog show has united the most disparate group of people on the planet. If they can manage that, surely we have a shot ourselves.

2022 was another fine year for Scottish writing, with many of the best books reviewed and discussed in SNACK. But instead of looking back we are going to take a glance into the future to bring you ten titles which will be published in 2023, all of which promise great things for the year ahead, in SNACK’s words and the publishers’.

Kirsty Logan is one of Scotland’s most daring and imaginative storytellers, who, from the publication of her award-winning debut short story collection The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, has shown that few write about the uncanny, ethereal, and otherworldly in the engaging and thoughtprovoking manner she does. There will be a lot of ‘witch fiction’ published in 2023, but Now She is Witch is the novel I am most looking forward to in that genre.

Now She is Witch is out now, published on the Harvill Secker imprint of Penguin Books

From fiction written about witches to the facts, and the terrible stories of the women persecuted, tortured, and murdered as witches in 16th, 17th, and 18th-century Scotland. Allyson Shaw’s Ashes & Stones is part historical investigation, part travelogue, part memoir as she travels Scotland uncovering – sometimes literally – memorials, standing stones, and other landmarks which bear witness to a terrible and abhorrent period in Scottish history.

KIRSTY LOGAN – NOW SHE IS WITCH

ALLYSON SHAW – ASHES & STONES

Shaw also shares her own stories and life experiences, allowing voices from the present and past to be heard and to speak to each other.

Ashes & Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness is out now, published by

Sceptre

CATRIONA CHILD – FADE INTO YOU

As shocking as it may be for some of us, the 1990s are now part of history. Catriona Child’s Fade Into You embraces this and promises to evoke heady nostalgia in those who were there, and offer a step back in time for others. Taking its title from Mazzy Star’s beautiful song of the same name, and with an accompanying playlist promised, it looks like Child will infuse the novel with her love of music as she did so brilliantly with her previous novel, Trackman Fade Into You is published by Luath Press, 15th February

LEILA ABOULELA – RIVER SPIRIT

Leila Aboulela is one of Scotland’s finest writers, with an impeccable bibliography which begins with The Translator in 1999 through to 2019’s Birds Summons. Her latest novel, River Spirit, is set during the Mahdist War in 19th-century Sudan, and transports readers with sights, sounds, tastes, and smells to North Africa. That extraordinary sensuality extends to the characters themselves, who live and love against the backdrop of war and a fight for independence. Told through various points of view which change chapter to chapter, River Spirit is a historical novel which offers lessons for today.

River Spirit is published by Saqi Books, 7th March. You can read an interview with Leila Aboulela in this issue of SNACK

DAVID CAMERON – FEMKE

Poet and writer David Cameron’s previous novel Prendergast’s Fall was one of the most stylistically impressive of recent times: a book offering the reader a number of ways to engage with it, and one which rewards multiple readings. His next, Femke, is not as playful with form, but the writing is at least its equal. The central character, Femke, is an unforgettable creation, through which Cameron addresses the classical idea of the artist’s muse and examines the dark and often destructive aspects to such a relationship.

Femke is published by Taproot Press, 15th March

With his own scientific background – nuclear physics, since you ask – this promises to be another thrilling and inventive novel.

The Space Between Us is published by Orenda Books, 16th March

Over the past few years, Doug Johnstone has given us the excellent and exciting Skelfs series of crime thrillers, which are among the best in the genre of recent times. But long-term admirers know he is a versatile and skilful writer, comfortable in many genres, so it’s with genuine excitement I tell you about his science fiction thriller The Space Between Us, in which first contact with extraterrestrials happens in Edinburgh.

Rachelle Atalla’s novel The Pharmacist is one of the most notable debut novels of recent years, so to say the follow-up, Thirsty Animals, is eagerly awaited is an understatement writ large. Set in a world where water is running out, with Scottish cities particularly affected, individuals are faced with the decision as to whether to store or share what supplies they have. Thirsty Animals asks readers to consider both moral and practical questions which appear to be increasingly relevant as global events unfold.

Thirsty Animals is published by Hodder & Stoughton, 16th March

DOUG JOHNSTONE – THE SPACE BETWEEN US

RACHELLE ATALLA – THIRSTY ANIMALS

ALAN WARNER – NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR FROM HELL

Polygon Books’s ‘Darkland Tales’ series of novellas have been among Scottish literature’s most exciting books of recent times, including Denise Mina’s Rizzo and Jenni Fagan’s Hex. The latest is Alan Warner’s Nothing Left to Fear from Hell, which is very exciting news as Warner has been a mustread writer ever since his highly-acclaimed debut novel Morvern Callar. This foray into historical fiction, tackling perhaps Scotland’s most famous figure from the past in Bonnie Prince Charlie, is a mouth-watering proposition.

Nothing Left To Fear From Hell is published on the Polygon imprint of Birlinn Ltd, 6th April

If you are aware of Iona Lee’s work then this will be near the top of your ‘must read’ list for 2023. If you aren’t as yet, then The Past Is Just a Tale We Tell will introduce you to a unique, contemporary, and utterly compelling voice.

The Past is Just a Tale We Tell is published on the Polygon imprint of Birlinn, 6th July

JAMES KELMAN – KEEP MOVING AND NO QUESTIONS

Last year James Kelman published God’s Teeth and Other Phenomena, one of the best novels of 2022, but, at least in this country, few people seemed to take notice, with it receiving only a handful of reviews. For Kelman acolytes such as myself, we should thank publisher PM Press for giving the legendary writer a home. And they are really warming to the task, publishing not just his novel, but also essays, interviews, and, excitingly, Keep Moving and No Questions – a short story collection. Kelman is a master of the form, so this promises great things.

Keep Moving and No Questions is published by PM Press, 13th June

Artist and writer Iona Lee has long been considered among finest spoken word and live poetry performers around, so, although Lee has been published widely elsewhere (including a number of excellent pamphlets), news of her debut collection with Polygon is to be welcomed warmly.

IONA LEE – THE PAST IS JUST A TALE WE TELL

Get Up Sequences Part Two

by Track: The Go! Team

In 2021 Brighton’s greatest export, The Go! Team released Get Up Sequences Part One. In our review, we commented on the straight line that could be drawn from their first album to their sixth; but on reflection, that line would probably need to take a couple of detours and stopovers in order to travel through the four records in between.

Get Up Sequences Part Two represents the band’s seventh long play release and it carries with it the groove-heavy, soulful, singalong, skippingfriendly pallets of joy the general public have come to expect from Ian Parton and his ever-expanding roster of cohorts.

Somehow TG!T have managed to give their sound an even more global flavour, as exemplified in opener ‘Look Away, Look Away’ which features Star Feminine Band, an all-girl group from West Africa. Saturated drum sounds and scratchy wahwah guitars place the mix geographically in a spot somewhere between Detroit and Bollywood.

Lead Single ‘Divebomb’ could’ve been on the band’s debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, and features an exhilarating back and forth between a jaunty toy piano riff and wailing fuzzy guitar parts.

It’s a booming pro-choice call to arms. ‘Protest songs have always been a balancing act,’ says Parton. ‘If you’re too sledgehammer it’s cringey – like the Scorpions’ ‘Winds Of Change’ or something – but at the same time given the shit they are trying to pull with abortion rights it feels weird to ignore it.’

Following this, ‘Getting To Know (All the Ways We’re Wrong For Each Other)’ is an altogether more difficult beast to pigeonhole, but is probably the song that best encapsulates the album’s internationalist sentiment. It might be that it starts off with a Spector-style talk-over before letting loose its extremely catchy flute riff, while the somewhat melancholy lyrics, on first listen, articulate the realisation of a relationship reaching its futile endpoint. Except, it’s not about a person, it’s an ode to falling out of love with your country of residence.

Track

‘Stay and Ask Me in a Different Way’ exerts much more of a cigarette-toting Europeanness. There’s also a swirling noise either made from delayed feedback or an organ being looped which resembles an air raid siren at points. It all just adds to how enormous it sounds.

‘The Me Frequency’ includes TG!T stalwart Ninja, and a seemingly endless choir of steel drums, pinging percussion and enough busy zapping noises to fill an aircraft hangar.

‘Whammy-O’ sees Brooklyn rapper Nitty Scott deliver her trademark rapid flow, laden with the hardest of rhymes, over a downright fruity backing track. I’ve found it impossible to sit still for the duration of this track. It’s the very definition of an irresistible banger.

At the risk of going all Alan Partridge, ‘But We Keep On Trying’ seems to literally be about dusting yourself off and going again. The last 30 seconds or so feature a prominent vibraphone which is always a feature and never a bug.

‘Sock It To Me’ showcases former The Apples in Stereo singer/drummer Hilarie Bratset and is so well-constructed that it’s hard to tell where the chorus starts and stops. The bridge takes an unexpectedly orchestral turn which, when paired with the Wurlitzer-like keys, creates the soundscape of an abandoned, yet glamorous, ballroom.

‘Going Nowhere’ sounds in parts like a Spectrum ZX game with a synth teetering on the edge of going flat all the time, reminiscent of early Human League. Chisato Kokubo from J-pop indie band Lucie, Too performs vocals on the track and the combined result is something that might be the favourite song of a particularly perky robot.

Second single ‘Gemini’ has a snare sound that might well have been merged with a sample of a whip, such is its snappiness, while Ninja rhymes seemingly from an omnipresent, or at least celestial, point of view. I, for one, am perfectly ready to accept her as the source of all earthly and interstellar creation.

‘Train Song’ contains several noises which I’m fairly certain are not a steel pedal guitar but do an incredible job of sounding like a steel pedal guitar. The effect is less a song that’s been countrified, more a country-tinged track from a future that’ll probably never be realised.

Closing track ‘Baby’ features Bollywood playback singer Neha Hatwar but, with the exception of the outro, the Bollywood background mention there is slightly misleading as the track plays out as an expansive widescreen journey into the sunset.

Maturity in a recording career doesn’t impact or embellish all bands equally. Many a band has ‘matured’ in a manner that means abandoning what made them interesting in the first place. Many simply become duller versions of themselves, reploughing already worn-out furrows. The Go! Team have committed neither such transgression but have matured outwards towards the world, absorbing varying influences and acknowledging the passing of time without losing the exuberant joy of just sitting in bouncy rhythms and basking in the wonder of the groove.

Get Up Sequences Part Two is out 3rd February via Memphis Industries

Music by Stephen McColgan

EMMA GRAE

Book: The Tongue She Speaks

Emma Grae’s debut novel Be guid tae yer Mammy (winner of Scots Book of the Year at last year’s Scots Language Awards) introduced readers to a fresh and exciting new writer, one whose determination to write in her own voice, and that of those around her, is central to her life and work. Her latest, The Tongue She Speaks , builds on that debut, and is further proof that Emma Grae is a writer to take note of. Set in Glasgow in 2007, 15-year-old Cathy O’Kelly is finding that teenage life is not necessarily as depicted in songs or on film. Suffering bullying from a young age, causing her to change schools, and having to deal with the untimely death of a family member, she struggles to make friends and to make sense of her world. Emo music and culture provides succour, with those who share her passion offering support and camaraderie.

The references are pinpoint accurate for the time, place, and people. Visits to the Cathouse and Borders, hanging outside GoMA while listening to Fall Out Boy and Wheatus, all add great colour and texture. The depiction of the highs and lows of those school years will ring true to most. But the book is so much more than noughties nostalgia, teenage daydreams and disasters. As with her previous novel, Grae’s writing has a real edge, addressing not only bullying, grief, and growing pains, but also mental health, therapy, and belonging. The numerous attempts to suppress and censor Cathy’s use of her language, whether spoken or in her writing – the other great passion in her life – is a clear reflection of Grae herself and some reactions to her work.

The real achievement of The Tongue She Speaks is that it’s simply wonderfully written, and an effortless read. It’s not great because it’s written in Scots: it’s great AND it’s written in Scots. The language is there to enrich and shape the characters. It is integral to who they are. Emma Grae is at the forefront of celebrating and promoting Scots, which is admirable, but that shouldn’t obscure the fact that she is proving to be a great writer, telling stories about those who are still too often missing from the page.

The Tongue She Speaks is available now, published by Luath Press

Alistair Braidwood

CRAIG JONATHAN REEKIE

Content warnings: child sexual abuse, suicide

Book: Momenteering: The Misadventures of Living Other People’s Moments

A debut novel for this author and the first book published by new Scottish-based indie publisher Vegageist, Momenteering takes a dark concept to its logical conclusion: what if we could pay for someone else to live out the most boring or worst parts of our days for us?

That’s where the Momenteers come in. Some clients wish to skip sitting around in waiting rooms. Many have Momenteers carry out daily jobs that clients have sensory aversions to, like showering. Perhaps sex with the spouse has become a chore, or maybe the client wishes to commit suicide without experiencing the moment first-hand. That isn’t even the most distressing aspect of the novel, and it seems in this society more and more people are using this service to escape the mundanity of life – or life altogether.

The protagonist, a Momenteer called Komo, soon learns that a client has been sexually abusing their child but the company will not listen or act: ‘we operate, not above, but outside the law.’ He realises he is the only one who can save this boy. Komo goes forth despite the odds being stacked against him: he has little information to go on; his employer is a brutal leviathan of a corporation with harsh punishments for digressions from the rules; and Komo himself is highly socially anxious and an unlikely hero.

Some aspects of the novel work much better than others. Komo’s interactions and relationships can be jarring. However, overall the themes explored and key moments described will have a profound effect on the reader, as a shocking reminder that new technology can move us further away from becoming more civilised as a species.

There are elements of Bradbury (threats of an asylum for deviant behaviour), Brooker (a Black Mirror-esque mind tech concept), and an unsettling Poe-like use of direct address narration which incites very mixed feelings about the main character.

Momenteering is out now, published by Vegageist

Natalie Jayne Clark

LILY KING

Book: Five Tuesdays in Winter

Lily King’s collection of short stories gives a voice to a wide range of characters experiencing love, loss, pride, and oppression. Five Tuesdays in Winter is emotive and moving, entrenched in character and enriching connections; it’s inevitable that you’ll find a character who will pull at your heartstrings as you embrace the ten tales that King has conjured.

Five Tuesdays in Winter holds love on a pedestal as the tales explore a variety of loves and relationships as you tread through the pages. Whether it be the proud grandfather’s devotion to his granddaughter, sitting by her hospital bedside in ‘Waiting for Charlie’; the writer’s relationship with her alcoholic father in ‘The Man at the Door’; or even the teenage boy, contending with loss, who finds more than he expected from a couple of college kids in ‘When in the Dordogne’, there is a great deal explored across these ten stories.

Five Tuesdays is the first book of King’s I’ve read, and I suspect it won’t be my last, as I came away from it draped in emotion and heavy with heartache. However, I was not engrossed in every tale, as some just don’t have the same pull as others. It’s the story that shares the same name as the collection, following a reclusive bookseller and his employee, that seeps into thoughts after the book has been read from cover to cover. Even with all the cliches of a Notting Hill Hugh Grant sop fest, the collection is replete with a series of vivid, enlightening, and vastly immersive anecdotes.

Five Tuesdays in Winter is out now, published by Picador

Keira Brown

CARSICK CHARLIE

Single: Finn

Having just toured Europe with Florist, the writing of Emily Sprague would be an obvious touchpoint for Carsick Charlie, but to labour the comparison too much would be unfair. ‘Finn’ very much holds its own as a hushed yet directly resonant cycle of forlorn folk, free from obvious influences. We still know very little about the folk project of Joseph Innes, but the warming arpeggios of guitar and bowed strings that hang over this track like branches laden with winter snow are more than enough to suggest special things to come.

‘Finn’ is out now

Craig Howieson

DOPESICKFLY

Single: We Are One

A heartfelt message of positivity and inclusivity from the Glasgow funk/soul four-piece, inspired by singer Ant Thomaz’s daughter Gaia and the sense of community that flourishes in adversity. The single was launched at a concert with Musicians In Exile in December, and features a guest verse from comedian Karen Dunbar, plus an ecstatic multilingual earworm of a hook.

‘We Are One’ is out now

Queen

NÚRIA GRAHAM

Single: The Catalyst

Skipping, playful piano lines trip over the top of this charming single from the Irish Catalan singer songwriter. Lyrics that evoke loss and the cryptic imagery in her—as she calls it—‘stupid Catalan English’, evoke a guileless, openness, and vulnerability. With songwriting matching a pastoral folk ambience and the light touch of a confident musician, its breezy charisma masks a melancholic yearning.

‘The Catalyst’ is from the album Cyclamen, out now via Primavera Records

Chris Queen

CASUAL DRAG

Single: Something Good

On ‘Something Good’ Glasgow three-piece Casual Drag look past the populist posturing of the current post-punk trend to something altogether rawer. There is a rousing energy in the rudimental effortlessness of their no-frills DIY punk that lends it an almost nostalgic quality. The band have worked out that you can sometimes be too smart for your own good, and as ‘Something Good’ will attest, the simplest of formulas are the ones that capture hearts and minds.

‘Something Good’ is out now

Craig Howieson

Chris

Photo credit: Brian Sweeney

ROSS LITTLE

EP: Corrimony

Taking inspiration from the area around his childhood home in Glenurquhart, the six instrumental tracks on this debut EP take us on a wintry walk through the crunchy Ness-shire countryside. Sitting somewhere in between folk and jazz, albeit with a heavy lean to the former, there’s a vastness to this befitting the subject matter and big breathy open spaces that take their time to lilt and fill.

Opening track ‘Carnoch’ is named after an abandoned cottage and led by Little on the accordion with a strange nostalgia, a feel of halfremembered 80s fantasy films and the crumbling pull of the past. On ‘Old Corrimony’ the focus is on Black Isle fiddler Chris Rasdale, who plays a folky reel echoing the birdsong that trills over the tune. ‘Shallager’ is maybe the most jazz-inflected moment, with Little’s piano circling playfully around the bass like the loyal labrador that gave the song its name.

A wide open field full of flashes of delight.

‘Corrimony’ is out now

Chris Queen

MAJA LENA

Album: PLUTO

The second album from the Stroud-based singersongwriter takes her floaty English folk songs from the chalk hills of the Cotswolds on a cosmic journey, pairing her rooted natural cadences with the star-crossed synths of eighties anime. Created with long-time musical collaborator Rob Pemberton, the album blurs the lines of organic and electronic sound to create contradictory textures; drum sounds made from beating on a metal filing cabinet distorted to a glassy clang, moog synths trading bars with bass drums and djembes. There’s a Radiophonic Workshop’s worth of play, giving the experimentation an eerie familiarity, a feel of folk horror from the pre-VHS days.

Lena’s voice has a naivety about it, an uncertain falsetto reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan which lends her music a timelessness. While it isn’t ‘folk music’ in a strict sense, there’s a suggestion of those revivalists of the late sixties and early seventies, the cask ale and sandals of Steeleye Span or Pentangle.

The natural world heavily informs the songs, whether it’s the dawn-tinged bristle of ‘Daylight Comes Revealing’ or the snowy somnolence of ‘Silent Quilt’. There’s a feel here of music made outdoors, of long meditative walks on windy moors. There’s a very Anglican cosmicism to it, in the way of Alan Garner: modernism with a tinge of the Morris dance, space travel powered by standing stones.

It all feels like an accomplished execution of a particular inspiration. Lena’s conceptual thinking and visual influence make artists like Bat For Lashes, or Alison Goldfrapp at her more pastoral, feel like obvious touchstones, but some excellent musicianship, a spirit of experimentation and of play give this a distinct voice, a driven psychedelic whirl around the atmosphere to the fields of Avalon.

PLUTO is out now via Chiverin Records

Chris Queen

Pollokshields says

The New Scottish Music Review Podcast

Album: No Thank You

Despite recently scooping the Mercury Prize for fourth studio album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, rapper, singer, and actor Little Simz (Simbiatu Ajikawo) still positions herself very much as an outsider, a truth teller in a sea of glossy pop playlists. This seems fair, as she leans into her vulnerability like few others. Plus, rarely do her vocals get louder than conversational level, which lends real power to her worldly, wise, articulate flow.

This makes her latest album, which landed unexpectedly not long after winning the award, a real delight. It’s arguably her finest by far. The lead single, ‘Gorilla’, is something of a misnomer, with characteristic brass fanfare, playful bassline, and declamatory lines like ‘I got bangers out in the world soarin’ and I got bangers in the vault I been hoardin.’

Elsewhere, the album focuses on a more spiritual path. Eschewing pop elements for soul and gospel, the crisp, rich production by Sault’s Inflo contrasts soaring backing vocals with Simz’s gritty, no-nonsense lyrical delivery.

‘Silhouette’, a string-soaked meditation on authenticity, really sets the tone. There is a lot of space in the album for soul-baring lyricism, as Simz lets the music breathe and build to euphoric highs. Briefly, she sings softly on ‘Who Even Cares’, but lets the choral interludes and extended percussion sequences shine. In the main, it’s Sault’s singer Cleo Sol who takes the soulful vocal duties.

Addressing collective and individual trauma, and navigating her way through a tough contemporary Britain where we all face an uncertain, difficult future, Simz has created a masterpiece here. It’s audacious, raw, and beautiful, full of bruised defiance and tentative hope for a new year where old systems are dismantled, replaced by something more humane.

No Thank You is out now via Forever Living Originals

JULIETTE LEMOINE

Album: Soaring

Juliette Lemoine’s cello is first to stretch its wiry fingers out from the ambient hum that beckons in the first track of her debut album, Soaring It’s an opening that sets up Lemoine’s mission statement: to celebrate the cello ‘being played in a way that the fiddle normally would, leading the musical narrative’. Soaring is an album about freedom. And just as Lemoine celebrates her own sense of liberation as she graduated university and recovered from illness, so does she free her instrument from the constraints of genre conventions.

Lemoine is part of a growing scene of musicians fusing Scottish traditional music with jazz to create free-flowing, lyrical melodies embedded in the Scottish landscape. Her debut LP follows releases last year by pianist Fergus McCreadie and saxophonist Matt Carmichael, both of whom play on Lemoine’s album along with acclaimed fiddler Charlie Stewart.

Carmichael’s soft, playful sax is light and airy next to the cello’s raw, earthy tenor, while McCreadie’s piano glistens bright and pristine. On ‘Twilight in a City Park’ Lemoine’s cello brings a warmth you wouldn’t get from the lonely lament of a violin, while McCreadie brings out touches of light in the gloaming. On ‘Peak’, the piano is let loose, running away with itself as the strings chase each other in an ecstatic dance.

Stewart’s silken fiddle winds its way through the mix, draping a silvery trail over the track ‘Persian Omelette’. But it is the cello that makes up the fabric of the album itself, its fibrous threads weaving excitedly through the quartet’s rugged tapestry.

Soaring is out now

Zoë White

Photo credit: Camille Lemoine

DEATH VALLEY GIRLS

Album: Islands in the Sky

Endorsed by the one and only Iggy Pop, who starred in a previous video for their single ‘Disaster (Is What We’re After)’, Death Valley Girls’ trajectory of making brilliant music continues. This is their fifth studio album, the follow-up to Under The Spell of Joy. It makes sense that Iggy is a fan, as they’re absolutely badass.

More expansive than before but still as uncompromising as ever, the themes of space, magic, love, and heartbreak chime with their mystical aesthetic. ‘Journey to Dog Star’ and ‘What Are the Odds’ evoke the churning, dark side of sixties psychedelia, with the latter their unique existential spin on Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’. There are influences like the films of Kenneth Anger and Antonioni, The Shangri-Las, The Stooges (of course) and The Seeds’ musical palette, whereas towards the end, tracks ‘Watch the Sky’ and ‘It’s All Really Kind of Amazing ‘ are brighter, but no less trippy. ‘Magic Powers’ even resembles more recent bands like Ladytron, with its zesty synth sound.

Organ, saxophone, and blistering guitars weave around Bonnie Bloomgarden’s passionate vocals and chanted backing vocals, making the band seem like some kind of kooky, supernatural biker girl gang. But their retro stylings are only one half of where they sit, as they sound timeless. Indeed, they are more likely to pull out some impressive dance moves than a flick knife. They may look mean, but they mean well.

Islands in the Sky is out 25th February from Suicide Squeeze

Lorna Irvine

CATRIONA PRICE

Album: Hert

‘Wur hert is a ba.’ The debut album from composer Catriona Price opens with a collage of voices talking about the famous Ba’ game that takes over the streets of Kirkwall on New Year’s Day, setting up a piece exploring themes of home and the ties that bind us to it through a distinct Orcadian lens. Using lyrics from the poetry of a range of Orkney artists, including George Mackay Brown, Harry Josephine Giles, and Margaret Tait, Price weaves their words through flutes and strings, pulling folk and jazz influences into a yearning elegy to the archipelago.

The album gives us flashes of the character of island life, people and dogs mentioned in the broad knowing way of the small town; the eccentricities and personalities that make up the daily conversation of the community where a couple of words tell a long story. There’s a wry humour that’s in particular evidence on ‘No Such Thing as Belonging’, where an affectionate, weary mockery only available to those who love a place without condition zips over Grappelliesque violin with a knowing wink.

An impressive cast of musicians – Seonaid Aitken on violin and Tom Gibbs’ flicking piano quarter tones among them – bring a range and versatility to Price’s compositions.

While there is a pop sensibility to some of the album, it seems designed to be listened to as a whole that builds towards the emotional punch of the last quarter of the piece. ‘Storms’ raises a defiant fist to the world and demands to be challenged, with ‘Energy at the End of the World’ pulling a catastrophic float into the final track ‘If’; a distraught but peaceful conclusion that home and heart reside in people and memory as much as a physical place. Hert has that duality at its core: the push and pull of a relationship with the places and people who form us.

Hert is out now

Chris Queen

BIG THIEF

Album: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

I’ve been walking around this past fortnight feeling like I have a good friend in my pocket at all times, close to me, to get me through every wintry and hopeless feeling. I won’t lie – I have become a bit dependent on this album. It is my buddy on the bus in the dark mornings.

Songs like the opener ‘Change’ are slow and swaying and took me by the hand gently into the new year. This album is also my writing partner: the subsequent track, ‘Time Escaping’, is the antithesis of ‘Change’ in terms of energy. Imagine walking into a Saturday morning market and half the crowd have grabbed a nearby pot or trinket to shake and add a pep to your step. The silly lyrics and bouncy country sound of ‘Spud Infinity’ likewise remind me to write in whatever mad dynamic way I choose. This album is my cooking companion too — ‘Love Love Love’ is crashing and waving, ‘Blue Lightning’ is dirty and bold, ‘Simulation Swarm’ provokes nodding and tapping throughout. I read to this album, I stretch to this album, I sleep to this album: tracks like ‘Promise Is A Pendulum’, ‘The Only Place’ and the ‘Sparrow’ are beautiful and swooping and tender.

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is available on Spotify

Natalie Jayne Clark

Photo credit: Jannica Honey

VOLDO

Album: Melting Pot

Straight out of the magical kingdom of Ayrshire, the underground musical collective known as Voldo (one for the Soulcalibur fans) unleashed their new album, Melting Pot, in November of last year. It’s a fitting title for such a delightfully unusual record, and producer David ‘Nunny Boy’ Nunn rolls down a 90s beat-laden backdrop for the warbling dual vocals of Kyle Meldrum and Amanda Lorean. The group’s newest member, guitarist Jimmy Skiffle, is a welcome addition, bringing an extra dimension to Voldo with his infectious rock and roll noodling and riffing.

Whilst it’s tough to pinpoint Voldo’s sound exactly, Nunny Boy’s beats are often pure nostalgia, reminiscent of acts like The Avalanches, Moby, Fatboy Slim and Air. They’re brimming with samples, electronics, bass loops, break-beats and welcome flourishes of violin, piano, trumpet, harmonica, et al. The off-kilter vocals definitely aren’t for everyone but perhaps in spite of their weirdness, the melodies are surprisingly catchy, and the lyrics so engagingly odd (think Eels) that you’ll suddenly catch yourself singing them as you go about your day.

Simply put, Melting Pot is a joyful journey of musical discovery, full of those special moments that just bring a smile to your face. Whether it’s down to the quirky lyrics like ‘a mortal being trapped in a magical meat suit’ on ‘Propaganda Machine feat OrangeG’, those slick rock guitar licks like on ‘Butter Gravy’, the classic samples from the film Network (1976) and hip-hop legends The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy on ‘Television, The Drug of the Nation’ – or anything else from the countless list of examples … Melting Pot will keep you coming back for more.

Melting Pot is out now on number78 records

Chris Sneddon

SALT

Album: Fairytale on Fire

Fairytale on Fire is the third studio album from Edinburgh’s self-described ‘alternative postpunk pop’ quartet Salt, based in sunny Leith. Originally released only on vinyl by HX Records in the spring of 2022 (an approach also taken for their sophomore album, Cellophane), Fairytale on Fire finally arrived digitally at the end of last year, so now’s the perfect time to check out the band.

From the measured bounce of the opening track ‘Halo’ through to the inescapable groove of album closer ‘James Bond’, it’s abundantly clear that Salt have a knack for writing catchy rock songs. The combination of Simon Kettles’ bubbling bass lines, James King’s boppable drum beats, Robin Woods’ jiving riffs and Sharon Woods’ commanding vocal hooks results in a consistently strong collection of songs – no mean feat on an album that’s nearly an hour long.

Art credit: Jonny Cannon

At that length, there needs to be variety, and the album delivers on that front with a potent mixture of straight-up alt-rock bangers (‘Boxcar’, ‘I Hate You All’), dreamy, contemplative ballads (‘Fairytale on Fire’, ‘Broken Toys’) and intoxicating Americana (‘Cold White Hands’, ‘Dust’ – feat. harmonica from Sal Bernardi).

If you only listen to one song, make it ‘Tumbleweed’. It’s one of the album’s highlights, it sums up the band’s sound, and will get right under your skin if you let it. If you’re not on board by the time those grungy, fuzzed-up riffs hit, then perhaps this album isn’t for you. But for fans of no-nonsense alternative rock, Fairytale on Fire is well worth a listen (or several).

Fairytale on Fire is streaming now

Chris Sneddon

CLR THEORY

Album: WAVES

Their debut album as CLR theory isn’t the first project Gill Higgins and Hannah Jarrett-Scott have collaborated on, having worked to provide PPE to the NHS during the pandemic. Both key workers while the country was under lockdown, their experiences of this time are woven into WAVES , a record about healing, about finding strength in community: a record about surviving.

From the inviting warmth of a cappella opener ‘I’d love you for less’, to the hand-claps and birdsong that embellish lead single ‘I’m too tired’, the tracks are unmistakably homemade, built around the duo’s crisp vocal harmonies and the sounds of the everyday.

And yet there is a burning sense of hope and humanity in this housebound musical space, in the affectionate voice message playing under the moody sound collage of ‘Brain bath’, and in the warm rush of strings and brass that engulfs ‘Apologies’.

Freedom and restraint rub up against each other across the album. ‘Communication of love’s’ simple jazz-pop melody is regulated by a steady pulse of piano, while a fiddle soars above, weightless and unconfined. Where tracks like ‘Look alive’ wind pristine harmonies tightly round a pastoral folk melody, others are loose, impressionistic.

‘Breathe’ is both the darkest and the most beautiful cut on the record, harmonium softly droning in and out, mimicking a sleeping patient’s slow breathing. Before a pair of recorders lead the song out in bittersweet innocence, JarrettScott and Higgins deliver a simple message for facing death head-on: ‘you’ve far too much living to do’.

WAVES is out now

Zoë White

Photo credit: Graham Macindoe

LOW LIGHT LISTENING LISTENING LOUNGE

Album: Low Light Listening Lounge

A friendship forged from a childhood growing up in the same Highland town ultimately led the now Glasgow-based duo of Alasdair Mackenzie and Ewen White to their self-titled debut as Low Light Listening Lounge. Infused with a thoroughly Scottish lilt and a deeply held camaraderie, the connection between the pair radiates from the 10-track offering.

With their debut boasting a high production feel, Low Light Listening Lounge are far from diamonds in need of polishing. In fact, a little more time spent down the mines discovering where their more left-field excursions may take them will see the duo emerge ready to hit the festival stages their songs sound built for.

Low Light Listening Lounge is out now

Craig Howieson

THE MURDER CAPITAL

Album: Gigi’s Recovery

Given the significant wave of Irish guitar bands bundling onto the scene these days, it’s tempting to cast The Murder Capital as grizzled veterans of the genre. Gigi’s Recovery is only the band’s second album, albeit launched into a very different world than 2019’s When I Have Fears , and they boldly attempt to showcase their youth and inquisitive spirit alongside a growing maturity.

‘Crying’ roars into life after a tense and morose opener, but it’s not celebratory; it exists with reservations. This mood continues, creating an album made of and for these times.

The faux-soul openings of ‘Wilfully Blind’ and ‘Sweet Woman’ are something of a misnomer. Decent tracks in their own right, they do little to hint at the smattering of technicolour gems that make up the rest of the record. The band are at their best when they embrace their experimental side, indulging in the weird pockets of sounds that wrestle for space under Mackenzie’s smoothly produced vocal lines. ‘Catch You Dead’ and ‘Wake Up’ are perfect encapsulations of their indie-electro stylings, sitting somewhere between Bombay Bicycle Club and Broken Bells, while former single ‘honest g’ is near perfect.

The clinical intro of ‘The Stars Will Leave Their Stage’ is a highlight, but it’s an album packed with collective presence and a foreboding aura. A shuffling rhythm almost forces ‘A Thousand Lives’ into a run, but the message of being in this together against everyone else never drops. The album develops lighter moments, but cautiously so.

Gigi’s Recovery is out now on Human Season Records

Andrew Reilly

ENTER THE DRAGON

Film

I’m 11 years old. My grandfather sticks in a video tape and presses play. An image of a ripped man comes up on screen. He begins to fight guards in an underground prison. My eyes light up and widen in awe. The way he moves, with superhuman speed, skill, and technique is something I’ve never seen before. The man is Bruce Lee, the most famous martial arts actor who ever lived, and the film is arguably the most famous martial arts film ever made: Enter the Dragon. It lit a fire within me that burns to this day. Many of my peers had the same experience as the introduction to a world of magnificent physical theatre: martial arts cinema.

Fifty years ago Enter the Dragon was released. Despite the rich tradition and popularity of martial arts pictures in Asia at the time, it had yet to catch on in the West. That is exactly what Enter the Dragon achieved, with 100 minutes of 70s cool that depicted fight scenes as they had never been seen before. The kung fu boom was born, and people scrambled to learn the ways of Eastern combat. What is the film without its star, the beyond legendary Bruce Lee?

By all accounts, Lee had a charisma that was electric. Marry that with a preternatural gift for combat, and you have someone ready made for super stardom. Even to this day when I watch Enter the Dragon, Lee’s special energy radiates from the screen. You can’t take your eyes off him, whether he’s delivering dialogue in an ice cool manner, or doing what he does best: kicking ass in a way that arguably nobody has been able to emulate. His life was cut short at 32, weeks away from the international release of Enter the Dragon.

In the film Lee plays a Shaolin Monk who infiltrates the secret island of villain Han, a renegade monk turned criminal overlord. Under the guise of attending his martial arts tournament, Lee takes a dangerous path, as he has personal reasons to take Han down.

The film is a pure 70s thrill ride, and yes, it is dated. The approach to female characters, either as plot devices or sexual objects, is highly questionable. It’s a time capsule to a period in film-making when blockbusters could be art and everything in between. The repercussions of the phenomenon the movie created are still being felt. Michelle Yeoh recently won a Golden Globe, and may be the first Asian actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor, for Everything Everywhere All at Once. That film’s cherry on the cake is its hyper-stylised martial arts action. As his wife Linda Lee said at Bruce Lee’s funeral, ‘the spirit lives on’. I love to think that Lee’s spirit is looking down and smiling at the legacy his short life left. Watching Enter the Dragon, you can see that special spirit in action.

Enter the Dragon is available to watch on most streaming platforms

Martin Sandison

ALCARRÀS

Film

Based on her experience of losing her parents to AIDS and being raised by relatives in the countryside, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993 was a searingly personal debut. Its visceral depiction of childhood aligned Simón with Hirokazu Koreeda and Céline Sciamma, masters of bringing children’s interior worlds to life.

Simón’s second feature, Alcarràs , shares Summer 1993 ’s rural Catalan setting and documentary-like naturalism. Both smuggle political themes into their domestic dramas, be it the AIDS epidemic and stigma towards those afflicted, or threats to farmers’ livelihoods. But while Summer 1993 was laser-focused on its child protagonist, Alcarràs zooms out, allowing us to spend time with three generations of the Solé family.

Alcarràs begins with the Solé children leading us from the fields, which double as their playground, into the family home. The adults sit around the table searching for deeds because landowner Pinyol wants to replace their peach orchards with solar panels. He permits the Solés one last summer harvest and offers them solar jobs, an offer which becomes a source of tension.

Alcarràs’ magic lies in its family dynamics, remarkably performed by its non-professional cast, and its unhurried pace. Although their eviction looms, the Solés’ day-to-day activities are given room to unfurl. Matriarch Dolors gossips around father-in-law Rogelio and daughter Mariona as though they’re not there, speaking to how both the elderly and teenagers are infantilised. The adults won’t let forgetful Rogelio drive his car anymore and scold him for taking fruit to Pinyol; actor Josep Abad evokes

Rogelio’s dementia with a toothy grin and a faraway look in his eyes. Son Roger secretly grows cannabis and dances at a gabber rave after a day of backbreaking work. Roger and his father Quimet spend the majority of the film at odds, their relationship finally thawing when they attend a farmers’ protest against supermarket lowballing. Their eyes meet as they chant and throw fruit, a poignant moment of two warring relatives finding commonality in struggle.

By showing African men looking for cashin-hand work in the town centre, Alcarrás acknowledges the precarity of migrant labourers. When Quimet dismisses some of his African fruit-pickers their undocumented status leaves them powerless to complain.

Alcarràs is an impressive ensemble film with performances that feel lived-in and a compelling central conflict about the Solés’ competing loyalties, to the land and to each other.

Alcarràs streams on Mubi from 24th February

Sophie Kindreich

TOO ROUGH

Film

Content

Sean Lìonadh’s Too Rough balances cruelty with compassion, as a young man, Nick (Ruaridh Mollica), is unable to keep his dysfunctional family hidden from his boyfriend Charlie (Joshua Griffin) when he drunkenly lets him stay the night. This situation is one that many of us can relate to on varying levels, and the seed of this idea comes from Lìonadh’s own experience of sneaking a boy out of his family home, only to find his stepdad up a ladder at the front of the house. However, in this story, Lìonadh doesn’t focus on the escape but on a series of emotional overloads that showcase the strength of the couple’s love.

The story opens at a flat party populated by young people, hanging out and having fun, but one of them – Nick – stands out. He hovers by the door, anxious, and pours himself a drink, wishing the earth would swallow him whole. A head pops into frame and rests on Nick’s shoulder: it’s Charlie, Nick’s lover. He asks playfully: ‘Why are you always hiding from me?’ This is a loaded question that’s answered by the turbulent events that occur the following morning.

Nick wakes hungover, distraught to find Charlie lying next to him in his childhood bed. His abusive parents don’t know he’s gay and he fears their wrath. He pleads with Charlie to stay hidden in the bedroom as he desperately navigates his unpredictable family members.

The most dysfunctional of them is his alcoholic father, played by Kevin O’Loughlin, who bursts into the room, numb to any kind of emotional or physical boundary his child might need. Preceding this moment is one of the most well-choreographed and frankly hilarious parts of the film, in which milliseconds before the father’s entrance, Charlie rolls backwards off the bed and out of sight with ninja-like dexterity. It is moments like this that centre this film perfectly, as Lìonadh opens the viewer up to a world of cruelty and shame while acknowledging how moments of levity occur alongside extreme darkness.

Throughout Too Rough there is a constant air of crisis, fostered through the stellar performances and claustrophobic nature of the handheld cinematography, which opens up beautifully in the film’s last moments. We watch the two young men finally make it downstairs: they enter the living room and stare at Nick’s parents, collapsed in a drunken heap, surrounded by bottles and lit by a stream of fairy lights, no longer a threat to anyone. The camera then bounces back to the two boys; Nick sits on Charlie’s lap and they hold each other, bold in loving affection as they turn their gaze powerfully towards sleeping lions. Everything is calm – for now, and that is all that matters.

Too Rough was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s International Film Awards, and won Best British Short Film at the British Independent Film Awards 2022.

warnings: Homophobia, familial abuse

SNACK BITS

February. The shortest month of the year and the home of Valentine’s Day. We adore a cash-in opportunity, so this month is for lovers… Lovers of new Scottish music, am I right?

And we don’t need conventional love when we’re always giving our hearts away to new acts, with Eat The Friek grabbing our attention. ‘Drinks Cabinet’ came out at the end of January (as was the case for those who endured Dry January), and it meets our need for off-kilter guitar indie. Lovers of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and even the almighty Parquet Courts will find a lot to like here. The single came with ‘Arrow’, which is even more out there, and we’re here for that.

Another thing which lifted our spirits in a trying month was the Green Door EP by Saint Sappho, especially the guitar solo on the opener ‘All She Ever Says’. ‘Broken Again’ drags you along like a strong undercurrent, while the titular track is moody and captivating. We were going to mention a Glasgow gig lined up for February, but on checking before print, their name has dropped off the bill. If you like the sound of them, research their socials yourself to stay informed!

With the title ‘Rain From The East’, we know what Amy May Ellis feels about her single. Released on the Lost Map PostMap Club venture, it’s a world-weary yet achingly beautiful little number. If you’re feeling delicate, stick this on and know you’re not alone.

Gossiper were one of our favourite new acts in this mould in 2022, so it’s great news they’re back early in 2023 with another couple of blinding tracks. ‘Army Knife’ is as sharp as the name suggests, with a strutting backing underplaying plaintive vocals. ‘Maude’ follows on neatly and perhaps with even better melodies. This is a cracking act; if they maintain their form, we’ll never stop banging the drum for them.

Amy May Ellis

With the ‘Expectations’ single, Rosie H Sullivan has certainly lifted expectations for her February EP 123° East. If it follows on with more sweet melancholy, it’ll introduce the Isle of Lewis songwriter to a broader audience and will be well deserved.

Along similar lines is ‘Faking It’ by Bee Asha featuring Nathaniel Cartier. It’s a smooth track with a good flow, although spoken word sections are always a matter of personal opinion. On the whole, it glides by easily, and that sax solo jazzes things up nicely.

And you can take things even higher with Arkley, who once again brings the 90s dance floor to the streaming environment. We loved the Origins EP last year, and Channel A, released on 10th February, sounds like more of a good thing. Opening track ‘Pray For Rave’ sounds like a forgotten smash, but so does ‘So Good’. Look, whether you lived it or simply love uplifting dance music that wants to have a good time, you get everything you need and more here.

Glasgow band Lariats have teamed up with their songwriting pal Becca Jane, who some of you might recall from Glass Raspberry, to release ‘The Reason’ on 10th February. It’s slow and soulful, with a slight trip-hop feel and belting vocals, so there are a few reasons to check it out.

If you yearn for some techno, we also have you covered. We’re certainly not early to the party on Scottish DJ Esfi, with her uncompromising mix of techno, electro and breaks, but it’s better to be late than never. Her SoundCloud page lets you delve into her style, and a set at McChuills on 10th February seems the perfect setting to see what’s coming next.

And we’ll bow out this month with a nod to David Crosby. He could fight and moan, but boy, that cat could sing. Some of the finest songwriters of all time found their work elevated to a significantly higher level with David’s beautiful style. And he knew The Doors had no groove, so you can’t fault his reviewing skills – which you might not say for us, but we’ll see you in March!

123° East by Rosie H Sullivan

THE HARE AND THE MOON

There is a hare in the forest who knows the ways of the universe better than most. She knows that the full moon is for guts-spilling, that life moves on a fickle tide, that stars are for wishing on, that where trees shed their leaves they stretch their roots too, that rain does not clean flesh as well as humans would like it to, that The Cold gets into all bones eventually – but that chill need not mean death.

The hare is wild and wise enough, though, not to think about these things too often: she knows to handle them sparingly and let the moon’s blue pull do the rest. That way the moon, too, has her space: her horizons to to-and-fro against. See, interrupted, she’ll unspool her pride – thick and resolute, protective over her great revolution of twenty-eight – and bite. Only some have remembered how to use her tick-tick time as a device of their own: astrologers, pilgrims, menstruators...

In the undergrowth, the hare prepares for winter, searching out softnesses and supplies, mapping their locations for those quiet months when she’ll need them most – a feathered den where her belly can digest her kills, before slow sleep settles. And the Earth expects this ebb of her. When her front paws press hardest into the soil, cold weather is surely coming. Or else her heart is sore and she needs to nurse the ache. Either way, the tide will always turn again – never final, never still.

Aileen McKay