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

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.

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