The Skinny September 2021

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September 2021 Issue 188

STUDENT GUIDE · HAMISH HAWK CHIKAKO YAMASHIRO · ROB AUTON STINA MARIE CLAIRE · BEMZ · BELIT SAĞ ROSE PLAYS JULIE · EVE LIVINGSTON

January 2020

Books

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Art January 2020

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The Skinny's songs that soundtracked our student years The Avalanches — Since I Left You Sufjan Stevens — Chicago Taylor Swift — 22 A$AP Rocky — Fuckin' Problems Carly Rae Jepsen — Call Me Maybe Daft Punk — One More Time Flo Rida — Low (feat. T-Pain) Toploader — Dancing In the Moonlight Britney Spears — Oops!... I Did It Again The Strokes — Last Nite Daft Punk — Get Lucky Dexys Midnight Runners — Come On Eileen SBTRKT — Wildfire (feat. Little Dragon) We Are Scientists — Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Atari Teenage Tiot — Too Dead For Me Låpsley, DJ Koze — Operator (DJ Koze's Disco Edit) 3Oh!3 — STARSTRUKK (feat. Katy Perry) Nicki Minaj — Starships Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for 'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 188, September 2021 © Radge Media Ltd.

September 2021

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printed on 100% recycled paper

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Championing creativity in Scotland

Meet the team We asked – What is your message for the freshers of 2021?

Editorial

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "When you can travel, go."

Peter Simpson Digital Editor, Food & Drink Editor "I used to be 'with it', but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it', and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me.

It'll happen to you, too."

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor "The government IS out to get you! You WILL get over that person you’re crying about in the club bathroom!"

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist "Don't listen to advice from old codgers like me. Also: drink more water, your body will thank you in a decade or two."

Tallah Brash Music Editor "Quitting uni was probably the best decision I ever made.

If it doesn't feel right, know there are other options waiting for you."

Nadia Younes Clubs Editor "Sleep when you're dead.

And stay safe."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Please be nice. I am an adult and I am tired."

Katie Goh Intersections Editor "No matter how shitfaced you are, wash your face before bed."

Eliza Gearty Theatre Editor "No need to vomit as much as everyone else."

Heather McDaid Books Editor "I hope you like it more than I did!"

Sales & Business

Production

Rachael Hood Art Director, Production Manager "Hope you have a good day my love, you can do it, you're a superstar."

Adam Benmakhlouf Art Editor "Be single, socialise widely. Both are very good for you."

Phoebe Willison Designer "Live, laugh, love."

Sandy Park Commercial Director "Take advantage of those £1 drinks while you can!"

Tom McCarthy Creative Projects Manager "Drop out."

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist "Enough sleep, good grades, and a healthy social life. Pick two. Or one. Or none!"

Laurie Presswood General Manager "Turn the bass down."

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Editorial Words: Rosamund West

W

e’ve got a bit of a student focus this September, bringing back our annual student guide after last year’s necessary hiatus. Our way of saying welcome to the city, fellow young people [cough]. The articles are all relevant regardless of your phase of life, though. We look at routes into getting involved in community engagement and activism, talk to author and journalist Rachel Thompson about ways of addressing sexual violence within society and share some hard-won tips on financial planning. We meet an Open University professor, Sophie Grace Chappell, to hear about taking the longer road to major life decisions, and salute the return of the club. The 16-page supplement will also be available as a standalone in all good student-y places.

We often work on projects helping to develop new writing talent, and this month we are able to share the results of two of them. An in-depth interview with Turkish artist and video activist belit sağ is the first instalment of a series developed through a writing programme in collaboration with Alchemy Film & Arts and LUX Scotland. We’ve also collaborated with EIFF to showcase nine sharp young critics who’ve reviewed films that spoke to them from the festival programme, from animation to documentaries.

Music meets a clutch of Scottish artists with new releases to share. Hamish Hawk discusses his new boundary-pushing album, Heavy Elevator, We Were Promised Jetpacks offer a track by track rundown of their latest, Enjoy the View, while Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale introduces her new moniker,

Stina Marie Claire. We also take a moment to reflect on the horrifying news that Screamadelica is turning 30, with a look back at what makes it influential today.

As Take One Action film festival returns to inspire another generation of activists, we talk to Emily Munro about Living Proof – A Climate Story, which uses archive footage to explore Scotland’s complex relationship with the climate crisis. We also meet Irish filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor to talk about their new thriller Rose Plays Julie.

In Art, we meet Japanese artist Chikako Yamashiro whose work exploring the contested politics of her native Okinawa arrives in DCA this month. Comedy talks to Rob Auton about returning to live performance, ideas and art. Books discusses the change-driving possibilities of unions in the 21st century as Eve Livingston releases her manifesto on the subject, Make Bosses Pay. Our Local Heroes design column takes a trip to London Design Festival with a cohort of Scottish designers who’ve taken the opportunity of the last year to push their practice and explore what home means. And, now that clubs are actually, really back (!!!) we talk to Glasgow-based DJ, artist and photographer Junglehussi about his forthcoming set at Riverside Festival.

We close the magazine with our traditional Q&A, The Skinny On… Bemz, the Ayrshire rapper whose dream dinner party guests would be Drake, Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou and our very own Music editor Tallah Brash. Sounds weird.

Cover Artist

September 2021 — Chat

AJ Higgins is an illustrator based in Cornwall. Her use of characters comes from being a constant doodler and avid daydreamer.

Watching cartoons and reading comics such as The Beano have influenced her abilities to be a visual storyteller. ajhiggins.co.uk I: @a.j_higgins

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Love Bites

Love Bites: Bleeding Out in RPGs This month’s columnist explores the phenomenon of ‘bleeding out’ in RPGs Words: Rachel Chung

S

September 2021 — Chat

ometimes the boundary between real and make-believe in a roleplaying game (RPG) goes a bit fuzzy. Players use the term ‘bleed’ to describe this phenomenon. ‘Bleed-in’ means that circumstances from your real life begin to affect your in-game character. ‘Bleed-out’ means the opposite: that events from a game begin to influence your real life. Bleed isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can cause elements of your game – or your life – to go slightly awry.

RPGs (and Live Action RPGs in particular) have been a safe space for me to reconnect with my sense of play. Beyond that, they often give me the tools to tap into the emotional impulses I have learned to mask in my day-to-day life. In most RPGs, you control your character’s decisions. As a result, the consequences of your character’s actions can feel pretty personal.

Every now and then, something in a game strikes a chord with my real life. For me, the most common emotions associated with bleed-out are grief and attraction. Grief may stay with me because of how taxing it is to experience, even in make-believe. But attraction – I hesitate to call it ‘love’ – capitalises on an unfulfillable desire to fall in love with a real version of a fantasy. Bleed-out lets us believe, however briefly, that that fictional heartthrob we’ve been playing with was actually inside a real person all along.

At its worst, bleed-out tricks us into looking for something that isn’t there, and it can be painful and embarrassing. But, more often, bleed-out reminds us how capable we are of feeling deeply. The friendships we make in RPGs are strengthened by the exposed nerves we show each other. Sometimes games leave me emotionally exhausted, but it’s those flashes of vulnerability that keep me coming back.

Crossword Solutions Across 6. LEGALLY BLONDE 10. FRESH MEAT 11. PIVOT 12. RESULT 13. BUMP INTO 14. GOOD WILL HUNTING 18. BAUMBACH 20. ANORAK 24. CLEAN 25. UNHEALTHY 26. STARTER FOR TEN Down 1. RECESS 2. CASH FLOW 3. SLEEP 4. A BIT MUCH 5. VOX POP 7. DA VINCI 8. AFAR 9. STRONG 14. GO BACK 15. OPULENT 16. LECTURER 17. NON-DAIRY 19. BINARY 21. RATHER 22. KEYS 23. SHIFT

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Heads Up

The last few dreamy weeks of summer see mellow gigs, provocative exhibitions, and the gorgeous return of live theatre.

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz Image: courtesy of HippFest

Take One Action Film Festival

Radical filmmaking abounds at Take One Action, Scotland’s film festival dedicated to cinema calling for social change. This year’s programme takes place both in cinemas in Edinburgh and Glasgow and online, and includes the Scottish premiere of Writing with Fire, the Sundance hit about India’s only news agency run by Dalit women, and Living Proof: A Climate Story, a documentary exploring Scotland’s relationship to the climate crisis.

HippFest: Taste of Silents The Hippodrome, Bo'ness, 11 Sep-31 Oct

Image: courtesy of Black Ticket Films

Heads Up

Various venues + online, Glasgow + Edinburgh, 22-26 Sep

HippFest, Easy Street

Photo: Jan Philipzen

There might be six months to go until the return of their festival but silent film champions HippFest are whetting appetites with this short programme Taste of Silents, with six carefully curated films presented at the magnificent Hippodrome and accompanied by live music – just like the good old days.

All-time Charlie Chaplin favourite Easy Street is unmissable, as is the extraordinary mountaineering journey The Epic of Everest.

Take One Action, Writing With Fire

Wings Around Dundee

Flyte

Dundee Rep, Dundee, 7-25 Sep

Stereo, Glasgow, 19 Sep, 7pm

After 18 months, Dundee Rep are reopening their doors with the premiere of the suitably named Wings Around Dundee, a wickedly funny new play by two-time Fringe First Award-winner John McCann and staged by Dundee Rep Ensemble that takes an imaginative, politically astute look at an uncanny Dundee frozen in time.

Haven’t you heard? Gigs – big and small – are back! Having supported the likes of The Lemon Twigs, Bombay Bicycle Club and Lord Huron, Flyte are putting on their own intimate show at Glasgow’s Stereo. Playing from their most recent album – released April of this year – irresistible upbeat indie beats sit alongside sometimes ironic, deftly imagistic lyrics.

Flyte

Seeing out the last few days of summer in style, Hidden Door is back with five days of music, art, theatre, dance and poetry in the shadow of the iconic Granton Gasholder. Highlights from the programme include shows by 2020 SAY Awardnominees Cloth and local punk outfit Bikini Body, and an experimental blend of film and puppetry in acclaimed theatre piece FERAL.

Wigtown Book Festival Various venues, Wigtown, 22 Sep-4 Oct

Wings Around Dundee

Wigtown Book Festival, Katie Goh Photo: Erin Mackenzie Cloth

Various venues, Aberdeen, 2326 Sep

Dundee Design Festival Various venues, Dundee, 23 Sep-3 Oct Photo: Kathryn Rattray

Image: courtesy of artist and festival

True North Festival

Riverside Festival, Plantainchipps

Glasgow Science Festival

Glasgow Science Festival Various venues + online, Glasgow, 1-30 Sep

Scotland’s national book town is taking the spotlight with the return of the Wigtown Book Festival.

Offering a dynamic hybrid programme, this slice of the contemporary book world features fascinating non-fiction and evocative literature, acclaimed established authors and up-and-coming writers.

There’s plenty to choose from but don’t miss A.K. Blakemore discuss her blistering novel The Manningtree Witches or The Skinny’s own Katie Goh chat about disaster fiction.

Image: courtesy of festival

Image: Sara Thomas, BOOM Arts

September 2021 — Chat

Granton Gasworks, Edinburgh, 15-19 Sep

Photo: Alice Meikle

Image: courtesy of Dundee Rep

Hidden Door

Riverside Festival True North, Ayanna Witter-Johnson

Riverside Museum, Glasgow, 3-5 Sep

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Finlathen Park Dundee Design Festival

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Photo: Simon Turtle

9 to 5: The Musical The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh, 14-18 Sep Based on the cult classic 1980 film of the same name, in which Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton scheme to take down their misogynistic boss with wicked aplomb, this addictive musical is a joyous spectacle, featuring songs by the country queen herself. As timely now as it was in 1980, this is revenge at its most delicious and cathartic.

Sooun Kim + Wei Zhang: The Auto-Buzz of Hybrid Kim and Rabbit

9 To 5 The Musical

Heads Up

Glasgow-based experimental artists Sooun Kim and Wei Zhang’s creative practice encompasses video, music and installation, bringing together a multidisciplinary exploration of hybrid identity and the queer Asian experience in this mind-bending exhibition.

Drawing on and subverting the pop cultural capital of K-pop music and the politics of social space, this is Glasgow’s local art scene at its most radical and unapologetic.

Image: courtesy of artist and Arusha Gallery

Image: courtesy of artist

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, until 17 Sep

Freya Douglas Morris, The sky was filled, the water shining

Freya Douglas-Morris: Hills of Honey Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, 1 Sep-3 Oct

Sooun Kim, Born Beneath

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 19 Sep, 7pm One of Britain’s most beloved music artists, Paloma Faith has been giving pop an intoxicating edge since the noughties. Known for her eccentric visuals and on-stage charisma, Faith’s live shows are the perfect blend of music and spectacle, with songs played from her most recent lockdown album Infinite Things and across her extensive back catalogue.

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Image: courtesy RCA and Sony Records

Paloma Faith

Intoxicatingly vivid, Freya Douglas-Morris’s figurative landscapes are lent an almost magical quality through a dreamlike play with perspective and unreally bright colours. Reminiscent of some of Van Gogh’s most evocative landscapes, this is gorgeous, textural art that demands an in-person visit. The London-based artist has exhibited solo shows in London and Milan, as well as across Europe and the US.

Paloma Faith

Starstruck

Sneaky Pete's Edinburgh, 18 Sep, 7pm Sneaky Pete’s is back to hosting gigs and all is right with the world. Top of this month’s offerings are Lancaster indie pop outfit Mr Ben & the Bens: gorgeous, lo-fi pop vibes reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian and Beach House make the perfect backdrop to the last few days of summer. With support from Family Selection Box and Dinosaur 94.

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 23-25 Sep, 7:30pm Scottish Ballet are returning to tour for the first time since March 2020 with the UK premiere of Starstruck, a revival of Gene Kelly’s Pas de Dieux – the only ballet he choreographed for stage. Set in the glamorous world of 1960s Paris, Starstruck blends jazz and ballet with effortless cool, unveiling the themes of passion, love, and fate that lie at the heart of both.

September 2021 — Chat

Image: courtesy of artist and Sneaky Pete's

Mr Ben & the Bens

Starstruck

Mr Ben & the Bens

All details were correct at the time of writing, but are subject to change. Please check organiser's websites for up to date information.

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 24 Sep-31 Aug 2022

SWG3, Glasgow, 23 Sep, 8pm

Image: courtesy of artist

Playground Festival, Róisín Murphy

Sweetheart

Glasgow Youth Film Festival Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 17-19 Sep

Fatima Yamaha Image: courtesy of artist and SWG3

Photo: Adrian Samson

Seeing the Invisible

Playground Festival Seeing the Invisible, Ori Gersht, On Reflection Virtual

Rouken Glen Park, Glasgow, 24-26 Sep

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Fatima Yamaha

September 2021

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Photo: Charlie Gray Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

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Virginia Wing

Miss World

September 2021 — Events Guide

Clubs An events column?! With club nights?! And festivals?! It’s almost like it’s 2019 again! While most clubs across Scotland opened their doors as soon as they possibly could after being given the go-ahead to reopen on 9 August, some opted to hold off a little longer. But, this month, it’s all systems go and Scotland’s promoters have got you covered for all your dancing needs.

Sub Club officially reopened its doors on 27 August, with a full weekend of partying across three nights, and they’re doing it all over again on the first weekend of September. This time around, though, proceedings will run from Thursday to Saturday, with parties from All U Need, Optimo and Harri & Domenic.

In Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s will also be reopening this month, returning to its usual set-up after briefly rebranding as a bar and pizza parlour, serving Civerinos pizza. The reopening will see the return of old favourites like Heaters (1 Sep) and Miss World (3 Sep), and the launch of new parties, including Morrison Street Collective (6 Sep) and Stand B-Side (9 Sep).

September also sees the return of festivals, as Riverside Festival is back at Glasgow’s Riverside Museum from 3-5 September with a brand new stage from Clyde Built Radio featuring a whole host of local talent. Shapes at the Jail is back behind bars at Stirling Old Town Jail on 11 September, FLY Open Air swoops into Princes Street Gardens from 17-19 September, Platform 18 Street Festival heads to Glasgow’s West Street from 24-26 September, and Cultivate returns to Aberdeen from 25-26 September.

Elsewhere, Boiler Room bring their Open Dancefloors tour to Dundee’s Fat Sams and Aberdeen’s Unit 51 on 10 and 11 September respectively. And, in terms of international bookings, La Cheetah Club presents DJ Stingray 313 on 10 September, Fatima Yamaha plays SWG3 on 24 September, and Pulse and Substance team up to bring Berghain resident Boris (the other one) to The Mash House on 25 September.

[Nadia Younes]

Little Simz

Image: Tiu Makkonen

Image: Marie Staggat DJ Stingray

Music We don’t want to speak too soon, but how good was August!? Most planned gigs and festivals were, astonishingly, able to go ahead as planned with very few issues, which has been a truly beautiful thing to behold. September seems to be busier than ever before, so here’s an attempt at a snapshot of what you can *hopefully* expect to catch this month in Scotland.

In Glasgow, The Hug & Pint’s Endless Summer series continues with Good Dog (5 Sep) and Heir of the Cursed (15 Sep) – two of our highlights. Also at the Hug this month, London riot grrrl punks Dream Nails stop by with their new singer, Leah Kirby, in tow (8 Sep), and Glasgow punk rock nerds Slime City hold down the fort later in the month (18 Sep). After a packed run of Summer Nights shows in August, King Tut’s has loads more in store this month, including performances from the super talented Billie Marten (16 Sep) and local pop-country lass Rianne Downey (24 Sep).

At SWG3, things seem almost back to normal with a stacked calendar. SouthLondon four-piece Goat Girl stop by on 21 September, while a week later squalling Brighton punks Squid play (28 Sep). In the venue’s Poetry Club space be sure to catch a headline show from Ayrshire rapper Bemz (23 Sep). Also in the west catch Teenage Fanclub (Barrowlands, 16 Sep), Pom Poko (Stereo, 26 Sep) and Virginia Wing (Broadcast, 28 Sep); the latter two also play Edinburgh this month, stopping by The Mash House (25 Sep) and Sneaky Pete’s (28 Sep) respectively.

This month Sneaky’s also welcomes Glasgow-based afro-pop, hip-hop and dancehall artists Sean Focus to the venue (5 Sep), as well as Londoners Childcare (29 Sep). Elsewhere in the capital catch Canadian art-punk band Crack Cloud (Bongo Club, 1 Sep), global legends Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Edinburgh Playhouse, 20 Sep), and local rising pop act SHEARS (Shout! Scottish Music Experience, 17 Sep). In Dundee you’ll find IDLES (Fat Sams, 9 Sep), Kyle Falconer (Church, 13 Sep), and West Lothian rockers The Snuts (Church, 30 Sep).

Festivals are still going strong this month with Intercultural Youth Scotland’s Scotland in Colour kicking off proceedings at The Biscuit Factory (Edinburgh, 4 Sep), with live sets from Sean Focus, Billy Got Waves and AiiTee (with Nathan Somevi). The capital’s Hidden Door festival also returns this month (15-19 Sep) as they take over the Granton Gasworks for five days with music from Ibibio Sound Machine, Katy J Pearson, Rival Consoles and a whole slew of local talent. In Glasgow TRNSMT returns (10-12 Sep) with The Chemical Brothers, Little Simz and Joy Crookes in tow, while Playground Festival takes over the city’s Rouken Glen Park (24-26) with The Libertines, Kelis and Macy Gray among the line-up. Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, True North (23-26 Sep) is back with a programme that includes Peaness, John Grant, Ransom FA and Corinne Bailey Rae. [Tallah Brash]

Image: Stuart Moulding

Photo: Trisha Ward SHEARS

Photo: Hannah Logan

What's On

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Epic of Everest

Image: Courtesy of BalletLORENT

September 2021 — Events Guide

Death Becomes Her

The Lost Happy Endings

Film Berwick-upon-Tweed might be officially an English town, but it’s disputed territory as far as The Skinny’s film section is concerned, as we see the annual Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick venues and online, 10-12 Sep) as very much part of Scotland’s film festival scene. As ever, there’s a rich selection of artists’ moving-image and experimental film on offer, not least in the annual Berwick New Cinema Awards programme, which this year features new work by Fern Silva (Rock Bottom Riser), Ane Hjort Guttu (Manifesto) and Sophia Al-Maria (Tender Point Ruin).

Elsewhere you’ll find focuses on Hanoi-based filmmaker and video artist Nguyễn Trinh Thí and a mini-retrospective of work by Sri Lankan artist Rajee Samarasinghe.

The righteous Take One Action film festival (Glasgow, Edinburgh and online, 22-26 Sep) also returns to fight the good fight – and they’re more needed now than ever. With the COP26 on the horizon, there’s a distinct environmental focus this year, from festival opener Living Proof – A Climate Story, a brilliant documentary assembled from archive films exploring Scotland’s changing attitude to the natural environment (read more on page 44), to Raj Patel’s The Ants and The Grasshopper, and The Last Forest, which blends dreamscapes and reality to portray the Amazonian Yanomami community as they fight to save their land from the threat of gold prospectors.

And don’t forget about the Glasgow Youth Film Festival (GFT, 17-19 Sep).

Programmed and co-produced by fresh-faced cinephiles aged 15 to 19 after a summer of mentorship by Glasgow Film, this year’s edition mixes new work like teen musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and lonely Brit-abroad drama Granada Nights, as well as some older favourites made before any of the programmers were even born. You know, ‘ancient’ films like Death Becomes Her (1992) and Do the Right Thing (1989). (God I feel old.)

Another of our favourite festivals, Alchemy Film & Arts are back in the real-life realm with their first in-person event since February 2020, with a screening of Mark Lyken’s Táifēng and the Motorway Saint, a feature-length study of three Taiwanese cities and the everyday rituals that play out there during typhoon season. (Heart of Hawick, 8 Sep) Cinema schedules are also looking lively in the Central Belt. We’re looking forward to the Cinema Rediscovered festival bringing a tour to Scotland that makes a strong argument for 1971 being one of the greatest years for American cinema, with a season of masterpieces from that year that would become key works in the 70s New Hollywood wave screening. Titled 1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent, the tour features personal, idiosyncratic films of the counterculture like Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop, Alan J. Pakula’s Klute, Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs Miller and Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show.

GFT, Filmhouse and DCA are all screening films from the season, so take a look at their websites for screening dates.

GFT also have a great looking Q&A planned for 8 September, with director Cathy Brady and Kate Dickie joining the cinema for a screening of their striking new film, Wildfire, an intense family drama concerned with the spikey relationship between two sisters. Also look out for a screening of the jaw-dropping documentary Epic of Everest, following the Mallory and Irvine Mount Everest expedition. The 1924 masterwork will get the live soundtrack treatment from Stephen Horne in an event in collaboration with Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (DCA, 26 Sep). Take note, GYFF programmers: this is what you call an old movie! [Jamie Dunn] Theatre Mask? Check. Hand sanitiser? Check. 24/7 spatial awareness? We’re working on it... roll on tentative autumn season, cause we’re vaxxed and ready to sit silently in a dark room!

There’s some fantastic shows coming up at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.

Families with smaller children may wish to attend the incredible-sounding In The Night Garden (24-25 Sep) – who wouldn’t want to see life-size versions of Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka? But if for some reason psychedelic giant puppets aren’t your thing, balletLORENT’s The Lost Happy Endings (15-16 Sep) is another family friendly alternative. Adapted from poet Carol Ann Duffy’s original story, the show follows a wicked witch who steals the happy endings of our favourite fairytales. Narrated by Joanna Lumley, with an original score composed by Murray Gold and a spectacular set designed by Neil Murray, it’s a guaranteed magical night out at the theatre. Not quite ready to brave IRL theatres yet but still in the mood for some dance? Rambert2, the little sister to Britain’s oldest dance company Rambert, will be strutting their stuff from 16 to 18 September: book tickets to live-stream the show at capitaltheatres.com If you missed popular Traverse shows Move and Still during the Edinburgh Festival season rush, you can catch up online. Move will be available to watch digitally until 7 September, while Still can be booked and streamed right up until 29 September. The Traverse are also hosting several brilliant sounding workshops for those inclined, from writers such as Natalie McGrath (1 Sep) and Uma Nada-Raja (15 Sep), whose workshop boasts perhaps the best title ever: Salon of Dystopian Curiosities. Book soon to avoid disappointment.

If you’re based in Glasgow, say goodbye to sandwiches scoffed in front of a Zoom call: A Play, A Pie and A Pint is back! The lunchtime theatre company is returning to its home at the Òran Mór, and it has some gems to kick off its autumn season, making up for lost time. They’ve packed no fewer than four shows into their September calendar, and each one sounds great: there’s Morna Pearson’s dark comedy Celestial Body (6-11 Sep), Lorna Martin’s show Rose (13-18 Sep) about the Ayrshire-born greatest female footballer in the world, Johnny McKnight’s modern — 12 —

The Ants and The Grasshopper

Manifesto

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drama Joke (20-25 Sep), and Andy McGregor’s musical comedy A New Life (27 Sep-2 Oct). PPP’s affordable prices mean you can get lunch, a drink and a show all for £15.

Can’t say fairer than that. [Eliza Gearty] Art Early in the month, the newly refitted Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh will hold an online panel discussion event on 8 September (6.30-8pm) for their in-real-life retrospective exhibition of the work of sculptor Karla Black, whose work combines cosmetics, over-the-counter medicines and packaging, with paint, plaster and paper, keeping them all as raw as possible.

While Edinburgh Art Festival has ended, until 18 September the Festival exhibition by Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist Sekai Machache continues at Stills. Across drawing, performance, moving image, sound and photography, Machache’s exhibition The Divine Sky tells “a complicated history of lived and ancestral experience that sees Machache reclaiming space both physical and psychic”.

Throughout September, the painter Flo Brooks is showing in Tramway. His elegantly frenetic figurative paintings come from a semi-autobiographical narrative of queer and trans experience. In this recent body of work, Brooks turns to rural South West England where he grew up, in particular the marginalised spaces and communities there.

On 17 September, the CCA in Glasgow unveils the first solo show of Christian Noelle Charles. Curator Alaya describes that the show “draws on [Charles’] personal history and connection to dance and jazz. The visual legacy of the Jester and jazz legends such as Cab Calloway become symbols for Christian to examine and locate her own expression and identity. This space of rehearsing, of watching and beingwatched creates an appealing question of the overexposed self.”

Also from 17 September in David Dale in Glasgow, there’s Kate Frances Lingard’s exhibition tender spots in hard code… fraught with potential, fragile with indecision. For this, Lingard has made a card game as a way into thinking about competition, collaboration and care in the digital commons.

See p45 this month for an interview with the Okinawan artist Chikako Yamashiro, whose work potently responds to the traditions, culture and occupation of her homeplace, Okinawa. DCA will also host several online events as part of the exhibition, including an online reading group (23 Sep), an online screening of the film Chinbin Western (24-26 Sep) and a curator’s talk between Kirsteen Macdonald and Yamashiro (30 Sep).

On 23 September, LUX Scotland in collaboration with Tramway in Glasgow will host an outdoor screening of the works of Ukhumbula Khuphi (Where Do You Remember?) and Ukhumbula Kanjani (How Do You Remember?). These works powerfully put in question the architecture of Glasgow and its relationship with slavery and colonialism. [Adam Benmakhlouf]

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Iona Lee

September 2021 — Events Guide

Photo: Maria Sledmere SPAM

Poetry Rhyme watch is back and here to bring you the good news of poetry publications, events (online and in-person, exciting!), and all other things poetic/poetry adjacent in Scotland.

One of our favourite Edinburgh festivals has returned and is looking stronger than ever: presenting, Hidden Door, 15-19 September at Granton Gasworks. As ever, the festival has a sparkling spoken word stage, with Jen McGregor taking centre stage on 15 September with Meet Your Doom. This ‘one-to-one spoken word experience’ is set to be another triumph in the wonderfully horrifying roster of McGregor works. Hidden Door will also host Edinburgh-favourite night Wax Lyrical (hosted by Iona Lee and DJ Nikki Kent, joined by The Repeat Beat Poet, Sean Lionadh, and Bee Asha Singh), as well as Annie Lourd’s Underpin.

In Aberdeen, Sincere Corkscrew is hosting its launch of the anthology, Worlddreem, upstairs at the Blue Lamp on 3 September. The anthology features writers such as Hysteria’s host Mae Diansangu and Sincere Corkscrew’s very own Ian Macartney, so if you’re looking for your first in-person poetry event, this is your perfect option.

It’s an absolute pleasure to see Speculative Books continuing its fantastic track record of publishing exciting Scottish works. Its next book, Voodoo Daze, is a collection of acid house and rave poems (plus stories) by Jason Golaup and Stephen Watt.

It’s launching at Stereo, Glasgow, on 22 Sep, but is available to purchase online now.

Continuing in Glasgow, SPAM has just published With the Boys, by fred spoliar.

With a blurb like this – ‘There’s no escaping adjacency to the boys as an institution (so invulnerable! so fragile!) but are the boys themselves our enemies?’ – how could you not head straight to the SPAM website and order yourself a copy? As Brandon Brown reviews, the collection is ‘outraged and outrageous, dismissed and dismissive, hilarious and smouldering.’

Haunt Publishing is releasing Anna Cheung’s Where Decay Sleeps, which – in true Haunt style – is said to be beautifully unsettling. Revelling in the seven stages of decay, Anna’s work is sure to send mouldering shivers to your very core.

Finally, Tapsalteerie continues to fly the flag for poetry innovation, with Russell Jones and Aimee Lockwood releasing The Wilds: A Poetry Comic through the press.

With stunning artwork and evocative writing, The Wilds, at its core, is an accompaniment to bereavement: a timely work that comforts young people and adults alike through their journeys of loss. [Beth Cochrane]

Photo: Trackie McLeod

Image credits, top left: Flo Brooks: Image Detail view: Flo Brooks, Business as Usual / P.O., 2020 Acrylic on wood, 180 x 224 x 4.5 cm (70 7/8 x 88 1/4 x 1 3/4 in) Courtesy of the artist and Project Native Informant, London. Bottom left: Isaac Julien, The North Star (Lessons of the Hour), 2019, Framed photograph on gloss inkjet paper mounted on aluminium , 160 x 213.29 cm; 63 x 84 in, Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro, London/Venice.

Right: Thulani Rachia, Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo, installation, 2021

September 2021

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5 Meet the Team — 6 Editorial — 7 Love Bites — 8 Heads Up 11 What’s On — 16 Crossword — 35 Intersections — 50 Design 54 Albums — 57 Film & TV — 62 Books — 63 Food & Drink 65 Comedy — 66 Listings — 70 The Skinny On… Bemz

Features

19 It’s back! They’re back! Our annual (apart from last year, let’s not talk about last year) Student Guide returns with tips on how to start changing the world, living sustainably, budgeting, having relationships and more.

36 Turkish artist and activist belit sağ discusses the link between images and violence.

38 Hamish Hawk on the abstract imagery of new album Heavy Elevator.

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39 Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale introduces her new creative project Stina Marie Claire.

40 We Were Promised Jetpacks give us a track-by-track tour through their hopeful new album Enjoy the View.

41 As Screamadelica turns 30 (?!??!), we take a look back at Primal Scream’s hugely influential magnum opus.

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43 Irish filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor speak to us about their slippery new thriller Rose Plays Julie.

44 Take One Action film festival returns with Living Proof – A Climate Story, exploring Scotland’s complex relationship to the global climate crisis.

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46 Eve Livingston introduces her manifesto for unions, Make Bosses Pay. 47 As live comedy returns, we talk ideas and art with comedian and writer Rob Auton.

48 Junglehussi on returning to clubs, juggling jobs and Riverside Festival.

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47 Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Edith Ault; belit sağ; Gabriela Silveira; Craig McIntosh; Euan Robertson; Primal Scream; Rose Plays Julie; Living Proof; Chikako Yamashiro; Connie Noble; Julian Ward; Matthew Arthur Williams / Alice Brooke

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On the website...

Many many reviews – film from Edinburgh Film Festival, comedy and theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe, and reports from Edinburgh International Festival’s gigs at Edinburgh Park – plus a look back at the career of the late Sean Lock.

September 2021 — Contents

45 Chikako Yamashiro discusses her new DCA exhibition of work exploring the contested politics of Okinawa.

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1. Nook – break (6) 2. Total incomings and outgoings (4,4)

10. Comedy about student life in Manchester, made by the creators of Peep Show (5,4)

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3. Shut-eye – something we never got enough of as students (or, like, now) (5) 4. (Slightly?) excessive – a bum itch (anag) (1,3,4)

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7. The OG Renaissance Man – Tom Hanks tried to crack his code (2,5)

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18. Director of Kicking and Screaming (1995) and Frances Ha (2012) (8)

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15. Lavish - no let-up (anag) (7)

25. Bad for you (9)

16. Teacher at university (8)

26. David Nicholls' 2003 novel about a University Challenge quiz team (7,3,3)

17. Lacking milk products (3-5) 19. Base two – the core of computing (6) 21. Quite (6)

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22. Use these to type – or unlock things (4) Turn to page 7 for the solutions

23. Move – stint at a job (5)

Compiled by George Sully

September 2021 — Chat

Can you find these words in this puzzle?

LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL DESPERATE OPTIMISM CHIKAKO YAMASHIRO STINA MARIE CLAIRE SUSTAINABILITY SCREAMADELICA THE PALMERSTON MAKE BOSSES PAY TAKE ONE ACTION JUNGLEHUSSI LITTLE SIMZ HAMISH HAWK MANDIBLES BUDGETING

NINJABABY EDINBURGH STUDENTS GAGARINE ROB AUTON ACTIVISM FRESHERS BELIT SAG CONSENT GLASGOW DUNDEE MAD GOD VODKA SIMS RPG

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A Wonderful Fife There's a lot happening in Fife – keep exploring, as summer eases into autumn, with our handy what's on guide

Advertising Feature

Words: Tallah Brash

Outwith Festival, Dunfermline

September 2021

O

ver the past year, holidaying somewhere local has been high up the agenda for many of us, and we’ve been so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. With restrictions easing it’s been exciting to see festivals and events back on the menu, and this autumn the Kingdom of Fife are going all out with a packed calendar of picturesque coastal festivals and thrilling sports, as well as outdoor events and concerts.

Starting in the glorious East Neuk, Fèis Chala An t-sruthair (Anstruther Harbour Festival) gets the season off to a great start.

Running from 3-5 September in the quaint seaside village of Anstruther, famous for the award winning Anstruther Fish Bar, take the family for a day out to be treasured. Traditional music and dance, family entertainment, street food, a muster of historic, classic and modern sailing boats and the annual ‘anster fair’, where a slew of local traders from cheesemongers to distillers sell their wares.

The weekend-long festival is free to attend with the exception of the opening night concert from Scots Trad Live Act of the Year 2017, Skipinnish.

Tickets available from eventbrite.co.uk While trad is the name of the game at the Anstruther Harbour Festival, the following weekend at Silverburn Park in Levenmouth you’ll find the inaugural Fife Fest (11-12 Sep), where some of the UK’s best tribute bands and local talent will coalesce. 90s and 00s indie, Britpop and Madchester fans are in for a real treat as the line-up includes Definitely Oasis, Kings of Lyon, The Kopycat Killers, Stereosonics, The Absolute Jam, Resurrection Stone Roses and The Freddie & Queen Experience. Expect two days of back-to-back singalongs and sore throats aplenty by the end of the weekend. Tickets available from skiddle.com

There’s more for music fans in Fife in October, too, as St Andrews Voices, Scotland’s only festival of vocal and choral music returns to the Fife coast from 14-17 October. Showcasing a plethora of genres throughout the university town, over the long mid-October weekend you’ll get to truly explore the beauty and versatility of the human voice, with the opportunity to even take part in singing workshops yourself should you want to give it a go. Find more information at standrewsvoices.com For something a bit different, true thrill-seekers will want to head to the Knockhill Racing Circuit in Dunfermline from 25-26 September where the 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship will be taking place. It’s made up of a number of events including the Supercar Championships, the Junior Rallycross Championships and the Retro Rallycross Championships, and will provide a great day’s entertainment for those who like to see action, and lots of it. If one weekend isn’t enough to quench your adrenaline thirst, check out Knockhill’s full season programme. Tickets available from knockhill.com Two years on from our last chance to don our scariest costumes, Halloween is back and Fife are celebrating in style with the brand new Spook’Ore event, inviting you to be spooked this Halloween.

Taking place at Lochore Meadows Country Park in Lochgelly from 29-31 October, family friendly daytime events include spooky walks, pumpkin picking, face painting and more, while their adult-only Horr’ore evening events will feature a terrifying woodland trail, fancy dress, entertainment and street food. What’s more, there’s a drive-in cinema each night showing classic Halloween family flicks like Casper, Monster House and The Addams Family. Tickets available from spookore.co.uk — 18 —

Falkland Estate

Golf fanatics will want to make sure they’re in the area a little earlier in the season as the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship takes place from 30 September to 3 October. Taking place at three world class courses, you’ll be able to experience two of Fife’s finest as St Andrews’ Old Course and the East Neuk’s Kingsbarns Golf Links both feature. This unique golfing event incorporates a professional golf tournament and contest which sees celebrity golfers play against the professionals, so you might even spot some famous faces out on the greens. More information can be found at alfreddunhilllinks.com Finally, if you’re looking to get your art crawl on this autumn, the Falkland Estate Trail of Thought could be just the ticket. Running until 30 September, thought-provoking typographic carvings and art installations within the estate’s surrounding woodlands will help bring some much-needed peace and tranquility to a day out, an experience that hopes to encourage mindfulness. Commissioned by Fife Contemporary from writer/actor Lesley Acheson and artist/designer Sebastian Chaloner, a map and audio guide is also available for the trail. More information can be found at fcac.co.uk/exhibitions/ falkland-estate-trail-of-thought For more information about what’s on in the beautiful Kingdom of Fife this autumn and beyond visit welcometofife.com

Dundee — Edinburgh — Glasgow

STUDENT GUIDE

FREE • 2021

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Student Guide

First Steps Wanting to change the world but unsure where to start?

Here’s a rough guide to taking your first steps in activism, political engagement and community work Words: Jodie Leith Illustration: Phoebe Willison

September 2021 — Feature

A

s the world finally re-opens after a rather unconventional period of university (and life) for countless students across Scotland – marked by isolation, at-home learning, and facemask-wearing – positivity is beginning to be restored for many. However, the last year-anda-half has emphasised complex and intense issues faced by many worldwide, and fuelled discussions of humanitarian assistance and social justice in the face of adversity.

Now, more than ever, many students are motivated to make a positive change to the world in which they find themselves. While this may feel daunting and slightly hopeless – as prevalent issues such as the climate emergency require large-scale transformation from numerous conglomerates – self-made changes and efforts, while only helping so much, can set individuals forth on a positive, personal journey of world-shaping that will last a lifetime.

It may be no easy feat, but the historical impact of students in activist movements globally isn’t to be sneered at.

Getting involved with activism Causes like the climate emergency, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, human rights, homelessness, and feminism are at the forefront of society today and

increasingly the subject of daily discourse. While these are all huge social issues to tackle, organisations including Greenpeace, Stop Hate UK, Stonewall Scotland, Amnesty International, Homeless Action Scotland, Girls Against, and Women’s Aid are a perfect place for Scottish students to get started with activist involvement.

Whether it’s attending a protest, raising funds, or promoting awareness of the issue on social media, participating in organisations among likeminded individuals rallying for a cause is an extremely gratifying and important aspect of activism.

Engaging with politics Find your local MP or MSP by simply entering your address at the UK Parliament or Scottish Parliament website and subsequently use their contact information to write a letter, send an email, or attend surgeries to complain or discuss relevant issues – this is a perfect way to persuade your constituency representative to petition for change on your behalf. Otherwise, you may decide to join a political party yourself to support a leadership you feel best reflects your interest on a larger, governmental scale.

Finally, beginning a petition nowadays is extremely easy to do with websites like Change. org and the Parliament website dismissing the need for an oldfashioned, door-todoor campaign, allowing others to share your petition virtually. The more signatures in favour of a cause, the better, so get signing!

“Understanding yourself and protecting your mental health is key, especially when feeling overwhelmed in the face of complex social matters”

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Unionising Joining a union allows multiple individuals to develop a united voice against a larger employer or academic body. In the workplace, Unite Hospitality works to avoid exploitative workplace practices and protects the rights of hospitality workers, a large portion of which are students working part-time alongside their studies. Furthermore, a university’s student union is composed of students who are often elected by classmates, who represent and voice the opinions of fellow students. Members of student unions may also host events, volunteer for charity, and campaign for diversity and equality within student bodies – holding the university accountable for issues such as financial support, accommodation, protection of students, and more.

Living Rent is a Tenants’ Union that advocates for the protection of tenants’ rights. They campaign for an end to forced evictions and the reintroduction of rent control to allow a fairer market for renters – an issue particularly important for many students across the country who find themselves seeking accommodation for term time.

Find your voice Spending time researching the causes that are best aligned with your personal beliefs is a perfect way to shape your activist voice and carve your path to world changing. Growing an online social presence, speaking to fellow activists, and following accounts that discuss causes that you are passionate about is a brilliant way to educate yourself while scrolling when out and about.

Engaging Instagram accounts to follow include: Young Friends of the Earth Scotland (@yfoes), a “community of young activists across Scotland

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Student Guide

Volunteer in the community The best way to get to know your local community is to immerse yourself in local events and projects.

Whether it’s helping to litter-pick a park or volunteering at a food bank, community-focused events are a fantastic way to meet neighbours with a similar outlook on inciting change in the area to connect and develop. Reaching out to local organisations has never been easier, with many charities and events using social media as an essential means to unite residents.

Volunteering in the community is also perfect for students who have moved to a new location for university and are keen to get to know their local area!

Alternatively, many societies at university including charity fashion clubs, refugee/asylum seeker solidarity societies, and BEAT societies to support students dealing with eating disorders, work to unite like-minded students in rallying for change. Fundraising, event-hosting, and campaigning with fellow students is an ideal way to forge new friendships and widen knowledge of the community with many off-campus events.

Individual accountability Worldwide change undeniably requires an overwhelming, large-scale movement, however smaller changes undertaken at home can have a massive impact. By making smaller lifestyle changes, such as sporting a sustainable wardrobe and shopping for vintage or second-hand clothes, students can combat the negative impact of large-scale clothes donations, greatly worsened by fast fashion, on the global south and instead support local textile production which struggles under large markets of donated and discarded items.

Additionally, selecting a renewable energy provider, and avoiding unnecessary car use by taking public transport, walking, or biking can all work to massively reduce carbon footprints and encourage a greener lifestyle during a climate emergency. Carbon footprint can also be reduced by reviewing the age-old student diet of Pot Noodles and attempting to consume locally grown, seasonal vegetables and reducing meat intake where possible. Meat Free Monday, an initiative founded by Paul, Mary, and Stella McCartney in 2009 promotes a ‘flexitarian’ outlook on cutting — 21 —

“Now more than ever, many students are motivated to make a positive change to the world in which they find themselves” back on meat. It encourages even the most devoted steak-lovers to consider the environmental impact of continually neglecting meat products for just one day a week – an ideal method for those who try (and fail) their hand at vegetarianism.

Practising self-care Finally, taking time to ground yourself and alleviate any stress or anxieties is invaluable in an increasingly chaotic world. While ‘mindfulness’ may seem like an influencer buzzword, the term is on the rise in popular discourse for great reason – understanding yourself and protecting your mental health is key, especially when feeling overwhelmed in the face of complex social matters.

Acts of self-care great and small can provide a well-needed break. Creative classes, such as lifedrawing or pottery painting, can offer much-needed entertainment while also working as an excellent way to meet new people; meditating, picking up a hobby, meeting with friends, grooming, or even a daily walk all provide a positive step to prioritise the self and recharge the mind and body.

After all, changing the world is a pretty exhausting full-time job. Now, about that essay due next week...

September 2021 — Feature

campaigning for environmental and social justice”; Bikes for Refugees Scotland (@bikes4refugees), a charity which “supports New Scots with free travel through the distribution of free bicycles”; Refuweegee (@refuweegee), a community-led charity welcoming refugees to Glasgow; and The Black Curriculum (@theblackcurriculum), an organisation promoting the teaching of Black British history in UK schools.

Offline, locations like Edinburgh’s Lighthouse – a queer, women-owned bookshop full of educational resources – and the soon-to-open Pink Peacock in Glasgow – a queer, Yiddish, pay-whatyou-can cafe – provide community-driven, educational spaces ideal to educate students on activism and relevant social issues.

For extra activist education, an ideal way to spend down-time is listening to educational podcasts like Sooo Many White Guys, in which host Phoebe Robinson features guests discussing social issues including race and feminism, or 99% Invisible, in which host Roman Mars dives into lesser-known topics, including architecture and infrastructures that reflect social issues and spur activist discussion and reflection.

September 2021

Student Guide

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Cut the Trash Living well shouldn’t cost us the Earth. Follow these tips to get your groceries, devices and your next fashion fix sustainably Words: Becca Inglis

Photo: Courtesy of Locavore

Photo: Courtesy of The Refillery

Photo: Erin Canning

Locavore

The Refillery

Zero Waste Market

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Zero waste groceries Despite many a painful Google search about putting the right plastic in the right bin, recycling just isn’t happening on the scale we need it to.

Only 9% of plastic ever made has been reprocessed, while the rest has either gone to landfill or blown into our rivers and seas.

A far better option is to cut food packaging altogether at zero waste grocery stores. You can bring your own containers to the shop – huzzah, a way to reuse your leftover plastic bottles and tubs!

– and fill them with all the dry food, fruit and veg, and cleaning fluids you need.

Edinburgh is well-served for low impact shopping, from Refillery in Newington to the Eco Larder in the West End, Weigh to Go in Leith and

The Good Store in Inverleith. We’re even getting our own zero waste supermarket in Dalry, to be run

by Locavore – one of Glasgow’s favourite package free shops.

Over in Glasgow, the Zero Waste Market covers the East End, while Society Zero serves the West End community – including with a pay-it-forward scheme for those who need it. In Dundee you’ve got the Birchwood Emporium or The Little Green Larder, both of which offer some luscious looking veg boxes.

Rescued food Food waste is actually a bigger contributor to climate change in Scotland than plastic is, with an estimated 987,890 tonnes scraped into the bin in 2013 compared with ​​224,000 tonnes of plastic.

Before you go and spend more money on new groceries, see if you can acquire some rescued food and get creative with your recipes. Groups like SHRUB Coop’s Food Sharing Hub in Edinburgh and the Too Good to Go app in Glasgow help to divert surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants, while Dundee’s West End Community Fridge makes food available to their local community to tackle food poverty. If you’ve got cans to spare, consider donating your leftovers to help these projects.

Slow fashion Another thing that SHRUB Coop is really good at is helping us to repurpose our pre-loved clothes. Unlike your regular charity shop, SHRUB’s Swap Shop gives back 20% of the value of what you donate in tokens, which you can then spend in the store.

R:Evolve in Glasgow boasts three swap shop hubs in Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Hamilton, where you can bring in your old fashion items and, — 23 —

you guessed it, swap them for a fresh look free-of-charge.

Upcycled electronics Built-in obsolescence is a huge drain on your wallet, which is annoying enough when you’re trying to stretch your finances through uni, but there’s a hidden cost to electronics with an expiry date too.

The UK generates around 1.5 million tonnes of electronic waste every year, and up to 82% of us have no plans to recycle or sell on our devices once they fall out of use. Don’t be that guy. Places like the Remakery in Edinburgh and WEEE Scotland in Glasgow will take in your decrepit electronics and re-use them for parts, or simply give them a repair (remember those?).

If you are looking for a new device, you can use the circular economy to your advantage and buy a refurbished one for cheap. A MacBook Air goes for around £250 from The Remakery, which is one heck of a markdown from buying brand new.

Digital communities (see also; free shit) Facebook might be dead, but it’s still good for one thing – asking strangers to give/receive miscellaneous stuff. The Meadows Share is probably Edinburgh’s most notorious Facebook group for picking up random bric-a-brac. Last we checked there was a bagful of corks up for grabs, but you can also source your more traditional bits like chairs, mirrors, or spare light bulbs.

Glasgow’s equivalent is Sharing Is Caring Glasgow And Surrounding Areas, or there’s the Glasgow Southside Sharing Community, where you can post saying you want to borrow something and people will actually lend it to you. Incredible scenes.

September 2021 — Feature

kay people, it’s time we talked about waste. If you weren’t already suffering some base level climate anxiety (ah, the Gen Z zeitgeist), then by now you’ve probably (definitely) had the fear of god struck into you by the IPCC report.

Message received, planet Earth – it’s high time we cleaned up our act and stopped pushing our throwaway problems on to nature.

Sure, it’s difficult to feel like you can change the world when oil companies continue to chuck greenhouse gases into the air. But also, wouldn’t it be nice if we could stop microplastics from polluting our oceans, food waste from secreting methane, and cotton from guzzling up all the water and causing droughts?

Yes of course it would, and these are all things that are in our power to change. Here are a few of our favourite places that can help you cut waste from your life and regain some climate optimism.

Student Guide

Photo: Courtesy of The Eco Larder The Eco Larder

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Student Guide

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby We chat with author and journalist Rachel Thompson about her new book Rough: How Violence Found Its Way Into the Bedroom, ways of addressing sexual violence within society, and the importance of going beyond consent Interview: Anahit Behrooz

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September 2021 — Feature

Why do you think language is so important within these contexts?

Language gives a sense of validity. In I May Destroy You, for instance, a lot of people watching it had experienced stealthing [the non-consensual removal of a condom] but didn’t know what it was called and didn’t know it is actually classed as rape under English law. I May Destroy You was so empowering because [it gave] survivors the terminology for something that had happened to them, that they hadn’t known what to do with.

“We’re conditioned to feel, even if something traumatises us, that we got off lightly” Rachel Thompson The last few years have seen conversations around sexual assault focus on consent as this golden ticket to a good sexual relationship. In Rough, you talk about the limits of consent culture: can you expand on this?

We have focused so much on consent, and obviously we still need to because it’s clear that even with these big conversations, it’s still not getting through. But I do really regard consent as the bare minimum. We should be thinking about sexual boundaries constantly and communicating what are hard limits and soft limits. It sounds so basic but we should be treating each other as human

beings. There’s a disposability that exists within dating app culture in particular, but when there’s an added layer of the vulnerability that comes with sex, I do think that you have to model your best ethical behaviour.

Image: courtesy of Penguin Random House

lot of what you discuss in Rough is what you term “grey areas”: acts of violation such as non-consensual choking or spitting that lie outside the limits of the law. Why was this focus so important?

Rachel: I wanted to explore the broad spectrum of harms that we don’t necessarily have language to describe. By always looking through a legal lens, we erase these lesseasy-to-define aspects of our sexual culture, violations such as digital sexual crimes that people think aren’t valid as they don’t fit a legal definition of assault or rape.

It reminds me of Katherine Angel in Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again, who talks about desire as a gradual, ambivalent concept. She argues that framing consent as a tick-box hurdle forces women to always know and be able to articulate what they want.

Absolutely. We’re sold this myth that you will always have instant attraction to someone and it just doesn’t work like that. One thing we should Rachel Thompson also be talking more about is unwanted sex as a grey area. There are all kinds of reasons why we consent to sex and it’s not always because of sexual desire: it could be because you’re an anxiously attached person and you want someone to like you. Or it could be within the context of a healthy relationship. But we should be talking about desire and unwanted sex, not necessarily to always problematise it, but within the wider context of systems of oppression that shape our agency and our ability to consent.

In the book, you make it very clear how women and people of marginalised genders’ sexual safety is bound up with broader power structures such as racism, homophobia and capitalism. Why is this intersectionality so crucial?

Essentially, we’re currently trying to protect women and people of marginalised genders within the patriarchy and within white supremacy, and it’s obviously not working. We should be outraged by the fact that huge swathes of the population are deprived of basic resources, and that this creates conducive conditions that allow these cycles of violence to happen. We should be really angry that, because of systemic inequality, women and people of marginalised genders don’t always have the option to say no.

It’s really striking how Rough brings together so many voices through interviews. Can you talk a little about the power of testimonial in these contexts?

It was really important to me to honour the language that people used when they were describing their experiences. I didn’t want to impose onto — 24 —

“We should be really angry that, because of systemic inequality, women and people of marginalised genders don’t always have the option to say no” Rachel Thompson their lived experience. But it was also hard because sometimes people would describe something as a grey area, and what they were describing was assault. At one point, an interviewee reflects on their experience of stealthing and how they felt lucky it wasn’t worse. I found it extremely telling how we’re conditioned to feel, even if something traumatises us, that we got off lightly.

It makes me wonder to what extent the myth of the rapist in the alley has been deliberately manufactured to deflect from more pervasive incidents of rape and assault.

Exactly. Who benefits from that? Because statistically, most people know their attackers. Yet the stranger rape trope is more of a dominant image than the reality, and I think that really interferes with people’s ability to understand the things that do happen to them as violence.

So often when we have these conversations, the onus is placed on women or people of marginalised genders to educate and protect themselves.

What should men be doing?

Men need to broaden their understanding of how misogyny and white supremacy and power structures manifest, not just in their behaviour but in their thought processes. I would encourage people to be mindful of the power that they hold, whether in relationships or one-off sexual encounters, and to be conscious of power dynamics and microaggressions that could retraumatise someone. We need to start modelling better, ethical, sexual behaviour. Just be a good person.

Rough: How Violence Found Its Way Into the Bedroom is out now via Square Peg

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September 2021

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September 2021

Theatre

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The Open Road We talk to Sophie Grace Chappell, Professor of Philosophy at the Open University, about epiphanies, Bruce Springsteen, and making the most of human potential Interview: Laurie Presswood

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and Springsteen is epiphanic. Bruce’s Backstreets is an epiphany; [...] it’s about turning private, personal pain into public, universal beauty, which is one of the big important things that a lot of art does for us.”

It’s obvious that art has always been central to her life, although it may have taken some time to work out just in what capacity. “When I was 18 I wanted to be really, really good at something. I wasn’t quite sure what. [...] It took me longer than it might have done to work out that what I’m best at is philosophy, with a side-order of poetry.

Maybe longer than it should have done, but hey, life is the journey. If we knew in advance where we were going to end up, we could just head straight there without the detours and false starts. In that case life would be a whole lot simpler, for sure. But on the other hand, it wouldn’t really be life.”

This sentiment undoubtedly rings true for those who spend their young years feeling lost, or who commit to one course only to find that it feels entirely wrong. Chappell says that two quotations sum up the lessons she would impart to those who feel directionless. “One is my favourite line from my favourite film, Moulin Rouge!: ‘The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.’

The other is a quotation from D. H. Lawrence: ‘Find your deepest impulse, and follow that.’”

Sophie Grace Chappell’s books include Ethics and Experience (Acumen 2009) and Knowing What to Do (OUP 2015).

Her next philosophy book Epiphanies is forthcoming in 2022 (OUP), as is a collection of her poems, Songs for Winter Rain (Ellipsis Imprints)

September 2021 — Feature

Sophie Grace Chappell

seen from the outside as somewhat impenetrable – woe betide the unlucky first year who picks it up as an ‘easy’ outside module. But Chappell points out that philosophy is much bigger than its academic study – it’s something that most of us engage with on a daily basis.

“When you ask whether anyone really knows anything, or what the difference is between a good argument and a bad argument [...] or whether other people have the same experience as you when they see something yellow – and what you mean here by ‘the same’, or ‘experience’, or indeed ‘yellow’ – when you engage with any of these questions you’re doing philosophy. All an academic can do is help you to think about questions like these in a clearer and more organised way.”

She’s recently finished writing a book on epiphanies, and weighs their importance in our lives against the value of the times when they are markedly absent. “I’m interested in how [the highs and lows of our psyches] interact, and in how the bad times feed and nourish and make possible the good times.” Originally a religious term, the ‘epiphany’ attained its contemporary meaning through the writing of James Joyce, who used it as a literary device in Stephen Hero and Dubliners. On whether any living artists seem to have taken up this mantle, Chappell points out that art is all about moments where something suddenly strikes you as overwhelmingly beautiful.

“Given that I’m 56, I won’t embarrass myself, and you, by trying to talk – in an arts magazine's student guide! – about the latest things in music, or in film for that matter. But the best Bob Dylan

Student Guide

“If we knew in advance where we were going to end up, we could just head straight there without the detours and false starts.

In that case life would be a whole lot simpler, for sure.

But on the other hand, it wouldn’t really be life”

Photo: Imogen Chappell

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here is nothing more wasteful of human potential than engrained hierarchies” – this is the doctrine of the Open University’s Sophie Grace Chappell. A professor of Philosophy, Chappell works most regularly on the topic of ethics, and is the only trans woman to hold a Philosophy Chair in the UK. Her work at the OU, she says, aims at undermining the hierarchy that is so deeply ingrained in UK society. It has, after all, been nicknamed by some ‘the university of the second chance’.

“Human beings are always full of potential, always capable of surprising you, of doing something new and amazing and creative. And we need to find ways of structuring society to realise that potential in as many people as we can,” says Chappell.

The Open University prides itself on giving anyone, anywhere, the chance to learn.

Chappell says this is reflected in the student demographic – from her home in Dundee where she lives with her family, she is able to reach a wide variety of students.

“Alongside 18-year-olds we have people in prison, we have people aboard submarines, we have hermits on Hebridean islands. We also have retired Whitehall mandarins and 75-year-old ex-Classics teachers; you can’t ever take it for granted, when you teach for the OU, that you’re not talking to a student who actually knows more about the topic of your lecture than you do yourself!”

Philosophy is a subject area that is often

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Money Worries As restrictions lift and life starts going back to some normality, we speak to young people about how spending the last year-and-a-bit in lockdown has changed their attitudes towards money

September 2021 — Feature

Student Guide

Interview: Eilidh Akilade Illustration: Edith Ault

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double vodka Diet Coke is significantly more expensive when you’re not pouring it in your own bedroom, pre-drinking for the night’s Zoom hang. Ubers add up. Brunch isn’t cheap.

Young people are re-learning all this now that we’re living a semi-normal life for the first time in a year and a half.

It’s an odd pairing: the world is reopening yet somehow it feels like the beginning of the end. A ‘fuck it’ attitude takes hold – we’ve just survived a pandemic after all – but that attitude gets increasingly expensive when the world continues to stay open. It’s not as if the pandemic years have been financially easy. Calls for rent controls were answered with rent increases – by an average of £73 a month in Glasgow, according to ECA International. Government funding has been cut for just about everything.

Plenty of workers were denied furlough, and instead were put on unpaid leave or simply made unemployed. Now, many young people are finding themselves on Universal Credit, amid panic-masters degrees, or moving back to the family home.

For Hamilton-based Laura*, 23, the pandemic marked the beginning of “almost intrusive thoughts” about money. These thoughts focused on financial security: “Why didn’t I save enough money for this, or why haven’t I started saving, or why don’t I know about saving money.” Laura’s emphasis on “I” is normal: we tend to blame ourselves for our financial concerns. In a country where money is one of many topics considered impolite dinner conversation, it’s unsurprising that we’re all a little financially incompetent. But we’re putting the weight of this responsibility on our already weary shoulders, amid a pandemic that has been catastrophically mismanaged by a Tory government.

However, lockdown marked almost the reverse for Hannah*, 20, from Glasgow. “Lockdown has helped me get into saving,” says Hannah.

She’s aware she says this from a place of privilege. For many, the pandemic brought serious financial fears from the offset and, for many more, financial fears are part of daily life, pandemic times or otherwise.

“2021 looks like a vodka shot in one hand, while logging into your banking app with the other” But, no matter the privilege behind your pandemic, everyone was looking for ways to cope as life changed forever. For many young people, that meant overspending. With not much of a social life during lockdown, Hannah started saving, but she isn’t shy to admit that she also started overspending on things she didn’t need.

“I definitely have overspent in lockdown, like big time,” she says. ASOS orders and takeaway coffees were as exciting as things got for her – and for just about everyone else. Material goods became a reminder of who we once were and of what our lives once looked like pre-pandemic.

“I was just being a bit impulsive,” Hannah tells me. Youth is often characterised by a certain recklessness that the pandemic took away. We woke up with a different kind of hangover: rather than regretting drunk Instagram stories, we’re — 28 —

instead regretting lockdown purchases and an empty savings account.

Recently, restrictions have been lifted in the UK, but Laura’s concerns remain the same. “I want to be chill and allow myself to have a good time – eat nice food and do nice things – without always coming home and feeling really guilty about how much I spent,” she says.

There’s a pressure to be carefree and fun-loving, to be the kind of person who doesn’t lie in bed at night worrying about their lack of savings. As Laura says: “I feel like money is a constant worry for me – which is not cute.”

Hannah, too, is “struggling spending money on going out while also budgeting,” but a social life isn’t all she’s trying to stretch her wage to. She wants to go on holiday and take driving lessons. Young people are hoping to spend money catching up on all that they missed out on over the last year and a bit – to buy back stolen pandemic time. But time and money are finite resources.

Nevertheless, arts student Laura, who is set to graduate a year from now, is looking to the future: “Do I reconsider my career path?” she wonders. It’s an anxiety-inducing task to ask the unpredictable: what career might survive future lockdowns and pandemics?

For Hannah, her head’s very much in the present. “I’m actually making a budget plan tonight – just to sort myself out,” she says. There’s a sense of immediacy. We have consistently given ourselves the-end-of-the-pandemic as a deadline; by the time COVID is over, we will have started therapy, learned a new language, started budgeting. While the pandemic is far from over, restrictions themselves have very much come to an end – and that personal budget now seems scarily necessary.

Young people aren’t only trying to balance a budget; they’re also trying to balance future stability with present happiness. 2021 looks like a vodka shot in one hand, while logging into your banking app with the other – and it seems like that balancing act will be around for some time. *Names have been changed to protect identities

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How to budget when you lack self-control L

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iving within your means can be hard at the best of times, but compounded with hormone-driven spontaneity, a dense backdrop of parties and low-interest borrowing opportunities, and you could have a recipe for financial crisis on your hands. While it’s easy to say “just set a budget and stick to it”, or to promise yourself that you’ll bulk cook every week, the reality is that impulse control isn’t always that simple. It’s important to prepare for your self-discipline to falter, and have mechanisms in place to limit the consequences when it does.

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The Direct Debit is your friend Set up as many bills as you can to go out via Direct Debit at the start of the month, so you don’t have time to eat into your student loan. Alternatively, keep the bulk of your monthly income in a second account, and arrange for it to be drip-fed into your primary account on a weekly basis. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you simply going into your online banking and transferring it back when you fancy a last-minute night out, but the idea here is that the act of having to transfer money over should act as a psychological block of sorts – not exactly insurmountable, but at least a trip hazard.

Don’t take out the maximum student overdraft straight away, and avoid credit cards. Given

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that most high street banks will approve student overdrafts more or less overnight, you can always take one out or extend it when in need. Going for £2000 immediately just because you can will only encourage you to spend recklessly, and it will take longer than you expect to get in the black again.

The most important piece of bank-related advice, and the one that students violate most regularly, is to keep looking at your bank balance.

Get mobile banking set up, and don’t let the fear of what you might see keep you from being prepared.

Don’t feel ashamed

Feeding the 5000 Invest in a big pan at the start of the year (3’’ deep x 9’’ diameter, minimum). Then pick one bulk recipe and perfect it – you can make ten portions of bolognese sauce for under a tenner if you shop cannily at Lidl (less if you cook without meat and cheese) – but be realistic. If you are not within walking distance of a reasonably-priced German supermarket, don’t budget on the basis that you will do all of your shopping there.

You’re unlikely to have the time or energy to go every week – but you can still save by shopping off-brand in your local store. Of course in an ideal week you’d do a bulk cook once a week, but even doing a huge cook once a month and then freezing most of the portions will set you up to stay wellnourished on a low budget. Complement this with as many frozen meals and cans of non-perishables as your hands can hold and you’ll know that even if disaster strikes you’ll be able to eat.

gov.uk/student-finance/ extra-help

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Lifestyle and Entertainment Make sure you’re taking advantage of deals on any recurrent expenditure – get a 16-25 railcard and a student Spotify plan (or, if you get on well with your flatmates, why not team up for a family plan?). And if you’re shopping for clothes, try charity shops rather than full-priced vintage shops, or head online for proper bargains. eBay, while sometimes harder to sift through, is a good alternative to app-based retailers like Depop and Vinted if you’re worried about having temptation so immediately accessible.

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If you find yourself in financial difficulty, or are struggling to make key payments, talk to someone. That could be your Personal Tutor, student union, or a family member or friend. Most universities offer hardship funding to students facing unexpected money problems, but alternatively here are some helpful websites to consider: nus.org.uk

nasma.org.uk

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studentminds.org.uk

“The most important piece of bankrelated advice, and the one that students violate most regularly, is to keep looking at your bank balance”

September 2021 — Feature

Establishing your budget First of all, it’s important that you get an idea of what your budget should be – even if you slip up, having these figures in your head will help you to move in the right direction. This doesn’t need to be an overwhelming task, just set aside an hour to add up your monthly income against your estimated expenditure. Money advice site Save The Student has created a really helpful budget spreadsheet which you can download – it’s easy to use, and they’ve done all the equations for you already so you don’t need to learn how to work Excel. Be aware that things like textbooks, rent and cheese will likely cost more than you are anticipating – while there isn’t much we can do to help with the last two, asking for your reading list in advance in order to buy second-hand copies will make a big difference.

Words: Laurie Presswood

Student Guide

Set yourself up for a year of financial stability with these tips, learnt the hard way

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August 2021 — Feature

Music

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Music

July 2021 — Feature

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So Fresh, So Clean

September 2021 — Feature

Student Guide

With Freshers’ Week able to incorporate club nights once again this year, we speak to the promoters behind popular student nights Overground and RARE about their plans and the safety measures that will be in place at their parties Interview: Nadia Younes Illustration: Jemima Muir

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ollowing the Scottish Government’s announcement last month that nightclubs would be allowed to safely reopen on 9 August, many of us who were deprived of late nights spent on sweaty dancefloors for the last year and a half flocked back to our favourite clubs at the soonest possible moment. But this month, as students return to in-class teaching, many students are set to have their first-ever clubbing experience during this year’s Freshers’ Week.

As nightclubs scrambled to prepare for reopening, so too did Scotland’s promoters, who rushed to plan their event schedules for the months ahead, following a prolonged period of uncertainty.

Popular Edinburgh club night Overground was due to celebrate its fifth birthday last March, before the pandemic hit, and will finally be able to do so this month during Freshers’ Week, with events at The Mash House on 17 September and The Bongo Club on 24 September.

Rather than booking a big name DJ, though, Overground founder James Wright has instead opted to showcase local line-ups “filled to the brim with homegrown talent,” he says. For all of Overground’s events, it will be a requirement to take a lateral flow test within 24 hours of the event, register with the Test & Protect QR Code on entry, and wear a mask in certain areas of the venue, excluding the dancefloor.

“With Edinburgh having such a large and international student population, it’s going to be more important than ever that we effectively communicate the measures we’re introducing to minimise risk of transmission,” says Wright. “Like any system, the one under which we’re operating is far from foolproof, and relies on people’s honesty. This includes honesty about taking the tests correctly, registering an accurate result, staying in if they have any symptoms, and quarantining if they have to.

“I’ve seen instances of venue staff being too overwhelmed to enforce the wearing of masks when ordering drinks,” he continues. “This rule isn’t in place solely to protect the staff themselves, but to allow for events to even go ahead in the first place. The responsibility lies not only with the venue, but also with the

attendees to behave responsibly.”

Rory Masson, founder of club night RARE, echoes Wright’s insistence on the importance of following the guidelines in order to avoid any further lockdowns and restrictions on the nightlife industry. “We are urging people to take regular LFTs before coming out to nightclubs,” says Masson. “This is to protect themselves, the people around them and also the staff at the clubs. The last thing we want is to have to close again because of an outbreak.”

RARE has been running in Aberdeen’s The Tunnels since 2015, encompassing weekly Thursday and monthly Saturday parties, and it expanded even further in 2018, launching a new weekly Wednesday party at Glasgow’s Sub Club.

Renowned for their legendary Freshers’ parties, RARE will be returning to The Tunnels for this year’s Freshers Week on 16 September, as well as hosting an event at La Cheetah in Glasgow on 14 September. “Usually we start planning our Freshers’ re-launch events in July time, [but] we were taken by surprise at nightclubs actually being able to open as normal for Freshers,” says Masson.

“We were worried that people might have lost their tolerance, would get too excited and accidents would happen. However, we have already had three events in August [which] went really smoothly and the crowd was great.

“I think it’s human instinct to want to socialise, dance and connect with people, so I’m not expecting this year’s new students to behave any differently,” he continues. “It’s such an important time for new students and for them to lose those first few weeks at university would be terrible. It’s the best time to make new friends, discover yourself a bit and make a few mistakes along the way.”

After months of limited social contact and endless hours spent on Zoom, Wright is equally hopeful that the mood among this year’s Freshers’ Week will be one of excitement rather than apprehension. “In general I think we’ve all noticed an atmosphere of tension and edginess in crowded environments,” he says. “Nightclubs are the spots where we come to let loose, so hopefully it’s a breath of fresh air for them.”

Freshers’ Week may well take a very different shape this year, with less of the usual inflatables, foam parties, and generally very COVIDunfriendly behaviour, and for students stepping foot into a nightclub for the first time ever this month the clubbing experience is likely to be very different. But that all-important feeling of connecting with a group of people on a dancefloor is at the core of what makes clubbing so special, and nothing will ever take that away.

Overground’s 5th Birthday takes place at The Mash House, Edinburgh 17 Sep & The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, 24 Sep RARE: Freshers Party takes place at La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 14 Sep & The Tunnels, Aberdeen, 16 Sep

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Comedy

August 2021 — Feature

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August 2021 — Feature

Film

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Virtual Reality With the arrival of a new expansion pack, Cottage Living, one writer contemplates what The Sims has taught them about idealising work, productivity and success Words: Xandra Robinson-Burns Intersections

The Sims 4 Cottage Living by BusinessWire / EA

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successes before going to bed at a reasonable hour. This hypothetical self-care study group pointed to my actual desire for a community of women, supporting each other’s dreams, and leveraging humanities degrees into well-paying arts careers.

Then, there was Salim Benali, an aspiring novelist with the Lazy trait, who came with the City Living expansion pack. His bio in the game hints that he played too many video games and didn’t get any writing done. I reframed this narrative, suggesting that he can indeed complete writing projects, have fun, and take naps. In fact, in my version of the story, Salim’s passion for video games helps him channel his creativity. He becomes a fantasy novelist, spawning geeky franchises beloved by fellow gaming nerds. Perhaps I, like Salim, desire to make meaning from the games I play in my downtime. Games aren’t lazy or counterproductive, but integral to my creative work. I didn’t set out to recreate my dreams in The Sims, but it happened anyway, where I least expected it.

When the most recent Sims expansion pack, Cottage Living, was announced, I knew I had to give it a go. Cottage living is my literal life goal at present. That said, my dream of moving to the woods is pretty vague. I desire the quiet, the trees, a space to write – but I’m still defining the details.

Historically, my Sims’ storylines have given me unexpected life guidance. Could I leverage that into learning about an actual aspiration of mine?

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Or would simulating cottage life distract me from my real life goals?

Booting up my game with Cottage Living installed, I created a few different storylines, but couldn’t get into the flow with any of them. It felt like work, imposing my personal agenda of life clarity onto this wholesome village of an expansion pack. While I would enjoy many of the Cottage Living activities IRL, I noticed a disconnect between how these actions feel as tasks rather than as parts of life. The game quantifies a cottage bucket list, defining certain activities as ‘success’. While I would love to max my relationship bar with a flock of wild birds by singing together, I am more interested in the act than the achievement. I would do this every day, and never truly be ‘done’. In the game though, making my Sim do this all the time is, frankly, boring.

The Sims quantifies life progress in a way that is artificial in real life, and yet, we fall into the traps of progress bars and arbitrary achievement anyway. So while some of my Sims taught me how I want to go about goals, Cottage Living made me ask myself: what if my next goal is no goal?

Perhaps I’ve levelled out of levelling up. While I am seduced by progress, my next great challenge in life is to let go of the levels and just live.

The scary thing about actual cottage life is that there is no winning. And isn’t that how The Sims started out? Life can be simple. Just feed yourself, get enough sleep, and check for ladders when you get in the pool.

September 2021 — Feature

he way you play The Sims says a lot about you as a person. This I have believed since the first version of the game came out when I was nine years old. With no clear way to ‘win’ the game, The Sims requires you to bring your own measures of success. Some players enjoy making beautiful homes, earning more money, or building a legacy that lasts generations. As a kid I would steer clear of anyone who delighted in finding creative ways to murder their Sims, such as drowning them by deleting pool ladders. My preferred gameplay is a mix of time management and storytelling. I craft backstories for my Sims, who max out skills and climb virtual career ladders, satisfying my favourite pastime: productivity.

Selecting which expansion packs to buy is another personality test. Strangely, I am most drawn to packs for activities I don’t actually want to do, like Get Famous or Discover University. I passed over Cats & Dogs, because my own dog requires enough of my attention. City Living, however, brought me some lockdown solace, when I got to experience virtual festivals, street art, and food stalls through my Sims.

Recently, I have caught on to how the storylines I create in the game ‘just for fun’ are actually clues for how I want to live IRL. The University expansion pack became a fantasy version of academia, as I created a student house of ambitious women, all excelling in their studies while prioritising wellness. They cook nourishing meals, go for morning jogs, and share their

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Video Activism Art

Videomaker, visual artist and activist belit sağ discusses the inexorable link between image-making and violence Interview: Jessica McGoff

September 2021 — Feature

Image: courtesy of the artist

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hat is the role, what is the function of the image?” In conversation with video maker and visual artist belit sağ, she describes this question as one that sustains, or perhaps incites, her practice. It’s the same question that I was struck by when I watched a retrospective of her work at Alchemy Film and Media Arts Festival online this year — the work itself poses it. sağ has been working with images for decades – her roots are in video activist groups in her home country of Turkey. In the 1990s and early 2000s, she co-initiated projects such as VideA, Karahaber and bak.ma. Alchemy’s programme of sağ’s work was a retrospective characterised by not only its vitality and endurance, but its urgency. sağ’s work reckons with images of violence and the violence of image-making, and I wanted to discuss with her how we can make sense of, and perhaps even find spaces for activism in, our current violent and image-based world.

I speak to sağ over a video call from her studio in Amsterdam. We talk immediately about the thread that runs throughout her work: the affirmation that violence does not happen separate from image-making. “Images are an extension of the violence that is practised on certain communities,” she tells me, “at least in Turkey and the communities I’m talking about in the videos I’ve made.” sağ’s work about Turkey does indeed assert that these political conflicts are so often inexorably linked to images. In her video Ayhan and me, sağ holds up a photograph of Ayhan Çarkın, a member of the Special Operations police in Turkey who claimed to have killed thousands of Kurdish people as part of an underground military wing of the state. In the video, sağ continuously places her hand over the image in a gesture of ‘now you see it, now you don’t’. In voiceover, she muses on this peek-a-boo routine: “A little like how history is written, I guess.”

In our conversation, sağ also emphasises the very literal role that images can play in violence.

“Why would you document and distribute someone’s torture? Or that body taken into the streets?

There is a certain way of remembering that it creates. Once you think about this person, that becomes the first image in the memory. It also

Still from cut-out, belit sağ

gives a message to the larger community that the person is part of, saying: if you do that, this is how you’ll end up. If you speak up, if you say anything, that’s what will happen to you. It’s a scare tactic… not just that, it’s a threat. It no longer only happened to that person, it’s now a threat to the whole community.”

So, what do we do with images of violence?

What can be done with them? sağ’s practice utilises these images for different means. She describes how she approaches these images, which she emphasises comes from her need to find an “inevitably small, and inevitably subjective,” way into these huge issues. She often emphasises the personal encounter with the image in her work, which informs the re-appropriation of the image. “What I’m doing is constantly contextualising images, taking them out of their context and then questioning that context, because that context is also created. It could be images that were produced at the same time, or images with 30 years between them, but certain things repeat, and certain types of images are used in that repetition. I’m trying to understand this relationship – what kind of repetitions happen?”

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Questioning the order, the context and the repetition of images is a potent tactic in sağ’s work. In her video cut-out, she presents the police file photos of the Nationalist Socialist Underground’s victims: ten people, mostly of Turkish and Kurdish backgrounds who were killed by the far-right terrorist organisation in Germany between 2000 and 2007. Already, the institutional context weighs heavy: the police treated these cases like individual assaults, ignoring the pattern of terrorism behind these targeted murders. sağ takes each photograph individually, speculating on the circumstances of each – did the person choose their photo’s background, was it taken at a photo studio, or cut out from a holiday snapshot? She then questions their arrangement, noting that the tenth victim appears fifth in this version of the file photo. In voiceover, sağ asks, “Was she supposed to be killed or remembered earlier?” By disrupting the context of these images, sağ exposes it, and reminds us that our encounters with images are so often already determined by political parameters.

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Image: courtesy of the artist

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Still from Ayhan and me, belit sağ

“Why would you document and distribute someone’s torture? Or that body taken into the streets?” belit sağ

this kind of imagework is always “an active way of fighting,” especially as “the mainstream creates a certain practice, and that becomes the practice, the way to read images, the way to engage with them.

So, what is another way? What is the other way?”

You can see this dynamic of mainstream versus alternative images in effect in her video and the image gazes back. The video utilises images that reimagine the real (Dog Day Afternoon compared with footage from John Stanley Wojitowicz’s actual bank robbery) and realities that seem like fiction (the 1981 coup d’état attempt of the Spanish government, which sağ in voiceover observes looks more like a scene from the Pink Panther than a defining moment in the history of Spain). Near the end of the video, sağ reflects on the comparison between the ISIS-distributed beheading video of journalist James Foley and the 1995 Hollywood film Seven. She asks, “How many ways are there to execute someone in the world of images available to us?”

It’s a question revealing the imperative that we remain engaged with, and literate about, images. It’s not only that images inform each other, or that reality and fiction bleed, but also that we must practise reading the images surrounding us.

We’re in a situation where the pace of image production and distribution is faster than ever, presented to us primarily by algorithm as part of vast networked capitalist structures. How do we resist becoming simply overpowered?

In our conversation, sağ points out the importance of, “finding practices where one can still engage with images, and not become overwhelmed or feel powerless against them. There’s no space for us in these images we come across online and in all the ways they are distributed, how they end up in our timelines. It can create a practice of passivity but also of being — 37 —

overwhelmed. One needs to take breaks and protect themselves, but there is also a need to be an active part of it all, not just exposed to it. A question in my work is how to create ways of doing so – that’s what I am trying to do with my practice.”

Alchemy’s belit sağ retrospective was a testament to how, throughout ever-shifting political and technological circumstances, sağ has always carved out her own practice. Her work serves as both interrogation and response to the question of how violence happens through and with images.

In conversation, sağ reflects on what sustains her practice: “I have a very close relationship with images through my work – I’m talking about them and critiquing how they are used, but sometimes I feel it is useless to do it only through the use of images. I feel at this point I want to create spaces, stories, narratives and continue to focus on construction and never reaction. I ask myself, what are the ways that I want to work with images? What are the ways I want to create these stories, what is the practice I’m interested in, or admire, or want to explore?

You keep trying to get close and then suddenly that is the practice, trying in a multiplicity of ways to get close, defining multiple proximities and distances, and that becomes the practice.

That’s something that I find valuable, and I strive to practise in this way.”

Earlier this year Alchemy Film & Arts, LUX Scotland and The Skinny worked together to offer an open-call programme of writing workshops for early-career writers, addressing artists’ moving image and experimental film. This text is the first in a new series of commissioned writing that result from this partnership programme

September 2021 — Feature

The nature of image creation and image distribution has changed so much during sağ’s time as an activist and artist. In our conversation, she reflected on these changes, recounting the 2013 Gezi uprising: “In the 90s and 2000s, we had to invest in cameras, and if there was a demonstration, groups would call us or we’d show up and record it. In 2013, there was no such need, because everyone had their phones. There was no need for a ‘video activist.’”

It was around this time that sağ collectively started bak.ma, an audiovisual archive of protest movements in Turkey. The activist onus became less about creating images, and more about collecting them. However, the archive did not only capture these waves of new phone-based images, but also uncovered images from Turkey’s past. sağ tells me, “There are images from the First of May 1977 [the Taksim Square massacre] in that archive now. It’s crazy because none of us were directly there at that time, but you start collecting and suddenly discover all these video activists that didn’t call themselves video activists – the whole lineage starts appearing.”

Certain concerns have remained constant for sağ in her activist practice: she emphasises that

THE SKINNY

Original Thoughts Ahead of the release of his boundary-pushing new record, Hamish Hawk discusses performativity, esoteric lyrics and the journey of songwriting

September 2021 — Feature

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storyteller, subverting common misconceptions of pop; an architect, constantly polishing and redeveloping; music as an act of creation that can have no end. Hamish Hawk’s Heavy Elevator is comprised of a series of wittily dark character portraits that find themselves fleshed out in dramatic chamber pop fashion, elucidated by seemingly incoherent imagery and lyrical phrasing. Accompanying them, so far, are three equally dark and wittily performed videos, existing, if anything, to amplify this universe that is Hawk’s Heavy Elevator. In one, Hawk appears as a jester, channelling the fool from King Lear, in another he’s playing badminton in Leith Theatre. What both set up, though, is that with this record, things are getting serious.

For Hawk, though, this outward performativity lends itself to a better sense of authenticity when it comes to translating this record, which stands as something much darker, more mature, than any previous projects. “It feels more real to me,” he says. “But in order to communicate that, you need to push yourself away a bit, and almost say to an audience ‘I’m not going to do much talking to you, and it might look like I’m in my own world, but it’s because I’m concentrating on communicating it to you in the appropriate way.’

So out of a desire to be authentic, it almost looks like more of a performance, where what I was doing before, to me, was way more of a performance.” Retaining this authenticity to his music, and by virtue of that, himself, Hawk’s communication and performance of Heavy Elevator stands to depart from anything he has done before.

This sense of change seeps further through the record, using pop music as a skeleton from which to structure a body of work that is darker and more aggressive, yet more fully-formed, and ultimately, enjoyable to hear. Take Caterpillar and its new-wave danceability, and consider the troubled voice that runs through it: ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me /

“Sometimes you will be in Scotmid listening to Édith Piaf, and you never really thought about how that music interacts with buying a loaf of bread” Hamish Hawk

Photo: Gabriela Silveira

Music

Interview: Bethany Davison

Killer offer me relief’. “Caterpillar was the kind of song that I thought: my mum isn’t going to like this,” he says. Which does present a struggle, or conflict with this way of performing. If pop structures act as a vehicle through which you can bear yourself, you can emit darkness and dance away with it, how do you avoid taking things too far?

The answer would be Hawk’s esoteric lyrical vignettes. “I think really, if people are anything like me, they’re crying out for stuff that is something they don’t quite get. Something you don’t understand can be really exciting; it’s the way to move forward,” he explains. “I love the idea of lyrics that are original thoughts. And what I’m trying to do with my music is have as many of those original thoughts as possible.” The result of this is a record with a plenitude to unpack. An example being The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973, which opens with lines that are easy to find yourself hung-up on, in their simultaneous complex simplicity: ‘To write a cathedral, I’ll need a ball-point pen / It’ll sound like Common People sung by Christopher Wren.’

With images so abstract, and a use of language forms deliberately unusual, it becomes surprising that Heavy Elevator is, within this, underwritten by personal encounters and experiences. Understanding how these abstractions relate offers up, perhaps, the record’s most personal revelation of all; a window into the workings of his mind, and a seat within the — 38 —

intricate connections of his life. “The journey of writing a song, to me, is taking myself to a place in my head. That could be a city, or the corner of a particular room, or a real place where I sat in a chair at one point,” he explains. “I like to do that, and position myself in one space, and then try and work out what that space is metaphorically speaking, what it is I’m trying to get out of that.

“And then I put other things in it; I populate it with people, famous figures, particular records, novels, whatever it might be, and see how they interact with one another,” he continues. “I like that communion of imagery – it’s the thing that makes my songwriting ‘weird’ to some people, but it’s all part of my life.

“You know, sometimes you will be in Scotmid listening to Édith Piaf, and you never really thought about how that music interacts with buying a loaf of bread. And I am fascinated by that sort of thing – I’m carrying around all of these relationships with these sorts of things, and occasionally one of these things will come into my head when I’m in some other place, and I have to think – what does that say about that?”

Heavy Elevator is released on 17 Sep via Assai Recordings; Hamish Hawk plays Hidden Door Festival, Edinburgh, 15 Sep hamishhawk.com

THE SKINNY

New Blood We catch up with Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale to chat about how the past year and a half has led to her new creative project under the moniker Stina Marie Claire Interview: Cheri Amour Music

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ith a freshly-founded record label and Patreon-powered EP due on 1 October, Honeyblood’s Stina Tweeddale’s last 18 months have been far from idle. “I was supposed to play Doune the Rabbit Hole this weekend and it’s cancelled. My show would’ve been tomorrow,” explains Tweeddale wistfully over our video call.

She’s dialled in from a corridor in her new home

“It’s great to have complete control over your own destiny and your future” Stina Tweeddale Photo: Craig McIntosh

— 39 —

Picking up the guitar during lockdown proved trickier than first envisioned, and so a lot of the money raised from the live streams initially went straight back into the project to purchase a synth.

“I work at night, which is annoying for people who live with me because I’m up at 4am raving to my own music. I wanted something that was going to be loud but I can plug it in, and it wasn’t going to disturb anyone.” The new EP, The Sundays-inspired A Souvenir of a Terrible Year, is a product of her online community’s unwavering support over the last 18 months who, she explains, are behind every decision of the release; from which tracks made the cut to the EP title and accompanying artwork.

For those of us who struggled to meet our ambitions of learning a foreign language or finally penning that book, Tweeddale’s ability to present a completely new creative guise seems admirable.

But the tenacious songwriter didn’t stop there. The EP will be put out on ICEBLINK LUCK, the label and management company Tweeddale co-founded with SMIA Creative Projects and Communications Director Robert Kilpatrick in December 2019. It's another way for the headstrong artist to have full autonomy over her work, she admits. “It was very scary to think about but it’s great to have complete control over your own destiny and your future.”

The collective is also committed to developing new blood on the local scene, especially after so many years within it herself. “It’s nice to be Mother Hen for once. It gives me the chance to be like, ‘Okay, here are all the terrible mistakes that I’ve made in my career. Don’t do them.’”

Speaking to Tweeddale, it’s clear that this period of enforced isolation has given her time to slow down and reflect after the fast-paced life on the road. After all, the sweet spot of Honeyblood will always be rooted in Scotland. “I spent so much of my time travelling around the world but being forced to stay [here] made me look inwardly at our own community. Creatively, there’s so much variety and uniqueness. Maybe it’s a good thing to stop searching outwardly for something and just look at who’s around you.”

A Souvenir of a Terrible Year is released on 1 Oct via ICEBLINK LUCK honeyblood.net/stina-marie-claire

September 2021 — Feature

crouched on a piano stool so we “can’t see the mess”. But with her parents also relocating recently, the Scottish songwriter wastes no time in presenting a box-fresh Titanic VHS set complete with a fan-collectable film reel straight from the cutting room floor. “This would have been so chucky at the time,” she jokes, placing the pieces neatly back inside their case.

Despite all the disarray, both physically in her new digs not to mention the global state of affairs, Tweeddale has remained a focused creative force.

Something that’s only been propelled by a steadfast fleet of fans she’s harboured since her band Honeyblood’s self-titled debut in 2014. But early last year, like many musicians, she was forced to pivot. In the absence of her London-based bandmates, the musician began streaming solo performances online from her studio inviting a selection of Scots-based pals to join proceedings, from synth maven Carla J. Easton to songwriter Martha Ffion.

But when lockdown hit, Tweeddale was forced to call off the upcoming sessions. “I remember sending emails to people being like, ‘I’ll get back in touch. Maybe we can do it again in a couple of weeks when this all blows over?’”

Buoyed by the reception of the streamed shows, Tweeddale looked to continue that camaraderie in a more permanent form. She turned to Patreon to launch a fans-only space for creative collaborations alongside a bid to address more immediate threats to her as an artist who’s made their trade on the live circuit. “From a basic financial level, I was like, ‘What am I going to do with no shows?’ I only thought it was going to run for a couple of weeks but it’s financially supported me this whole time,” she shares with a noticeable sense of gratitude. “Every week, I break down like, ‘Oh, my cat can have a good life because [of] you guys.’”

This intimacy with her fanbase isn’t a new concept for a performer like Tweeddale though.

Only now, of course, it’s not just mere moments at the merch stand but on a continuous level to develop something fresh. “If you’ve been to a Honeyblood show, everybody knows I’m not one of these people that walks off stage and to the van.

I’ll be the last person in the room chatting. Patreon is an extended version of that.” Her something fresh comes in the form of Stina Marie Claire, a moniker that encapsulated the new persona born through her online Patreon community and a new way of working.

THE SKINNY

Feeling Hopeful Singer and guitarist Adam Thompson gives us a track-by-track rundown of Enjoy the View, the hopeful new album from We Were Promised Jetpacks

Music

Words: Adam Thompson Enjoy the View is released on 10 Sep via Big Scary Monsters wewerepromisedjetpacks.com

Not Me Anymore I was wanting to write a song in a different style and not use any guitars. At the time of writing I was feeling hopeful and wanting to shed what I believed was an older version of myself and begin again. We originally thought this song would end the first half of the record but when it came to finalising the tracklist it only made sense to us if it opened the album.

I Wish You Well The bridge part was really fun to put together. There were a couple of parts in there that we all spent hours trying to work out if they were fitting together correctly. What a euphoric moment for us when we got the mix back of this one! We were all really happy with it instantly. Andy Bush had suggested the higher guitar line as an intro and I love that part. Cheers, Andy!

Fat Chance From March to July 2020 we wrote about eight or nine new songs, sending demos back and forth to one another. When we were finally able to get in the same room and play live together this came out of the blue. It’s about recognising that glimmer of light after you’d not given yourself a chance and believing you can do better and be better, no matter what you’ve been through.

Blood, Sweat, Tears I bought an EHX synth pedal and was wailing out big chunky guitar lead lines and stumbled upon the chorus chords and melody for this song. I love the bouncy, playful verses and the bridge ended up working out much better than I was expecting!

[It] had a last minute addition of lead guitar which I can’t wait to wail at a gig. During writing this song I was thinking about what it feels like when you are just pulling yourself through the slog of every day and every day you wake up thinking “no thank you”.

All That Glittered We made a demo of this song with Andy Bush (who engineered, co-produced and mixed this album) in early 2019, not long after Michael [Palmer] had left the band. We’d written all Jetpacks music together since 2005 so it was definitely strange to adjust and figure out our three-piece path. We enjoyed figuring out all the moving parts of this song and rhythmically it felt different to anything else on the album.

What I Know Now We started jamming this song together before the pandemic. We’d turn the lights off and Sean [Smith, bass] and Darren [Lackie, drums] would play the verse over and over and I would just sing myself into a trance. We always thought the song had something about it and that for some reason we were never really worried about forcing ourselves to finish it. With the rest of the album we tried to trim off the fat and keep each song as lean as possible but with this one we gave it time to flourish.

Just Don’t Think About It I must have started writing this song a while ago but felt connected to it again during recording the album and couldn’t believe I had never finished it the first time! I made a demo when I got home that night and recorded some layered vocals off the cuff and really fell in love with the mediative feel of the song. A reminder that it is OK to not think about some things you don’t want to think about sometimes.

Photo: Euan Robertson

September 2021 — Feature

Don’t Hold Your Breath for Too Long This song is probably the one that has changed the most from where it started. We took whole sections out and put new ones in to half it, flip it and twist it about a bit. We simplified some rhythms to try and make the end section a total party. We had some great, exciting moments recording this one. Lovely memories made with my mates. Six weeks of laughs in what was overall an absolutely shite time for everyone on the planet.

Nothing Ever Changes Sean and Darren wrote most of this song when I was on a holiday. I think we tweaked the chorus and then Sean wrote a new part for it and then we had a song! Definitely one of the most fun to play with some bigger, jaggy sounding guitars and pounding drums. It’s about wanting to reach out to someone but not being sure how to make that first move.

If It Happens We had the skeleton of this song for years but it only started making sense during the writing sessions for this album. I somehow found myself in a place where I wasn’t worried about the past or the future and it felt good. Proper living in the moment stuff.

— 40 —

THE SKINNY

We Wanna Be Free We look back at Primal Scream’s magnum opus at 30 – the last word on dancefloor-ready neopsychedelia whose influence is still felt today Words: Lewis Wade Music

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By the time Screamadelica won the inaugural Mercury Prize in 1992, the burgeoning movement was over, the dance elements to be subsumed into the harder rave scene of the 90s and the rock elements to provide the seeds that Britpop would soon take up and ride to chart domination for the rest of the decade. Tellingly, the band never attempted another album that sounds like this one, perhaps appreciating the unique, lightning-in-a-bottle magic at play here.

But its influence has been strongly felt both at home and abroad; Scottish indie was brilliant in the 80s (Orange Juice, The Associates, Aztec Camera etc), but the parameters were fairly narrow until Primal Scream opened the door to funk, house, electronic etc. This openness continued in great 00s bands like Life Without Buildings and Franz Ferdinand and is still felt today in Django Django and even Young Fathers. Outside Scotland, Daft Punk have praised Screamadelica’s brilliance and Mark Ronson cites the album as the one that got him into indie, informing his production style to this day. Solar Power, the first single from Lorde’s most recent album, is clearly indebted to Loaded, so much so that she contacted Gillespie to get his approval. Lorde claims she’d never even heard of Primal Scream, all the more evidence that the band’s influence has seeped into international musical culture, though perhaps lacking the recognition.

For a brief moment, rock, acid-house, psychedelia and more congealed into a gleeful genre-less gloop that focused more on vibes than posturing, an unabashed desire for joy that wouldn’t be seen again until the internet started to break down genre borders in the late 00s. It couldn’t happen again, and it would be foolish to attempt, but Screamadelica is the culmination of that moment and a potent gateway drug to experience those feelings again.

Screamadelica was first released on 21 Sep 1991 via Creation Records; three special releases via Sony Music are due to celebrate the 30th anniversary, two on 17 Sep and one 15 Oct store.primalscream.net

— 41 —

September 2021 — Feature

e wanna be free to do what we wanna do / And we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time!’

So demands Peter Fonda in the intro to Loaded, in a speech far more famous than the film it came from (The Wild Angels, not Easy Rider), succinctly setting out the late 60s counterculture stall. And this was precisely the hedonistic vibe that The Stone Roses had catapulted into the mainstream a year earlier in 1989 with their self-titled debut, hinting at a style that the fledgling Primal Scream had been struggling to find in their early years.

Released a full 18 months before Screamadelica, Loaded was the first taste of what was to become the defining document (alongside The Stone Roses) of the neo-psychedelic movement that dominated British alternative music in the late 80s and early 90s. Now, 30 years on, it’s clear why this album was a watershed moment; from its iconic acid-dappled cover art, through the house-inspired production of the late Andrew Weatherall, to the kaleidoscopic exuberance that bleeds through each glorious song.

Before this album, Primal Scream were grasping for an identity. Despite helping to inspire the C86 jangle-pop sound with their waifish, underrated Velocity Girl in 1986, the band had switched line-ups and experimented with different styles over two poorly received albums. But Bobby Gillespie’s omnivorous musical appetite and willingness to incorporate anything going is what gives Screamadelica its uniquely jumbled flavour (not unlike The Avalanches’ Since I Left You, though they needed over 1000 samples to do it, not just bongos, ecstasy and a working knowledge of mid-80s Chicago house).

The album opens with Movin’ on Up – unashamedly cribbing from The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil – which provides one of the few links to past and future Primal Scream with the searing hard-rock guitars, but the prominence of gospel singers, the electronic production and Gillespie’s light touch vocals are the first signs that this is a different beast. The psychedelia is immediately dialled up on the cover of Slip Inside This House, with whirling sitars sitting next to a syrupy Amen break. And then Don’t Fight It, Feel It runs dangerously close to the vapid dance music of the era that paired interchangeable soul singers with pseudo-transcendent electronics, but is saved

by Weatherall’s Midas touch and the thrilling Italo-house piano that enters midway through. These three songs are very different, but they represent the album perfectly in their marriages of dance and rock, along with so much more.

Gillespie is a less prominent vocal presence throughout the album (sometimes not appearing at all), frequently ceding the floor to the many experimental flourishes; the pitched-down orchestra plus haunted yodelling of Inner Flight; the shrill, overbearing saxophone of I’m Comin’ Down; the corny/cosmic psychedelia of Come Together (which gestates for almost five minutes before the uplifting chorus comes in); the spooky accordion of Shine Like Stars. It gives the album an inclusive, cohesive feel, ideal for the sense of collective hedonism and creative freedom that permeates and defines Screamadelica.

THE SKINNY

Walk This Way By 2030, Edinburgh plans to have a net-zero carbon footprint. One way to help the city achieve this is by choosing to meet friends by foot, wheel or bike. Viktoriia Telfer and Ana Alexander did just that on a recent trip to the Edinburgh Climate Festival Advertising Feature

Interview: Jamie Dunn

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ontent creators Viktoriia Telfer (@viktoriiadiaries) and Ana Alexander (@ana.is.fun) live in different parts of Edinburgh but took the opportunity to meet each other halfway by attending Edinburgh Climate Festival at Leith Links, with Viktoriia travelling from Dean Village and Ana from the city centre.

We caught up with Viktoriia to hear about her highlights from her half of the journey and the benefits of getting out on foot and meeting a friend halfway.

September 2021

Dean Village

The Skinny: Where did you decide to meet Ana? Viktoriia Telfer: We initially thought about the Shore in Leith, but weren’t quite sure where exactly. The Shore is famous for authentic cafes and shops with lots of culture and good food! We ended up picking Toast, a medium-size cafe with all-day food, wine, pastries and ice cream – nothing too complicated, just a very nice place to meet with pals. If you sit outside you get to enjoy the life of the Shore and the view over the water on a good day. This is exactly what we did before it started raining and we had to go inside.

How did you choose your route?

I really love the western part of central Edinburgh, especially Dean Village, so it was a very easy decision for me to start from there. Plus you get to see how the architecture changes as you make your way to Leith.

I made sure I could go through Stockbridge so I could pop into a few independent shops like Druid, Aetla and I.J. Mellis. After that I spent the majority of my time on the Water of Leith walkway which is the best getaway right in the heart of Edinburgh – lots of greenery and you can cross the whole city following this route. Does any other city have that? I am not sure.

this and yet again, prove that Edinburgh is a very green city and you don’t need a car to get around, as long as you have some time to walk, wheel or cycle.

Did you get any food or drink on your route?

Yep, on the way to the Shore I grabbed a green smoothie at Grams, one of my favourite places to have a healthy brunch or lunch at. At Toast, Ana and I had some amazing hummus and another green juice.

While walking back I discovered a new (perhaps not that new, but it was for me) location of Mimi’s Bakery on Comely Bank Road to grab their amazing brownies for me and my husband for when I arrived home.

Modern One

After lunch, you went on to the Edinburgh Climate Festival. How was it?

The event was much bigger than I expected! I was happy to see so much diversity and enthusiasm from everyone who had a stall. Kids were having the time of their life joining different workshops while adults were listening to some inspiring folk about our greener future. It was good to see some familiar local brands, bakeries and lots of students who care about the future of Edinburgh and our planet overall.

What, for you, were the benefits of meeting halfway?

Exploring Edinburgh by foot is never boring and every single time you will Edinburgh Climate Festival find something new. I would say that I know Edinburgh pretty well, but walks like these make you notice tiny little details, new additions or hidden gems that you would never notice from the car. It doesn’t matter if you lived in this city Did anything surprise you on for decades or moved recently, you will your journey? always see more every time you go out.

Pouring rain when I least expected it, Mark my words! and the actual length of my route. I love Follow Viktoriia Telfer's journey walking and I am generally very active, @viktoriiadiaries although this route was about 5km one way and then another 5km back. You To find out more about the health and envican see the map in my Instagram ronmental benefits of the City of Edinburgh Highlights. Don’t be put off by [the distance] though, you can cut it short at Council's Meet Me Halfway campaign, as any point and turn back, picking a circle well as ideas for your own journey, head to edinburgh.gov.uk/meetmehalfway route back to the West End or Modern

Mr Purves

One, where I later finished my journey.

It is not often that I walk all the way to Leith, so it was really nice to do

— 42 —

“It doesn’t matter if you lived in this city for decades or moved recently, you will always see more every time you go out” Viktoriia Telfer

THE SKINNY

Role Reversal Irish filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor speak to us about their slippery new thriller Rose Plays Julie, which avoids the misogynistic tropes of cinema’s past while speaking to the spectre of male violence that continues to haunt society Interview: Philip Concannon

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“Cinema is full of dead female bodies...

If nothing else, we were not going to have a woman dying in our film in a brutal and violent way” Christine Molloy

and you’re not necessarily controlling its direction, but it’s sort of controlling you. Before you know it, something terrible is happening towards the end of the film, and you’re surprised by it.”

Something terrible has also occurred long before we meet these characters. Rose Plays Julie is a film concerned with the constant threat of male violence. It was important for Molloy and Lawlor to tell this story in a way that respects the integrity of their female protagonists, and to avoid the kind of lurid and exploitative approach that we’ve seen too often before.

“For me and for Joe, cinema is full of dead female bodies,” Molloy says. “They die in all kinds of ways. I mean, I know that cinema is also full of dead male bodies – you look at westerns and war films – but they’re often heroic and full of machismo and courage, whereas women are dismantled and destroyed. If nothing else, we were not going to have a woman dying in our film in a brutal and violent way, and for that to be the reveal or the other twist in the narrative, and we also knew that we wouldn’t have rape depicted on screen because cinema’s also full of rape.

Not in Rose Plays Julie, anyway. I’m just not interested.”

When Rose Plays Julie had its world premiere at the London Film Festival in 2019, it looked primed to provoke debate at a time when sexual abuse by men in positions of power was rarely far from the headlines. “I kind of thought it had found its place when we showed it in London,” Molloy says.

“We had been working on the project for quite a few years, so it certainly wasn’t a response to the Me Too movement, and yet it felt that it was somewhere in that conversation.”

Almost two years on, however, the film feels even more keyed into the times in which we are living. We are conducting this interview two weeks after a landmark case in which a man was convicted of a decades-old rape that conceived a child, and days after a young man consumed by misogyny killed five people in Plymouth. These are just two of the recent news stories that cast a shadow over our conversation. “After what happened in Plymouth at the weekend and now what’s happening in Afghanistan, the price that women are going to have to pay, it feels like the film is finding a different kind of place that’s probably even more relevant,” Molloy says. “I mean, it’s ongoing, it’s perennial. It doesn’t go away, obviously, but it kind of comes into our sightlines every so often in a more forceful way.”

Rose Plays Julie is released 17 Sep by New Wave

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September 2021 — Feature

ho are you?” Those are the words we see scrawled on a Post-it Note towards the end of Rose Plays Julie, and it’s a question that goes to the heart of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s work. Since making their feature debut with Helen in 2008, this filmmaking team has explored the slippery nature of identity and the way past traumas can shape our present lives, and Rose Plays Julie is their most potent examination of these themes yet. This quietly riveting film follows a young Irish woman named Rose (Ann Skelly) who adopts a new persona as she tracks down her birth mother, Ellen (Orla Brady), and subsequently discovers the shocking truth about the circumstances of her conception.

Rose’s quest is a queasily compelling one to follow, as she makes a series of bold and naïve choices that push her into dangerous situations with the deceptively affable Peter (Aidan Gillen). The film seems to be following a thriller template, but it keeps subverting our expectations and it emerges as a more thoughtful and ambiguous piece of work that blurs genre conventions. “I wouldn’t say that it was driven by a desire to write a revenge thriller or drama,” Molloy tells me over Zoom from the couple’s home in London. “If I think of revenge, I think of somebody deliberately setting out on a path. They have an end in mind, and they’re going to try and achieve that end, which might be to kill somebody or to teach them a lesson or whatever. In Rose Plays Julie, her initial journey was to try and find her birth mother, which is about finding answers to who you are. Somewhere along the way it shifts gear, but I think it was never really driven by a quest for revenge. I think it was much more on our mind as we were writing the script that it’s a love story between the mother and daughter, an unusual love story.”

“I think in the process of writing, you’re not necessarily always clear about what the ending is,” Lawlor adds. “Sometimes you find yourself thinking, ‘Oh, this is the direction the story is going in,’

Film

THE SKINNY

Green Screen Ahead of Glasgow’s UN Climate Conference (aka COP26), Take One Action film festival presents Living Proof – A Climate Story, an evocative documentary exploring Scotland’s complex relationship to the global climate crisis, told using archive footage Interview: Jamie Dunn

September 2021 — Feature

G

eorge Santayana was bang on the money regarding the past: those who cannot remember it are condemned to repeat it.

Emily Munro seems to be in agreement with that great Spanish thinker. As Head of Learning and Outreach for the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive, it’s her job to find ways of bringing Scotland’s rich screen heritage to modern audiences. As well as education and programming projects, her tactics for getting the archive out there have extended to filmmaking in recent years, applying her curatorial viewpoint to the library’s collection to make feature-length documentaries from a particular thematic angle. First there was Her Century: Scottish Women On Film, which stitched together archive footage telling the story of women in 20th-century Scotland. Now comes Living Proof – A Climate Story, a vivid examination of Scotland’s relationship to the natural environment.

The clips in Living Proof span roughly four decades and expose wildly changing attitudes, not to mention cinematic styles, from twee public information films from the 1940s to slick corporate videos of the early 1980s via masterpieces like The Big Mill, Laurence Henson’s award-winning documentary taking us inside the vast Ravenscraig Works in 1962. Despite this relatively short window of archive material, Munro was thinking of a bigger picture when assembling the film.

“I was interested in the deep time of climate,” she explains. “Obviously the collection only speaks to the 20th century, so that’s what I have to deal with. But at the same time, the questions that we’re dealing with now, we really need to learn to have a longer perspective in terms of what we do and what the consequences are gonna be.”

Documentaries assembled from archive material tend to take two forms. One uses edited footage as the foundation for an unrelated narrative told using an omnipotent voiceover – call this the Adam Curtis mode. The other is more

expressionistic, combining music and montage to rhapsodic effect; think of music-archive mashup From Scotland with Love, Virginia Heath’s collaboration with King Creosote, or Paul Wright’s Arcadia, featuring music by Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory. Munro’s approach, however, is more sensitive to the original work.

There are montages set to music, but they come in short, sharp bursts. “I wanted those sequences to act as markers throughout,” she explains. ​​Three Scottish artists – Louise Connell, Brownbear and Post Coal Prom Queen – provide the music for these sections, which not only help transition between the film’s themes and periods, they also allowed Munro the opportunity to experiment. “I guess those montages are my perspective,” she admits. “That’s me thinking about my feelings around the debate. But also, they were an opportunity to play with time and accelerate time, and to prepare the viewer for what comes next.”

This is the only time Munro indulges in editorialising. Elsewhere, she lets the archive play out in substantial blocks, allowing the voices of the past to speak as they did in their original context. “Maybe it’s because I’m a curator as well, so I feel that sense of custodianship over the footage,” she suggests. “So I wanted the footage to also stand alone.”

What these sequences make clear is that the debate around Scotland’s natural resources and their connection to the economic plight of the nation has long been debated on screen.

Interestingly, the Scotland we see emerging in the mid-40s appears to be a greener, more future-conscious one than in the latter half of the century, where big industry and the mining of North Sea oil fields sent us down a path even more dependent on fossil fuels. One Ministry of Information film from 1943 featuring four men – an engineer, a — 44 —

gamekeeper, and two soldiers – sharing a train carriage reveals how hydroelectricity was seen by many as the future of Scotland’s power needs, as well as providing jobs for those returning from war.

“I suppose for me, that hydroelectric footage shows we’ve got choices,” says Munro. “They’re coming out of the Second World War and already looking ahead. They’re asking, ‘What’s next?

Where are the jobs coming from? Where’s our energy coming from?’ During the war, they were really frightened by the scarcity of the energy supply because they could no longer import oil so easily. So they had to come up with something else. So vision was possible, investment was made, things happened.”

It doesn’t take much of a leap to see parallels between Scotland in the 1940s and the outlook today as we recover from the pandemic and brace for a climate crisis that’s sure to have a huge impact on our way of life unless drastic action is taken. “Like back then, I feel like we’re at this crossroads where we have to make some really big decisions,” says Munro. “But who are we going to allow to make those decisions on our behalf? Is it politicians? Is it corporations? Is it communities?

How do we work with all those different elements in an advanced capitalist society?”

With COP26 on the horizon, there’s no better time to be asking these questions.

Living Proof has its world premiere as Take One Action’s opening film Take One Action takes place in Glasgow, Edinburgh and online, 22-26 Sep; in Aberdeen, 22-24 Oct; and in Inverness, 29-31 Oct takeoneaction.org.uk

THE SKINNY

The War is Not Over Chikako Yamashiro’s exhibition is now open at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Here, the artist and guest curator Kirsteen Macdonald explain that the works are complex expressions of the contested politics of Okinawa, but have a wider resonance, too Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

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Chikako Yamashiro, Chinbin Western, 2021. Video still

September 2021 — Feature

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Chikako Yamashiro, at Dundee Contemporary Arts, until 21 Nov Image: courtesy of the artist and Yumiko Chiba Associates

“If you get caught up in the vast historical flow of Okinawa you can end up getting so transfixed that there’s no going back”

within the next two decades.

One distinctive feature of Chinbin Western is its close alignment of actors and the roles they play. For instance, the tattooed and pierced character who plays an artist in the film, is herself an opera singer and artist. It’s one subtle strategy that evidences some of Yamashiro’s interesting relationship with “a cinematic approach”.

Yamashiro says, “The aim is not creating an informative film that depicts a historical fact, rather it’s a process in which image is seen first and then visualised. The main purpose is to convey the reverberating emotions and circulating voices of all who live together.”

Speaking of her aspirations for the more general relevance of her work, Yamashiro says “there are people in many nations and regions who live under the influence of the scars left behind by war and history, and fissures are appearing in various places under this state of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I think that asking questions to people outside of Okinawa and overseas too through the highly abstracted language of art makes the subject more accessible.”

Is it ever hard for Yamashiro to make work about a live situation that is not just on her doorstep, but threaded through every aspect of her immediate environment? Her reply to this final question is unequivocal and inspiring. “It is not difficult at all to create works for me as there are so many themes to be depicted and I will continue to create works in order to live.”

Art

Photo: Ruth Clark. Courtesy of the artist and Yumiko Chiba Associates

For the artist, her relationship with the context of Okinawa has developed and changed. “If you get caught up in the vast historical flow of Okinawa you can end up getting so transfixed that there’s no going back.” Suggesting the special turning point that Chinbin Western represents in her own artistic development, Yamashiro continues: “Over the space of about ten years, experiencing both the joy and the pain associated with the tidal force of Okinawa’s history, I myself and many other people who live here finally started to speak in their own voices.”

Chikako Yamashiro, Chinbin Western, 2021.

In itself, Chinbin Western: Installation view at Dundee Contemporary Arts Representation of the Family (the full title) is a narrative film, that kinawan artist-filmmaker Chikako experiments with storytelling and allegory. It Yamashiro’s solo exhibition at Dundee centres on two different families; in one of which Contemporary Arts has – like a lot of the father is part of the quarrying that is taking shows over the last few months – been a long time place to create a new landmass in Henoko for a coming, and not just because of recent pandemic new US military base. “I wanted to portray the postponements. The works in the show also extend family of a man who has no choice but to work as much further back into timelines that include the an earth miner, who never leaves his hometown social, political and cultural histories and tradiwhile trying to protect his family’s happiness,” tions of Okinawa, where the artist is from and lives. says Yamashiro. “I wanted to portray [at the same The three works in DCA include two previous time a different] family of grandchildren and works and one of Yamahshiro’s most recent films, grandfathers who protect the sanctuary left in titled Chinbin Western. “Okinawa is not the filmic their hometown.” backdrop, it is a character in the work,” says The operatic song-form of arias are used at Macdonald. The Japanese prefecture of over 150 points for characters to communicate, and as a islands has been subject to military occupation by deliberate reference to European cultural imports. the US since the Second World War. A situation all These feature seamlessly alongside tsurane ryūka, the more complicated by the triangular power a genre of narrative song dynamic of the Japanese Government, US interthat is particular to ests and the Okinawan population – who voted Okinawa. In parallel, against the continuing presence of US military there’s also a play within forces in a local referendum that was largely the film that is performed ignored. “Since World War II,” Yamashiro explains, in the costume of the “70% of Japan’s US military bases remained on the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429tiny island of Okinawa. Therefore people say that 1879). This is performed the war is not over yet.” at the site of the quarry itself. It’s a mountainous region that has for 65 years been exploited for the purpose of creating the new US military base.

In reality, the people that lived there for the last 600 years were displaced in order for the quarrying to take place. While there is a cluster of ten households remaining, these Chikako Yamashiro are likely to be gone

THE SKINNY

There is Power in a Union Political journalist and author Eve Livingston on her manifesto for unions, Make Bosses Pay

Books

Interview: Anahit Behrooz Illustration: Connie Noble

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hat do you think of when you think of a union? Do you imagine an imposing building, or a cramped office filled with pamphlets and protest signs? Do you imagine a picket lined with miners and beleaguered industrial workers, à la Billy Elliot and Pride? Do you imagine an organisation that is still politically relevant, or one consigned to the austerity politics of the Thatcher era? Do you ever, in your imaginings, picture yourself?

For Eve Livingston, political journalist and author of the searing union primer Make Bosses Pay: Why We Need Unions, the first step towards addressing our economic crisis and broken working culture is understanding what, or more precisely who, a union is. “I think there’s a perception among many young workers that a union is a service provider: something external to you that you join and then they give you things, like legal advice or discounts on computers or restaurants,” Livingston explains. “In my book, I implore people to think of the union as yourself and your co-workers. There is no union without members. It is a dynamic, living, breathing thing.”

This gap – between the perception of unions in the public consciousness and their reality – forms the central concern of Makes Bosses Pay,

a forensic manifesto for unionism that advocates not just for what unions could be, but what they already are. Taking a markedly broad approach through the history of the British labour rights movement to the contemporary concerns of the gig economy, Livingston draws on diverse case studies to underline the ever-present exploitation of workers within mounting capitalist systems, and the urgency of imagining the union beyond a now outdated model of white, male breadwinners.

“The mainstream public imagination started to take precarious work seriously around the explosion of app-based businesses like Deliveroo and Uber,” Livingston says. “And a lot of workers in these businesses are male: when they think of a Deliveroo driver, people tend to think of a young male student on a bike. But that’s not the reality. The issues of the gig economy – precarious working contracts and being at the whim of your boss every hour of the day – those things aren’t new, and they’re particularly not new to women and migrants.”

Crucially, Livingston adds, this model of insecure work is set up to isolate workers from each other and undermine any possibility of collective power. “There is a deliberate political benefit to precarious work for bosses,” she stresses. “When you employ all your workforce on zero hours contracts

September 2021 — Feature

“There is no union without members.

It is a dynamic, living, breathing thing”

and have an overabundance of workers and underprovision of shifts, you create an atmosphere of competitiveness. Workers have no incentive to unionise and be a collective because they’re in competition with each other for shifts and pay.”

In an increasingly atomised workforce beset on all sides by insecure contracts, cuts to the welfare state, and frightening advances in surveillance technology, unions are having to adapt just as drastically. “If you’re working in a precarious sector and waiting for your boss to call at any given moment, then traditional union wins like the weekend don’t really apply anymore,” Livingston points out. “There is a need for us to think about unions in the broadest sense, utilising that structure wherever we can.”

The most exciting developments in workers’ rights, Make Bosses Pay argues, are the new generation of unions taking a fundamentally expansive approach to how workers and working practices are defined. Sex worker collectives such as SWARM (Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement) and SWU (Sex Workers’ Union) campaign to have their members recognised as workers, and thus have access to industrial rights and collective representation. Community unions such as ACORN (Association for Community Organisations for Reform Now) and Living Rent (Scotland’s tenants union), meanwhile, work – as Livingston puts it – to “leverage the union structure in different contexts and organise people as citizens and tenants rather than workers”, understanding class struggle within broader issues such as housing and benefits.

Much less relics of the past, Livingston fervently believes, unions are where the future of radical politics lie and can become a home for a politicised generation left behind by right-wing governments and an increasingly centrist opposition. “There is a young left that mobilised behind electoral figures like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn,” she says. “And I make the case early on in the book that unions are the place where that energy should go now. Something that survives electoral cycles and doesn’t collapse and have to be rebuilt every four or five years. Our own institution that we are building as the working class.” It may sound, in many ways, like a political utopia. But – as Make Bosses Pay makes abundantly clear – it already exists, right within the grasp of workers everywhere.

Make Bosses Pay: Why We Need Unions is available from Pluto Press plutobooks.com

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THE SKINNY

Taking Your Time As he returns to live performance ahead of the release of his new book, we discuss ideas and art with comedian and writer Rob Auton Interview: Louis Cammell

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Rob Auton: The Time Show, The Stand Edinburgh, 18 Sep; The Stand Glasgow, 19 Sep I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things by Rob Auton (Mudlark, £14.99) is out on 16 Sept, available to pre-order now

September 2021 — Feature

Rob Auton

“Writing it down in a book [is one thing] but bringing it to life [is another]. I want to try to bring these to life. I’m quite quiet... but when I am on stage, it does feel like a safe space for me. And I think that’s because it’s rooted in the ideas and it’s not really about me.

“But one thing that I’ve learnt is that, if you don’t sit down and make [ideas] into something, they just go. So it’s also about sitting down and working. I really like Bruce Springsteen and that quote, ‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’”

While it would be very easy to pathologize this need for productivity – to see it as that aforementioned internal voice tormenting him to no end – it’s evident that for Auton, the creative process is joyful. His previous books consisted of an Edward Lear-ish mix of words and sketches and

Comedy

“There’s quite a distinct feeling I get when I look at something and it excites me like it hasn’t excited me before”

...Incredible Things continues that tradition.

“I love the freedom that you can go to a canvas or a blank page and just make something up,” says Auton, “make something that exists because you’re alive.”

Auton holds a huge deal of admiration for artists who are funny. “David Shrigley could definitely stand up on stage and read out his books [...] and he’d probably be the best comedian in the country.” He admits to feeling an affinity with their “homemade, punk ethos” that he himself developed at art school. There, the penny dropped for him.

“William Blake talks about having to create your own reality. I think art and creativity allow you to [do that]. It’s like getting a machete and cutting through a jungle and going, ‘Okay right, here we go, we’re going.

This is the path that I want to take.’”

And that path has served him well. The Time Show is his eighth one-hour show and I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things is his fourth book. But with the pandemic-induced blockage only just clearing, he’s still on the road to match-fitness. “The slide from my brain to the tip of my tongue is a bit more clogged up than it used to be,” he says.

“But I’ve been practicing and now I think I’m pretty much there.”

Photo: Julian Ward

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ob Auton cannot wait to get back to performing. “My brain’s been full of stuff that I don’t want it to be full of. Whereas now, the stuff that I’m passionate about is coming back,” he says. After a quiet 18 months, the thrice-rescheduled run of his latest show – The Time Show – coincides with the release of a book, I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things. “There’s quite a distinct feeling I get when I look at something and it excites me like it hasn’t excited me before, or I look at it in a new way. And then that is when to get the notebook out.”

However, capturing these moments isn’t always plain sailing. “Sometimes people go, ‘You’re not expressing that well enough.’ And that’s just the way you put words together. You know, you need to fling them out there and people need to go, ‘Oh my god, right, he’s said those five words absolutely perfectly.’”

Auton has previously spoken about the appeal of stand-up being its ephemeral nature.

How does he feel about a book, imbued with permanence, in comparison? “[The book is] the best expression of how I feel about the world [right now]. You know, in 20 years’ time, I might feel completely differently.” There’s no point for the comedian to forego an opportunity: “I know for a fact that I’ll be able to look at this and go, ‘I know you worked really hard on this. That was a moment in your life where you tried your best.’”

It’s clear that this plays on his mind. “I’ve got an internal thing in my head saying, ‘You’re lazy, you’re lazy, you’re lazy’,” he says, “and I fight against that to try to motivate myself.” On whether he sees himself more as a natural writer or a natural performer, Auton loves the risk of live comedy, but it’s more about having a place to dispense ideas. He says: “If I have an idea that I like then I want to share that idea because I feel like it’s worth something and it made me laugh...

I’m almost being forced on stage. I didn’t choose this for myself, I just thought, ‘How can I share?’

Clubs

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Juggling Hustles

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Photo: Matthew Arthur Williams and Alice Brooke

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Glasgow-based DJ, artist and photographer Junglehussi tells us about his musical journey and returning to clubs for the first time in nearly 18 months, ahead of his set at Riverside Festival this month Clubs

Interview: Nadia Younes

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doesn’t really cross over but the atmosphere is just keeping you there for five, six hours each night… They really shaped a lot of my early club days and party days.”

Music isn’t Williams’ only creative outlet, though. As well as DJing and hosting a bi-monthly radio show on Clyde Built Radio, Williams is also an artist and photographer, spreading his time equally across all fields. “It’s been pretty constant in a creative way [throughout the pandemic]... so a lot of things have been moving in different angles and different ways,” says Williams. “I kind of allow things to organically happen, so occasionally something will calm down within the art side of my working week, and there’ll be time for music.

“People keep saying I’m headlining; I’m just like, ‘Oh, I’m on last’” Matthew Arthur Williams “The same thing has happened this year,” he continues. “It was quite hectic art-wise the past couple of months and it’s kind of calming down, now the gig stuff is starting to come up. I’ve not orchestrated that, that’s just the way that things have orchestrated for me, so it’s just taking it as it comes and not really forcing it.”

It’s through Williams’ involvement with Clyde Built Radio that he has landed a slot at this year’s Riverside Festival, too, sharing the stage with a whole host of local talent, including TAAHLIAH, Ribeka, Sofay and many more. Although lined up to close the stage on Friday night, Williams is reluctant to call it a headline set. “It’s funny... people keep saying I’m headlining; I’m just like, ‘Oh, I’m on last’,” Williams laughs.

“Everybody that’s on that stage is a headlining act to be honest... I feel like every musician and DJ in Glasgow – and people who do shows on Clyde Built – are all incredibly talented, and the city has such a number of really amazing DJs... so it’s interesting but I’m not really seeing it as a headliner. If people have the stamina at the end of the evening then that’s great but we’ll see.”

Junglehussi plays Riverside Festival, Riverside Museum, Glasgow, 3-5 Sep

September 2021 — Feature

fter nearly 18 months of closed doors and empty dancefloors, nightclubs were finally allowed to reopen in Scotland last month, with many taking the opportunity to showcase local talent throughout their reopening weekends.

During La Cheetah Club’s mammoth four-day reopening weekend, South London-born, Glasgowbased DJ Matthew Arthur Williams – aka Junglehussi – was one of those local talents returning to the DJ booth for a non-socially distanced club night for the first time since clubs closed in March last year. “Mentally you’re a bit like, ‘Oh, can I do this again?’ – especially right now,” says Williams. “And there’s a lot of barriers that you have, not just playing music but with your own health and safety, and with other people’s health and safety now as well.”

Having moved to Glasgow eight years ago with the intention of completing a Masters degree, Williams’ DJing career began entirely through circumstance. As an avid record collector, Williams was asked by a friend to play some music at a Pride event and things snowballed from there. Then, in 2016, Williams became a resident at The Art School’s flagship Thursday night party, PVC. Just a few years later he was playing at The Art School “at least twice a month,” he says, along with being booked to play at various other venues around Glasgow.

Despite going to clubs like fabric and Ministry of Sound while living in London, though, it was during Williams’ time studying in Manchester where his love of clubbing properly began. “Parties and music stuff really started to come alive for me when I was in Manchester… then I began kind of cornering my own community of people who were going out and also putting on parties,” says Williams. “That really opened a lot of things for me, I think, in terms of just being somebody who goes to parties.”

Williams would regularly attend celebrated queer parties like Bollox and Homoelectric in Manchester at the venue then known as Legends, which was sadly demolished in 2013 and replaced by a hotel – a far too common trend for nightclubs in recent years. The venue was originally opened as The Twisted Wheel in 1963 and is steeped in musical history, known as the birthplace of Northern Soul in the UK. “[Legends] was one of the best venues I’ve ever been in,” says Williams. “I think the venue really shaped those nights for me.

“I think when you go into somewhere like that, and you go down the steps and you’re underneath, and it’s just got all these different kind of layers and rooms you can enter where you’ve got multiple DJs playing in different rooms, the sound

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September 2021 — Feature

Local Heroes

Photo: Reuben Paris

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Chalk Plaster

Photo: Reuben Paris

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Local Heroes Myatt-McCallum

The Future of Home Words: Stacey Hunter

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t a time when we are experiencing an increased fluidity between our home and our workspace, a new exhibition titled The Future of Home offers a fresh and sophisticated take on modern interiors from a new generation of designers. A wide variety of products, from furniture and lighting to textiles and collectable craft have been brought together aimed at creating spaces of comfort and style that also reflect the hybrid needs of flexible working. Designers who found themselves at a standstill have used that time to innovate, speculate and dream, and the results are a vision of a future where interiors are as fun, beautiful, comforting and tactile as possible.

The exhibition responds to Brompton Design District’s theme ‘From here on…’ – set by Jane Withers Studio – and invites visitors to explore a snapshot from Scotland that reflects the reignited optimism and youthful irreverence of the contemporary design scene. 15 studios and brands present over 40 new pieces that are positioned towards buyers, collectors, and future collaborators at one of the world’s most important design festivals.

The collection sheds light on innovative working processes and emerging concepts in contemporary Scottish design, presenting multiple viewpoints on form, material, and beauty.

Instrmnt Applied Design’s armchair – a collaboration with independent furniture makers Hame – is an exercise in minimalism using wind-felled sycamore sourced from the Weymss Estate on the East Coast of Scotland, paired with stainless steel and salvaged linen. It contrasts beautifully with a monstera plantinspired chandelier by Urpflanze rendered in brass and laser-cut green acrylic, and a brutalist inspired mixed aggregate and pigmented cement console table by Nicholas Denney Studio.

Myatt–McCallum blur the relationship between interior and exterior with joyful, flowing concrete furniture. Jeni Allison’s blankets play with and test the boundaries of digital and manual knitting processes, blending the master craftsmanship of intarsia with cutting-edge 3D modelling in her Digital Drape series. James Rigler presents the Glasgow Triptych; a series of monumental, austere forms with a distinctive black-and-verdigris surface. They

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September 2021 — Feature

Local Heroes presents a preview of innovative furniture, textiles and lighting from a new generation of Scottish designers at London Design Festival

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Local Heroes

Photo: Reuben Paris

Photo: Reuben Paris

September 2021 — Feature

Bespoke Atelier (left), Jeni Allison (right)

Walac (left), Myatt-McCallum (bottom)

use the language of grandiose buildings, splicing this with humble object types. Walac’s shelving system elevates the storage of books and treasured objects into The Art of Stacking.

A new range of wallpaper from Bespoke Atelier continues the studio’s radical No Rules philosophy, where patterns have been intentionally designed not to repeat.

Chalk Plaster’s gypsum-based Scagliola side tables have been created with wild pigments collected from the coastline of Fife, with each location offering its own distinctive palette of colours and tones. Simon Harlow’s walnut, poplar and beech furniture demonstrates how a chair can be a dining chair, a lounge chair, an office chair – even a workstation in its own right, and a boldly graphic sculptural object. Hard linear engineering for longevity and strength goes together with handmade processes, as seen in Mirrl’s latest solid surface material Fossil.

It was developed as a way to use the waste material from the production of the original eponymously-named Mirrl surface.

This is finely chopped and becomes the inclusions that give the

new material its unique fossil-like appearance – and which carry their own histories.

A bespoke stained glass piece by Pavilion Pavilion welcomes visitors to the gallery as they pass through the threshold.

Once inside, a series titled The Isles of WonderGlass – a collaboration between Walac X Juli Bolaños-Durman, transforms found glass collected, rescued and gifted over the years into a combination of fantasy and functionality in their one-of-a-kind lighting sculptures. A large rug featuring an innovative and unusual topography is the result of a collaboration between Studio Sam Buckley and Milan’s cc-tapis. It has been hand-tufted in Nepal by expert Tibetan artisans. Hilary Grant returns to London with the St Ives wall hanging and blanket in a nuanced colour palette inspired by St Ives’ artists’ movement of the 1940s.

These elements come together in a bold yet harmonious exhibition which we hope visitors will respond to with delight and surprise. Spending more time at home has presented an opportunity to rethink our immediate environment as a canvas for selfexpression. The Future of Home offers an exciting first look at exclusive new pieces and product launches with a focus on comfort and tactility. Hybrid uses give more meaning to key pieces – a table made to suit several functions with a hidden drawer, is a good dining table as well as an office desk. Likewise, a chair with a generous internal sitting volume can be used as a dining chair, a lounge chair or an office chair. The Future of Home establishes Scotland as a region of design excellence. Visitors will see expressive forms; innovations in production and thoughtfully articulated craft techniques combine to create a highly accessible collection that breaks new ground.

The Future of Home, Brompton Design District, 6-7 Thurloe Place, SW7 2RX, 18-26 Sep, 10am-6pm This exhibition is made possible with the support of the National Lottery through Creative Scotland localheroes.design/ldf @localheroesdesign

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THE SKINNY

Music Now We celebrate new releases this month from Hamish Hawk, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kirsty Grant, Cahill//Costello, Georgia Cécile and more Words: Tallah Brash Photo: Laura Bourjac Georgia Cécile

Kirsty Grant

September 2021 — Review

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Photo: Oscar J Ryan

n Green Day’s 2004 album, American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong pleaded: ‘Wake me up when September ends.’ But if you sleep away the month, you’ll miss all of the musical treats Scotland has in store for you, so wakey wakey, rise and shine, September is here and she means business.

Starting in Edinburgh, Hamish Hawk – who you may also know as one of the many friendly faces working behind the counter of the capital’s Assai record shop – releases his stunning new album, Heavy Elevator, on 17 September. Coming out on the shop’s own Assai Recordings label, it’s been quite an exciting year so far for Hawk, as a change in musical direction saw him picked up as one to watch by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq who gave heavy rotation to the album’s lead single Caterpillar earlier in the year.

Although the rest of the album doesn’t have the same new wave sensibilities as Caterpillar, Heavy Elevator sees Hawk put his Neil Hannon-esque voice to full use, stretching it into shapes he likely didn’t previously realise were possible. Heavy Elevator is an exciting collection of songs that sees Hawk fully exploring every nook and cranny of his musical ability and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him. Read our full interview with Hawk on p38.

We Were Promised Jetpacks also have a new album out this month. Enjoy the View lands on 10 September via Big Scary Monsters and sees the band arriving at a more indie-pop sound than we’re used to hearing from the Edinburgh three-piece.

Read lead singer and guitarist Adam Thompson’s full track-bytrack walkthrough on p40, and turn the page for our full review, where you’ll also find words on the new one from Proc Fiskal.

If it’s gleaming pop you’re after this month, check out London-based Scot Kirsty Grant (originally from just outside Dundee), whose debut EP Chain Reaction is due on 10 September. Featuring six tracks – only two of which break the perfect-pop three-minute mark, and only by a few seconds.

From the minute the chorus of Bad Boys, Good Girls (‘Why do bad boys fuck around with good girls’) comes into view, we’re sold. The concise nature of this short, sharp EP is what works so well here, and while its touchpoints are clear (Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen, Taylor Swift), Kirsty Grant could well be on her way to being an artist future pop acts cite as inspiration.

What sounds like the clanking of a teaspoon being swirled around a freshly brewed cuppa haunts The Visitant, the opening track of Offworld – the debut album from new ambient/lo-fi duo Cahill//Costello (guitarist Kevin Daniel Cahill and drummer Graham Costello). The track itself constantly swirls, oftentimes swelling and spilling over, but by allowing this spillage, it creates room for further exploration of sound.

Music

Photo: Bernadette Kellermann & Cahill Costello

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Cahill//Costello

The cacophonous 95 second-long And It Was Not Meant That We Should Voyage Far feels perfectly placed, suddenly making you sit bolt upright around 30 minutes into this record.

If that doesn’t wake you up, the crashing and thrashing on eight-minute epic Pylon II certainly will. There’s an uneasy familiarity that runs through Offworld, but the most gripping aspect of this record is the way in which its ominous, ethereal soundscapes can very quickly transport you to an almost meditative state, forcing you into a trance before you’ve even noticed. Take me to your leader.

Scottish jazz talent Georgia Cécile already has a plethora of accolades under her belt. She won Best Vocalist at the 2019 Scottish Jazz Awards, has been tipped as One to Watch by BBC Introducing and Jazzwise magazine, and was nominated Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards 2020. Listening to her debut album, Only the Lover Sings (17 Sep, Warner ADA), you can certainly hear why – her voice is full-bodied, becoming smoky, sultry or playful in exactly the right moments.

While occasionally this album stumbles into slightly cheesy terrain – the upbeat feel-good anthem Always Be Right For Me could easily soundtrack Phil Rosenthal’s next continenthopping TV show – ultimately Only the Lover Sings oozes old fashioned glamour, and there’s a real warmth across the record.

From the romantic violin swells of Goodbye Love, to the swirling piano on Come Summertime and the staccato brass on Blue Is the Colour, it’s all effortlessly held together by the power in Cécile’s voice.

On 3 September, Edinburgh-Nigerian rapper LOTOS (Last of the Old School) – alongside her collective of the same name, which includes Revelations, Kope and singer Oggie – release their latest album, Renaissance. Combining their crystal clear vision with grime-infused beats and just a whiff of garage, Renaissance shines brightest when LOTOS’s lyrical flow is placed front and centre. Also this month, Declan Welsh and the Decadent West release their new EP, It’s Been a Year (2 Sep), Tijuana Bibles release their new album Free Milk (3 Sep), Andrew Brooks releases EAST (9 Sep), and Bemz (who takes The Skinny's monthly Q&A on p.70) releases his new EP, M4 (24 Sep).

Albums

THE SKINNY

Low HEY WHAT Sub Pop, 10 Sep

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September 2021 — Review

Listen to: White Horses, More, The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)

Proc Fiskal Siren Spine Sysex Hyperdub, 24 Sep rrrrr isten to: Convaerge, Iaosiphsean L Powers, Recall [Throate Achres]

Low’s last record, Double Negative, was filled with disintegrating and corroded music, songs that were haunted by evil spirits and unfinished business. The melodies and voices – trapped under a cacophony of indecipherable instrumentation, as tracks leaked into one another – struggled to the surface and then died away. It was a left turn degradation of their melodic slowcore, and some of the most original music in ages.

HEY WHAT is a natural progression, feeding off the same charged energy. However, now the ghosts have escaped and are in chorus as clearly and piercingly as they can muster. The rumble that underlies these devotional hymns now crackles into place rather than dissolving away. When there’s percussion, it’s not just drums, but thunderous biblical crashing. When there’s electronics, it isn’t just guitars and synths – it’s the one clear transmission from another plane. It gives the record a brighter disposition than its predecessor, even if it’s been put together with the same tools, whatever they are.

For Low to be making music that can truly surprise you 13 albums and 28 years into a career is a testament to Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s continued dedication to their craft. [Tony Inglis] Not content with releasing one of the best EPs of the year with March’s Lothian Buses, Proc Fiskal’s second full-length is a superb development from the promise he showed on 2018’s Insula. He has shown time and again his ability to meld the sweetest synth tones with remarkable gymnastics of momentum, and it’s apparent again here. Thurs Jung Youtz takes its brief melody and creates a gorgeous mutating landscape around it that morphs into a twinkling sugar rush by its final movement, while Convaerge is a giddy tumble of masterfully glitched out space.

You get the sense he could throw out these wonky chaotic rhythms until the cows come home, but the record’s greatest achievement is the scale and depth of emotion he wrings from them. There are great geysers of surging euphoria on Recall [Throate Achres] and a pensive melancholy in the way Her In skitters about like a clockwork moth, while the moment Iaosiphsean Powers blooms halfway through contains an emotional delicacy we haven’t seen before. With the great sweeps of skriking noise that close the record on Roman Fatigue you get the sense of an artist fully realising their sound and heading for exciting new horizons. [Joe Creely]

박혜진 Park Hye Jin Before I Die Ninja Tune, 10 Sep rrrrr isten to: I Need You, L Never Give Up

Little Simz Sometimes I Might Be Introvert Age 101, 3 Sep rrrrr isten to: Introvert, Miss L Understood, I Love You, I Hate You

— 54 —

Blood Orange, Clams Casino and Nosaj Thing are among the artists 박 혜진 Park Hye Jin has collaborated with over the last year. On her debut album, Before I Die, the South Korean-born, LA-based producer, rapper, singer and DJ demonstrates exactly why she’s one of the most in-demand artists around.

The album’s tracks generally take a similar form, with sung choruses made up of short, repeated phrases and verses delivered in Hye Jin’s signature mumble rap style, switching between English and Korean throughout. While the album’s first half leans towards a more mellow, jazz-tinged sound, by Whatchu Doin Later the production takes a heavier turn. Hints of early TNGHT and SOPHIE influences can be heard on Never Give Up and Can I Get Your Number, and the beat on Sex With ME (DEFG) is about as filthy as the lyrics. I Need You and i jus wanna be happy play out like lullabies in comparison.

Although fairly simple in its lyrical content, it’s in the intricacies of the album’s emotive production where 박혜진 Park Hye Jin’s talents really shine. Before I Die firmly establishes Hye Jin’s multifaceted sound and crafts a mood that feels very of the moment.

[Nadia Younes] It feels almost a little reductive to categorise Little Simz as anything when her new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, draws on hip-hop, jazz, 70s funk and 21st-century grime.

Written between London and Berlin, Simz dives deep into the internal on her second album by way of a massively expanded soundscape.

Lead single and album opener Introvert is a bombastic yet intimate exploration of being a young black woman in 21st century Britain and sets the tempo for the 18 songs and spoken word interludes that follow.

Speed sees the young MC brashly spitting over industrial electronic sounds, not a million miles away from Kanye West’s radical Yeezus.

Protect My Energy is a luscious throwback to Nile Rodgers-inspired funk and a more dramatic take on Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic project. I Love You, I Hate You is a deeply personal tackling of her relationship with her estranged father – putting her elegant flows front and centre over an orchestral beat.

While pulling from here and there, what binds Sometimes I Might Be Introvert together is a flair for the cinematic and the result is an album that’s both monumental and an innermost peek into Little Simz’s soul. [Sam Moore]

THE SKINNY

Listen to: hurt, writer in ny

isten to: Shekere, Made a Circle, L Tarot

isten to: Knifey, No More Tears, L Guided by Angels

We Were Promised Jetpacks Enjoy the View Big Scary Monsters, 10 Sep rrrrr isten to: All That Glittered, I Wish L You Well, Just Don’t Think About It

— 55 —

By the time The More I Sleep the Less I Dream closed with its epic, post-rock inflected title track, it seemed as if We Were Promised Jetpacks had successfully navigated a tricky crossroads, one that involved existential angst around turning 30, as well as the fulfilment of their contract with FatCat. Fast forward to 2020 and they found themselves in choppy waters again, adapting to life as a three-piece and unable to work together in person due to pandemic restrictions.

What’s arisen from these circumstances is a grab bag of experiments, as the now-trio try on a variety of stylistic hats while they figure out what the future of WWPJ sounds like. Enjoy the View runs the gamut from icy, synth-flecked atmospherics to breezy, melodic indie pop and scuzzy punk squall.

Past comparisons to The Twilight Sad have often been lazy and superficial, but All That Glittered genuinely sounds like something that was left off of Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave.

By the time proceedings close it’s not clear whether WWPJ are any closer to having chosen their next direction. They seem to be enjoying the process, though. [Joe Goggins]

September 2021 — Review

Moor Mother Black Encyclopedia of the Air ANTI-, 17 Sep rrrrr

Wise up on Pink Siifu and you’ll learn the rapper treats genres “as blank canvases for his own odd compositions.” The same could be said for Moor Mother, the Philly-based noise project of Camae Ayewa who welcomed Siifu onto recent single Obsidian. Ayewa’s 2016 release, Fetish Bones, reimagined electronic noise as protest songs. Five years on and her latest release proves there’s still ample to be riled about.

Album opener Temporal Control of Light Echos is a direct, spoken word piece addressing pain and problematic figures of power. The soundscape Tarot presents these musings as a mantra over scant jazz trills and the tinkles of a wind chime, as she reasons: ‘Our elders are holders of history / Our gardeners of truth and foundation’. Elsewhere, rage-fuelled single Zami channels Sault-style distorted delivery and fractured frustrations.

But it’s in the curation of the record where Ayewa excels, presenting a platform for black and queer collaborators throughout, from the taut strings and shoulder shuffle of Shekere (ft.

Lojii) to slow jam Made a Circle (ft.

Nappy Nina). In the wake of a revitalised Black Lives Matter movement, we’ve all got some wising up to do.

Thankfully, Moor Mother’s Black Encyclopedia... is just what we need.

[Cheri Amour]

Amyl and the Sniffers Comfort to Me Rough Trade, 10 Sep rrrrr

Everyone’s favourite mullet-adorned mad squad, Amyl and the Sniffers are back with their sophomore album, Comfort to Me. Their selftitled 2019 LP shot the band onto the world scene with their relentless energy, and though their newest body of work retains a fiery core, it also reveals a more pensive and reflective side to the band.

“The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered,” says the band’s charismatic frontwoman Amy Taylor on the album, who found herself “drowned in introspection” during much of lockdown.

Her lyrics, which draw on rap phrasing throughout, are unapologetically vulnerable. Tracks like Security and Freaks to the Front brim with a punkloving aura, while No More Tears channels The Stooges’ effortless guitar cool. Knifey, however, marks a shift in tone. It pleads for simple pleasures and for a sense of normality that’s unexpectedly tender, but never incoherent.

In essence, creating this second album has been cathartic for Amyl and the Sniffers. During a live showdecimating pandemic, it’s been their form of comfort. Yes, it will still be more than worthy of providing a riotous sonic backdrop for Taylor’s on-stage shadowboxing when the time comes. But who said comfort couldn’t be chaotic too? [Jamie Wilde]

Albums

Ada Lea one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden Saddle Creek, 24 Sep rrrrr

There’s something lasting about the atmospheric nature of Alexandra Levy’s music as Ada Lea; its capacity to reach around the edges of an empty room, and ability to cut through the sound of life bustling in the background lends it a warm, encompassing quality. With a fuller and more studio-defined sound than 2019’s what we say in private, it almost comes as a surprise that one hand... captures this same authentic vibrancy of life.

Its fluttering, non-linear narrative weaves together a number of vignettes, emulating a ‘very Proustian passage of time’, as Levy sings on saltspring. In response, the record’s musicality flutters accordingly. Like a changing of seasons, one hand moves between both lo-fi and hi-fi sounds, shifting from finger-picked folk to bedroom pop: saltspring sits in a summer daze; writer in ny is soft and hopeful; hurt is a wintery nightdrive; damn climbs and climbs until it spirals out in a feverish end.

Painting a portrait of life in Montreal, one hand... is narrated as much by hurt as it is by hope, and demonstrates Levy’s ability to develop her artistry without letting go of the colouring of sound that renders her music as hers.

[Bethany Davison]

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Parklife

W

The Skinny: Where did you begin your journey to head to the concert at Edinburgh Park?

Claire Ferguson: I travelled from South Queensferry, where we live.

Did you see a different side to Edinburgh or anything new on your journey?

I was glad to catch the sunset. Sunsets always bring out the best in Edinburgh people! Such a happy chilled vibe.

Did you get any food or drink on your route to the gig or afterwards?

No, but I got to order a couple of drinks to my seat at the venue, which was very convenient but could be deadly if you were having some of their amazing cocktails.

How long did the journey take?

It took roughly 30 mins door-to-door.

What were the highlights of the gig?

Definitely when Damon asked people to come up to the front and stand to experience the gig. The sunset and just seeing how happy people were was also great. Simple things!

What, for you, were the benefits of meeting halfway?

I don’t actually drive so using local transport is always easy and convenient. And I find it less stressful than being in a car.

Can you see yourself meeting friends halfway more often?

Absolutely! If there’s no need to drive, then don’t.

Was this your first gig since the pandemic? How was the atmosphere?

Yeah, it was. It was a strange experience. It took a while to get used to sitting down in the chairs for social distancing. I think it was strange for Albarn too, as he asked us to get out of our seats and come to the front.

Many of us did get up as asked and it was fantastic!

— 56 —

Photo: Jess Shurte

Why did you choose to meet at the Damon Albarn gig?

I loved Blur and Gorillaz back in the day, but I haven’t seen any of his solo shows, so I was really keen to see him in Edinburgh.

How did you choose your route to Edinburgh Park?

I always use an app on my phone to check the best route for walking, cycling or using public transport.

Photo: @alittlebitofscotland

ith Edinburgh now opening up after a year-and-a-half of lockdown, it’s been extremely exciting to see our favourite local businesses back thriving and live music back on the menu at the city’s much-loved gig venues. While the August festivals have been more modestly scaled than in previous years, it’s been extremely heartening to see the Edinburgh pavements and cycle paths busy again, with people walking and cycling across town to catch a festival show or gig with friends.

One person who’s been enjoying the return of Edinburgh’s August festivals is Claire Ferguson. The cofounder of Claire North Creative, Claire is a freelance social media director and Scottish travel influencer – find her on adventures around Scotland at @alittlebitofclaire and @alittlebitofscotland. She’s also a music fan, and was excited to visit Edinburgh International Festival’s new pop-up pavilion at Edinburgh Park to catch one of her favourites from back in the day: Damon Albarn. The Blur and Gorillaz frontman was in town and had brought a string quartet in tow for a new solo show ahead of the release of his new album The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.

We spoke to Claire about the return of live music, getting to the festival’s new pop-up venue at Edinburgh Park and using a gig as the opportunity to meet a friend halfway.

Photo: Jess Shurte

September 2021

Interview: Jamie Dunn

Photo: @alittlebitofscotland

Advertising Feature

With Meet Me Halfway, the City of Edinburgh Council is encouraging you to think greener and meet friends halfway, preferably by foot, wheel or cycle if you can. With live events now possible, maybe a local gig is the ideal place to meet a friend halfway?

Follow Claire’s journey at @alittlebitofscotland To find out more about the health and environmental benefits of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Meet Me Halfway campaign, as well as ideas for your own journey, head to edinburgh.gov.uk/ meetmehalfway

THE SKINNY

Film Ninjababy Director: Yngvild Sve Flikke Starring: Kristine Kujath Thorp

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Released 10 Sep by Curzon; certificate TBC

Gagarine Director: Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh Starring: Alseni Bathily, Lyna Khoudri

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It would be easy to imagine a social drama set in the Parisian banlieues to embody an urban grittiness well established by predecessors such as La Haine, but Gagarine is a stranger, more otherworldly creature. Set in the real-life housing project Cité Gagarine, named after the first human in space, Gagarine traces the building’s impending demolition through a daring sci-fi framework that renders awe-inspiring what has long been considered mundane.

The housing project first appears on scene with celestial grandeur, the sun slowly emerging from behind its planetary breadth. Still aerial shots echo the magnificence of space photography. A camera rotates slowly down an elevator shaft, mimicking

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. There is a sense throughout Gagarine of the importance of being situated.

It is an audaciously pervasive play with genre that belies and indeed empowers an extraordinarily grounded film about the inescapable politics of home. As the building’s largely immigrant residents are forced to rehouse, 16-year-old Yuri sets out to save Gagarine. His attempts are charged with the same science fiction static as the rest of the film, yet behind each is a tender, moving tribute to the community and safety that his home represents: a telescope gazing out onto a barren, terrestrial lot before focusing in on a group of women; plants grown in a Martian-like environment with gentle, compassionate attention.

Told with an unshakeable depth of passion, Gagarine is an ode to community and social housing on a cosmic scale. [Anahit Behrooz] Released 24 Sep by Curzon; certificate 12A

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Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s films are deliciously slippery. Shifting identities are their MO. With this new psychological thriller, the roleplay is explicit in the title, although the identities being switched are one and the same.

Rose (Skelly) is a veterinary student who wanders the corridors of her college with an inscrutable blankness that’s another trademark of Molloy and Lawlor’s characters. Julie is the name Rose was given by her birth mother, Ellen (Brady), who put her up for adoption and is now a successful actor (more shifting identities). Rose begins dipping out of class to stalk the woman who gave her up, and their reconnection leads her to learn of her father, Peter (Gillen), a

Rose Plays Julie

famous archaeologist. Like her old man, Rose is interested in uncovering the past.

To say more would spoil some of Rose Plays Julie’s creepy pleasures.

What we can say is that Molloy and Lawlor approach the psychological thriller in a pleasingly unsettling fashion. The genre’s tropes are continually subverted, and sequences in slow-motion set to an operatic score, recalling the duo’s virtuosic single-shot short Who Killed Brown Owl?, gives the film the quality of an unfurling dream, which forgives any lapses in real-world logic.

The issues Molloy and Lawlor are playing with, though, are very much grounded in reality. The lasting scars of male violence and the morality of revenge are explored to haunting effect, with no easy answers given.

This is hypnotic, thrilling, deeply confident filmmaking. [Jamie Dunn] Released 17 Sep by New Wave; certificate 15

Shorta

Gagarine

Shorta Director: Anders Ølholm, Frederik Louis Hviid Starring: Jacob Hauberg Lohmann, Simon Sears, Tarek Zayat

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This sinewy thriller from Denmark presents us with a very familiar setup.

Veteran cop Anders (Lohmann), a racist hothead with a beer gut and a chip on his shoulder, is teamed up with the younger, empathetic, straightlaced Høyer (Sears). Tensions are high in Copenhagen; specifically in the deprived neighbourhood of Svalegarden (invented for the film), where the inhabitants are reeling from the brutal beating of a 19-year-old Black resident by law enforcement.

A wrinkle appears in the shopworn good cop-bad cop dynamic with the introduction of Amos (Zayat), an Arab teen who Anders harasses and subsequently arrests for no reason

— 57 —

while on patrol in Svalegarden. The estate is already a tinderbox ready to ignite, and this latest piece of heavy-handed policing sets off an all-out attack from local youths, leaving the two cops and their wiry detainee stranded in Svalegarden.

The switch from Danish Training Day knockoff to a pulpier siege thriller that owes no small debt to the films of Walter Hill significantly ups Shorta’s adrenaline. Directors Ølholm and Hviid show a talent for elegant action filmmaking, with Svalegarden becoming a concrete maze from which the trio need to escape, but around every corner is a new obstacle in their way. Less finely calibrated, unfortunately, is Shorta’s script, which is comfortable when trading in movie clichés but messy when addressing real-world morality.

[Jamie Dunn] Released 3 Sep by Vertigo; certificate 15

September 2021 — Review

Rose Plays Julie Director: Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor Starring: Ann Skelly, Orla Brady, Aidan Gillen

Image: Tine Harden

Image: Motlys Ninjababy

Film

Yngvild Sve Flikke’s riotous take on the unplanned pregnancy comedy unfolds through the creativity, rage and vulgarity of its protagonist. Comics artist Rakel (Thorp) has no qualms about her wild life, and her intruding memories and expressive animated art invite audiences into her chaotic forcefield. But her roommate Ingrid (Tora Christine Dietrichson) notices some weight gain and strange cravings – and the test is immediately, unmistakably positive.

Ninjababy rejects the idea of pregnancy as a burden or blessing, revelling in its protagonist’s rejection of maturity foisted upon her. Thorp is a force of nature, showcasing the whirlwind of activity and the extreme candour

Rakel has developed to deflect from any vulnerability. Of course, the walls come down as Rakel makes new connections and decides the future of her unborn child (crucially, a future not with her), but this slow deconstruction never invalidates her choices.

Flikke deftly intercuts Rakel’s internal hyper-realistic commentary for both comedy and pathos. The director’s unique, assured visual style brings out the absurdity of Rakel’s predicament, and the self-knowledge she alternately acknowledges and buries. For all its irreverence, Ninjababy never turns its characters into punchlines, not even the likely father, referred to only as “Dick Jesus”.

Ninjababy knows that life is precious, and the choices to protect one’s self and one’s dependents are hard, rewarding, defiantly individual and frequently hilarious. Sometimes growth comes in baby steps, kicking and screaming with each one. [Carmen Paddock]

THE SKINNY

Let’s Get Critical

September 2021 — Review

Film

We’ve teamed up with Edinburgh International Film Festival’s Young Critics Programme, with each of the emerging critics being asked to review a work from EIFF’s 2021 programme of fiction films, animation and documentary work

Animation

The Deer King It’s hard to think of an animation studio held in higher esteem, with a more boundless influence, than Studio Ghibli. At first glance, you might think The Deer King is just one of many Ghibli-inspired projects that dot the anime landscape. True, both co-directors Masashi Ando (a long-time Ghibli character animator making his directorial debut) and Masayuki Miyaji helped create some of the studio’s best-loved films. But look closer, and you’ll uncover a film darker, and more eerily resonant, than you imagined.

The film takes place in a world where the formerly noble nation of Aquafa has become a vassal state of the Empire of Zol, breeding resentment and prejudice. When a harrowing disease that only affects Zolians spreads, Van and Yuna – a former warrior and his adopted daughter – must join the legendary doctor Hohsalle in discovering a cure before the epidemic becomes unstoppable.

The Deer King is breathtaking. Thick forests and mountains glistening with snow surround beautifully detailed towns and villages. Ando’s acumen as a character animator is on display: the disparate cast of characters are dynamic, full of joy, fear, regret. Sure, there are some visual echoes of Princess Mononoke, but the film rarely descends into derivative territory.

In the age of COVID, all films featuring deadly pandemics are going to seem somewhat timely.

Colonialism, political intrigue, and connection to the land are also addressed. However, the film really shines in its quieter moments. The bond between Van and Yuna is incredibly moving, and even when the film loses its way in a somewhat muddled narrative, they are the epic tale’s emotional core.

If you’re looking for the next Spirited Away, The Deer King may disappoint. But if you embrace its dark and stunningly realised world, you’ll discover some cinematic magic all its own.

[Jack Richardson]

Mad God Jeff Goldblum, as Dr Ian Malcolm, once said “life finds a way”. This is true both for the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and their creator, special effects wizard Phil Tippet. His magnum opus Mad God has finally seen the light of day after 33 years in production and it is entrancingly grotesque. The plot is less of a linear structure and more a collection of progressively maddening thoughts.

The opening 20 minutes follow a masked figure in World War I regalia traversing through the smoke into a twisted factory-laden landscape. The further he descends, the viler the images become, in an ode to Dante’s nine circles of hell. Mad God is not for the faint of heart, then, and includes bodily fluids, genitals, and copious amounts of blood. But once this section concludes, so too do the worst of the visuals. What follows is an hour of sporadic scenes loosely connected via brief character interactions.

The visuals are gruesome but Tippet’s craftsmanship astounds. This nightmarish realm is large in scale with minor details that could be missed upon first viewing. The appearance of legendary animator Ray Harryhausen’s cyclops from 1958’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a particularly lovely touch – after all, Harryhausen spent years pioneering the use of stop-motion animation and Tippet builds upon that work by occasionally splicing live-action footage into his film.

Mad God features no dialogue – unless you count screams of anguish – so Dan Wool’s score steps in to fill the void, and elevates the film by provoking feelings of fear and melancholy. An astoundingly surreal and captivatingly horrific project, Mad God finds beauty in decay and corruption, and is worth every one of the 33 years it took to make. [Beatrice Copland]

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Absolute Denial AI is considered to be the holy grail of computer programming – a sentient entity capable of computing impossibly complex equations in microseconds. Yet that prospect is as terrifying as it is tempting, threatening to make humanity, with all its flaws, obsolete.

Absolute Denial, an animated science fiction film helmed by first-time director Ryan Braund, explores that paradox. It follows David, an unemployed programmer who builds an AI in an abandoned warehouse. The intelligence, named Al for Alpha, is forced to communicate through a computer monitor and microphone, making David its only possible means of escape.

The film focuses on the battle of wits between the programmer and his program. David may begin in a position of power, but he quickly finds himself intellectually outpaced by his creation’s childlike thirst for knowledge. Despite having no camera, Al is able to use David’s breathing patterns to deduce that his mental health is in decline, an ominous revelation that reveals just how little control he has over the situation.

Absolute Denial may be more interested in cerebral conflict than physical confrontation, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting. A propulsive synth score drives the plot forward at breakneck pace, and the monochromatic colour palette adds a foreboding hint of film noir, amplified by David’s angst-ridden voiceover.

A late twist threatens to drag the film into narrative quicksand. The twist itself is ingenious, but Braund overplays the kaleidoscopic visuals that symbolise David’s confusion, robbing the film of its carefully crafted momentum. Nevertheless, Absolute Denial remains an engaging exploration of the dangerous fascination with AI and our own limitations. Like the increasingly erratic Al, Braund’s debut may be flawed, but it effectively probes humanity’s fear of being made redundant by its own creations. [Nathaniel Ashley]

THE SKINNY

Narrative Fiction

Film

— 59 —

Mandibles “Strange, isn’t it?” That’s the perfectly reasonable reaction by our irreverent protagonist, Manu (Grégoire Ludig), when he finds he has unintentionally kidnapped a freakishly large fly while embarking on a hasty get-rich-quick scheme with his best friend, Jean Gab (David Marsais). From that setup, it’s surely clear that Quentin Dupeuix’s Mandibles hasn’t strayed far from the absurdist storylines which we have come to expect from the French director – such as in his earlier work Rubber (2010), which features a murderous car tyre in the starring role.

From here, strap in for a wild goose chase with this zany double act, who first land in a desert setting, where they begin to train their newfound pet to do tricks. It’s here we begin to see a more detailed glimpse into their eccentric friendship, reminiscent of the duo in Dumb and Dumber. The leads begin to employ a similarly exaggerated acting style through their quasi-slapstick facial expressions and childish mannerisms. Initially, this ‘comedy of errors’ feels inescapable, with the pair’s phatic conversations dominating the dialogue, filled with pauses and prosaic onomatopoeias.

However, as the narrative progresses, more humanistic elements of this tongue-in-cheek comedy blossom brilliantly. One of Dupieux’s central aims, he’s said, was to “celebrate friendship, because it’s beautiful”. Although this concept could have easily been diluted by the kooky storyline and unrelatable characters, it eventually shines through. We ultimately warm to the charmingly foolish pair, along with their cryptically nonsensical handshake. [Lauren Musa-Green]

September 2021 — Review

Stop-Zemlia Ukrainian filmmaker Kateryna Gornostai wanted to make a ‘boring film’ about adolescence. StopZemlia was the outcome: a debut coming-of-age film focusing on three friends, Masha, Senia, and Yana, and all the stomach-lurching, vertigo-inducing emotions of growing up. It resists the sensationalism of adolescence so often found in Anglophone coming-of-age films – think Booksmart or Lady Bird – and embraces the liminal space and hesitancy of teenage life. Its subject is social anxiety, unresolved crushes, the terrifying vastness of the future – and it’s ‘boring’ in the best possible way.

A significant proportion of the film is set in Masha’s bedroom, where Masha, Senia, and Yana flicker from topics of dating to mental health.

Oleksandr Roshchyn’s restrained cinematography and long shots mirror the expansiveness of their lives, when so much yet so little happens.

Engaging one coming-of-age trope, the film culminates in a stunningly-shot leavers’ dance: that bruised and glittered edge of adolescence, which is rarely all that it is made out to be.

Gornostai’s background is primarily within documentaries rather than fiction filmmaking, and Stop-Zemlia sits comfortably between the two.

Archetypal documentary talking-head shots are interspersed with surrealist badminton games and the ennui of a biology classroom on a Friday afternoon. The script was developed through interviews with potential actors and the characters were named after the cast, reminiscent of Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 social commentary classic La Haine. There is a generosity to Gornostai’s craft which infuses the film with earnest authenticity, and it neatly sidesteps any adult condescension.

The power of the film lies in its universality: everyone can relate to the difficulties of adolescence and uncertainty about the future. StopZemlia! Stop the world, I want to get off! Gornostai holds space for these emotions, without judgement – with the retrospective knowledge that it does get better. [Leeza Isaeva]

The Road Dance The Road Dance is, on the surface, a typical period piece. Following Hebridean teenager Kirsty (Hermione Corfield) as she comes of age amid the height of the First World War, its set-up is unsurprising. Look deeper, however, and you’ll find a film concerned with the devastating impact of war on isolated communities, as well as the harsh realities of patriarchal oppression.

American director Richie Adams’ film is a strikingly beautiful homage to the rough Scottish coastline, and its harsh, isolated setting – a village in the Outer Hebrides – is made more alluring by the undeniable sense of community. Adams’ cast, which boasts some excellent up-and-coming Scottish talent in Corfield, Will Fletcher, Tom Byrne, and Ali Fumiko Whitney, builds a convincing sense of interconnectivity in the village, wherein the loss of one citizen is felt by all.

For all these charms, The Road Dance does succumb to clichés. An enthusiasm for romantic letters read in voiceovers and the ever-looming promise of an escape to America minimise the sensitivity with which Adams attempts to handle certain plot points. It also undermines the film’s portrayal of sexual assault. Instead of an introspective look at the violence and injustice of patriarchy and war, the film leans too heavily into fulfilling period drama genre tropes.

Adams ultimately fails in his attempt to make a compelling drama concerned with the scars war inflicts on far-flung communities, but as a visually stunning and generally enjoyable period drama, it’s a welcome addition – and a rare Scottish one.

[Alix Hudson]

THE SKINNY

September 2021 — Review

Film

Documentary

Faceless The summer of 2019: the citizens of Hong Kong pour into the streets dressed in black, their faces hidden behind masks. Two million voices protest against the Extradition Bill that permits offenders to face trial in China with a 99.9% chance of conviction. “Withdraw the Extradition Bill! Give us back our freedom!”

Directed by award-winning journalist Jennifer Ngo, Faceless centres on the lives of four Hong Kong citizens – The Student, The Artist, The Believer and The Daughter. Alluding to the need for anonymity to avoid arrest, these names also foreground the individual lives that come together in mass political struggle.

Interviews with the four protestors reveal their stories: a desire to protect democracy for future generations, fear of what the bill means for LGBTQ+ Hongkongers, and a search for truth led by religious faith. Juxtaposing the individual against the systemic, these personal reflections are interspersed with scenes of police violence.

Faceless doesn’t soften any of its blows, and the footage of protestors being brutalised by officers in riot gear is harrowing. But the documentary also spotlights the power of grassroots mobilisation – strangers run into the fray, giving each other first aid, dousing out canisters of tear gas, and distributing protective gear. “We want to democratise the methods of resistance,” The Artist says. When they disperse for the night, protestors prepare home-cooked meals for one another, nourishing the solidarity that keeps them alive – and keeps them believing that a “Hong Kong for Hongkongers” is in their grasp.

The Hong Kong pro-democracy movement has since become a blueprint for protests in the face of racial injustice, the climate crisis, and the devastation of a global pandemic. Though it’s a difficult watch, Faceless carries hard-won hope – and it’s a necessary film in an era where grassroots organisation and international solidarity is more important than ever. [Xuanlin Tham]

Rebel Dykes The confident stomp of Dr. Martens down the streets of London. Leather jackets rolled up at the sleeves. Protest signs brandished without fear.

From the second they appear in this rousing documentary, the titular Rebel Dykes are impossible to look away from. Harri Shanahan and Siân A Williams’ film focuses on a group of lesbian activists living in London during the Thatcher era, exploring their lives and their unwavering commitment to dismantling the system.

Rebel Dykes utilises an eclectic mix of interviews, archive footage and animated sequences to create a narrative of close community. The film showcases multiple activism movements – from the Greenham Common Peace Camp to lesbian protestors infiltrating parliament. Interviews with participants as well as recreations of the actual events add a very personal lens to the movement while also paying tribute to the bombastic and legendary efforts of the protests themselves.

However, activism is not all that the filmmakers decide to document. What stands out is the sheer volume of lesbian culture that emerged in this scene. Lesbian punk bands (with fantastic names like Sluts From Outer Space), lesbian magazines, and lesbian S&M clubs. Rebel Dykes goes further than saying being a lesbian is OK. It says: being a lesbian is pretty damn cool. These women tear through the streets in motorbike gangs, they are unapologetically sexual and refuse to be subtle about it. Quite the opposite, the lesbians being interviewed explicitly link their political identity to their sex lives, stating a desire to fight the stereotype that lesbian sex involves “holding hands in 20 passionate positions”.

Rebel Dykes is a poignant account of the lesbian activists of the past, but also looks to the future. As the women reminisce on their glory days, they leave us with something to remember whenever we enjoy the greater freedoms queer people have today: “We stand on the shoulders of giants.” [Hannah Eglinton]

Bridging the Gap shorts: Mobile COVID has significantly limited our movements and narrowed our lives to an extent, showing us how much we took mobility for granted. This year, as part of the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Bridging the Gap series, five Scottish and Northern Irish directors have creatively explored the theme ‘Mobile’ and its significance to many lives.

Mobility acts as solace for two teenagers in the coming-of-age style shorts: Run With Her, directed by Lia Campbell, and West Country, directed by Rowan Ings. Whether that is endurance running in Campbell’s film, or conducting daily jobs at the farm in Ings’, both doc’s protagonists are accustomed to their routine lives.

However, they loom on the possibility of change as they ponder the future. Will their lives continue to have the same rhythmic motion as they mature?

Location, time, and memory are barriers to mobility in Laura Wadha’s Born in Damascus. As Wadha reconnects with her cousin after ten years, they realise their memories of Syria and of each other are immobile. Wadha highlights the lost recollections of migrants and refugees who have been forced to move, yet their heart and memories remain at home. Similarly, Daniel Cook’s The Bayview features migrant fishermen in the North East of Scotland longing for home. Cook encapsulates moments where the arduously-worked and underpaid fishermen are in respite, a short pause in their mobile lives.

In Steven Fraser’s colourful Prosopagnosia, the contents of a memory box – drawings, photographs, diaries – are constantly mobile. The stop-motion medium allows Fraser to reveal what face-blindness is like to unfamiliar audiences. As the snapshots of faces move, transform, and alter, so do Fraser’s own memories. For Fraser, his neurodiverse behaviour affects his mobility, and the people and places he encounters.

The Mobile collection ultimately delves into an intimate view of change and longing, which are some things we ourselves can desperately relate to after COVID. [Sungleen Moon] For more of EIFF’s Young Critics Programme, head to edfilmfest.org.uk/young-critics-2021

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Film

September 2021 — Review

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THE SKINNY

Books

Book Reviews

All the Names Given

Keeping the House

Several People Are Typing

Never Saw Me Coming

By Raymond Antrobus

By Tice Cin

By Calvin Kasulke

By Vera Kurian

All the Names Given is a meditation on communication: not only on what is communicated, but also how. Whether using his text as spoken word, gesture, or image, Antrobus blends these lines of communication into a seamless flow of poetry, investigating racial and cultural identities, familial relationships, and the spaces of silence among language.

Identity, in all its complexities, is explored in this collection, with silence itself becoming a pillar in that construction. That silence is investigated by the [Caption Poems], which are spaced throughout the collection and give a textual voice to the moments between poems.

Formally inventive, these pieces bring to the fore precise silences which so often fall between the gaps of reader recognition.

The layers of communication are particularly poignant in Plantation Paint. Antrobus uses his text to quote speech from Tabitha, who uses that speech to communicate information on the 1860 painting Plantation Burial by John Antrobus. ‘…the paint / depicting the black / of these men / huddled for burial / will decay before / the cypress trees’.

Through these layers, the reader is brought to an abrupt understanding of the racial prejudices that are woven into the very fabric of the image. So much of All the Names Given is this unwrapping of necessary communications: it is a gift of realisations for the reader to explore and come back to again and again [Beth Cochrane]

Keeping the House is a refreshingly unique and vivid debut by Tice Cin. Set over three generations, it follows an interconnected group of Turkish Cypriot immigrants as they navigate life in north London. It’s the story of those who will keep their families afloat by any means necessary, in this case, by dealing heroin concealed in cabbage leaves. Told in a series of bite-sized chapters, the novel expertly interweaves questions about family, community, trauma and belonging into episodes that are often humorous, sometimes heartbreaking but always poetic. Although it encompasses the lives of a dozen or so protagonists, this is arguably a story about three strong women (Makbule, Ayla and Damla), the love they have for their family and community, and the lengths they will go to in order to ensure each generation that follows is provided for.

The inclusion of Turkish Cypriot expressions and segments of fragmented poetry add to the individuality of Keeping the House and, although at times slightly scattered, Tice Cin manages to offer the reader a totally new and exciting narrative style that feels fresh, confident and powerful. It captures the buzz of London life and lifts the lid on the vibrant culture of the Turkish Cypriot community, giving a behind-closeddoors look at the women who quietly, instinctively keep the wheel of family life turning. [Kerri Logan]

After a year and a half of lockdowns, work apps have slowly infiltrated more people’s lives. But what if you were to infiltrate your work app?

That is the premise of Several People Are Typing – Gerald was working on a spreadsheet about snazzy coats and then suddenly, unexpectedly, is absorbed into Slack. While his colleagues consider his pleas a joke, he’s left to meditate on life and reality with his new friend, slackbot.

Told in fragments of Slack messages, it’s quick to get into. The perceived difficulty in facilitating a plot of highs, lows, tension, and character development in direct messages and Slack channels is navigated deftly – big topics like surveillance are all :dusty-stick: and giphy references, then you’re laughing at an implied screenshot of supposed secrets, or watching romances unfurl in hidden chats. The action element loses pace slightly, but it’s the flow of characters across channels – the work, life, gossip divide – where it shines.

Maybe it’s one for the Slack aficionados and others like us who are glued to these annoying work apps and would love nothing more than to be a sunset GIF and leave responsibility behind. It’s surreal and off the wall; it’s also incredibly witty, deals with existential crises, and makes you hate how recognisable this whole book is in terms of living in apps – minus the (literal, at least) absorption. [excellent.gif] posted using giphy [Heather McDaid]

Chloe Sevre’s hobbies include yogalates and frat parties; she’s an honour student, looks the typical girl next door, and she’s going to kill Will Bachman, the childhood friend who wronged her. She’s part of a sevenstrong clinical study of psychopaths – who, like her, can’t comprehend emotions like fear and guilt, and lack empathy – but when one of the students is found murdered in the psychology building, everything shifts.

What began as the perfect waiting game to strike her own revenge becomes a chase in which she is both a hunter and the hunted, as everyone seeks the answer while being under the strongest suspicion.

Welcoming readers with the intent and timescale for murder, this is a compulsive read – as unreliable narrators and plot twists aplenty build up; the hooks aren’t lacking.

Chloe and fellow students Charles and Andre deftly build up the full picture while ripping it to pieces simultaneously. Truth never feels certain. The term ‘psychological thriller’ is thrown around often, but Never Saw Me Coming takes it literally; it goes beyond the tropes of psychopathy, showing the reality of living a normal, average life too.

Unsure who to trust from page one, readers fall deeply down the wormhole of seeking answers.

However, the book does lose its momentum amidst its many threads.

But when at its strongest, Never Saw Me Coming is difficult to step back from – dark, complex, and gripping.

[Heather McDaid]

Picador, 2 Sep, £10.99

And Other Stories, 7 Sep, £11.99

Hodder Studio, 9 Sep, £12.99

Harvill Secker, 9 Sep, £14.99

panmacmillan.com

andotherstories.org/keeping-the-house

hachette.co.uk

penguin.co.uk

September 2021 – Review

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Photo: Peter Simpson

Food

THE PALMERSTON, EDINBURGH

Words: Peter Simpson

The Palmerston showcases great Scottish ingredients, but it’s the bakery that steals a lot of the limelight The Palmerston, 1 Palmerston Pl, Edinburgh, EH12 5AF thepalmerstonedinburgh.co.uk Bakery open Tue-Sun from 9am, kitchen open for lunch 12-2.30pm Wed-Sat and 123.30pm Sun, dinner 6-9.45pm Tue-Sun

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Photo: Peter Simpson

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things off, with a brilliant raspberry and almond tart (£6). Gooey frangipane, sharp berries, a crust so short and crisp that cutting into it creates a snap you can hear over a passing tram – you love to see it.

All in all, The Palmerston is a success, but a qualified one. It’s early days (we visited on their second-ever day of service, and their third day was rained off by a leak in the kitchen) so some growing pains are to be expected, but the high points are excellent. That said, you quite literally pay the price for those great moments – our lunch for two topped the £75 mark, which might give you cause for pause. As a showcase of local ingredients, The Palmerston sets a high bar, and if everything can reach the heights of that loaf of bread, this place could become very special indeed.

September 2021 – Review

and clinical, uncluttered and overly pared-back. The decor is cool but restrained, all teals and tiles and dark wood. The uniformly lovely staff have lovely uniforms; big canvas aprons on the front, T-shirts with illustrated ducks on the back. We spend a good few minutes focusing on a particularly lovely steak knife; salvaged antique blade, nicely weighted and seemingly-refurbished handle.

When we’re done playing with the cutlery, it goes to work on a plate of roast venison (£20) with white beans and braised chard. It’s brilliantly juicy and tender, and accompanied by some incredibly savoury and meaty veg, but it might have fallen a touch short had it not been for a late intervention from more of that bread. As we’re finishing up, some sourdough ends are brought forth for mopping up, and we’re in business – the business of devouring every single bit of this meal without resorting to licking the plate.

The fish stew (£21) is one example of the approach not quite working – maybe it’s just our palate, but while everything feels very fresh and lovingly made, there’s just a little spark missing. Or maybe there’s too much spark; there’s an impressive range of sea life jostling for attention in a small pool of broth, with the resultant flavour clashes growing stronger by the moment.

The bakery comes good once again to round

Photo: Peter Simpson

n the classic Simpsons episode Krusty Gets Kancelled, the whole town becomes entranced by the arrival of a ventriloquist’s dummy named Gabbo, but all they have to go on initially is the name. Gabbo!

Gabbo! GABBO! The Edinburgh food equivalent in recent months has been The Palmerston, the new venture from chefs James Snowdon and Lloyd Morse. The Palmerston!

It’s a restaurant! And a bakery! The Palmerston! There’s a bar! They seem to be decorating, must be opening soon! The Palmerston! Where is it again, oh Palmerston Place, that makes sense!

Having visited on the opening weekend, our report is that The Palmerston has largely been worth the hype. The good bits are very very good, led by everything coming out of the restaurant’s in-house bakery. The bread is light, bouncy and flavourful, and the good news is there’s plenty of it going around. The aubergine, goat’s curd and dukkah (£7) comes on a toasted slice, smeared with creamy cheese and topped with extremely soft, mellow aubergine.

Throw in some lemon thyme flowers and seeds and you have an extremely tasty and surprisingly approachable bit of food. The grilled sardines (£6.50) do not feature any bread, but they are accompanied by a zesty, punchy blob of romesco. It’s a simple dish but it’s super effective, highlighting really good ingredients and letting you loose on them with a knife, a fork and a ‘good luck’.

Throughout, The Palmerston treads the fine line between simple

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Pedal Powered Advertising Feature

Meet Me Halfway aims to encourage people across Edinburgh to choose more active and greener travel options this summer. Laura and Tom, the couple behind TravelTwo, took up the challenge by biking to Portobello – via a cheeky ice cream pit stop in Leith Interview: Jamie Dunn

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aura and Tom are the couple behind TravelTwo, and they share a love of photography and a dislike for sitting still. They have been living in Edinburgh for around three years now, having moved to Scotland from London.

As well as photograCrolla's phy, they love to hike and just generally be active, and they document their adventures around Scotland on the TravelTwo Instagram (@traveltwo_) and blog (traveltwo.co.uk). Their motto is “if there’s a photo that’s worth sharing, chances are there’s also a story behind it that’s worth telling”, and they hope their photographs and stories of travelling around Scotland will help inspire people to get out there and explore this beautiful country too.

As part of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Meet Me Halfway campaign, Laura and Tom decided to cycle from their home in the New Town to meet friends halfway on the promenade at Portobello beach. We had a chat to them about their journey.

September 2021

The Skinny: Where did you set off from?

Laura and Tom: So we began in St Andrew Square and cycled to meet some friends on the beach.

Why Portobello?

We just love it there and try to get down at least once a week – whether it’s for a swim, a run or just to meet up with friends. This time we were desperate to try out the new Civerinos restaurant that’s opened on the beachfront. And with the sun out, it just felt like the perfect excuse to go and enjoy a slice with some friends.

How did you plan your route?

We always try to plan routes that avoid too many main roads, but also take in some of our favourite spots. For that reason, the Water of Leith is just an amazing way to get down to the water from the city centre without needing to cross a single road. It’s so green and scenic that

you completely forget you are in a city at all. A pit-stop at Leith is always nice too, before we headed across Leith Links and then along the shorefront until Portobello.

When you travel by bike or on foot, do you see the city differently?

When we moved to Edinburgh, it definitely surprised us how many quiet spots you can find in the city by actively travelling around. Despite thousands more people here for the Fringe, there’s always spots you can find to yourself – sometimes a whole stretch of beach too!

There’s always something different to see every time we get around Edinburgh – the seasons make such a huge difference, but there’s also just so many new places opening up. This time though as we were capturing our journey on camera – we forgot how incredible the view is back to the city from the shore and it gave us a fresh perspective of Calton Hill that we’d not seen before.

What did you get up to during your stop in Leith?

We stopped for ice cream at Crolla’s (a regular occurrence). There are so many flavours to choose from and enjoying an ice cream by the harbour is a must. We also brought a bottle of wine with us on the trip and so enjoyed that with our friends on the beach with the most amazing pizza from Civerinos.

How long was the journey?

It only takes about 20 minutes to cycle down to Leith from the city centre and then less than that to go from Leith to Portobello. However, it’s definitely more fun to break it up and so it took us about an hour and a half including our ice cream pit-stop.

Civerinos

What were the highlights of the journey?

There were so many! Seeing Leith harbour with all the boats provides endless photo opportunities.

Portobello beach also takes some beating. It’s such a long stretch of sand (around two miles) that you genuinely could have a whole stretch to yourself. We love meeting all the dogs that are out for walks too – running in the water and just genuinely having the time of their lives!

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“There’s always something different to see every time we get around Edinburgh” Laura and Tom of TravelTwo What, for you, were the main benefits of meeting halfway?

With our friends living a bit outside of Edinburgh, meeting them halfway, especially during the week, meant we could still plan a fun evening without worrying about being too far from home. Most importantly, though, after sitting staring at screens for a day, sometimes the best thing is just to build in some screen-free exercise by way of walking or cycling. It definitely makes you feel like you’ve earned the pizza at the end!

So sounds like you’ll be meeting halfway quite often?

We will definitely be suggesting more things like this, using it as an excuse to try new places and see different parts of the city.

Follow TravelTwo’s journey at @traveltwo_ To find out more about the health and environmental benefits of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Meet Me Halfway campaign, as well as ideas for your own journey, head to edinburgh.gov.uk/meetmehalfway

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ICYMI

Podcasters Laurence and Lindsay from Long Cat Media take a trip with the Griswolds Illustration: Lotte Schuengel

Comedy

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indsay: Initial expectations: National Lampoon’s Vacation is an 80s comedy with a theme park. Sounds like it’s made for us! Laurence and I have been theme park enthusiasts for some time now, and yes, that makes us very cool. We even got married at Disney World, and soon after gave birth to our very own theme park – Mockery Manor*.

We should be the ideal audience for National Lampoon’s Vacation, shouldn’t we? Nooope. This is a dated, dubious movie, folks. It did have good moments, but mainly we spent the 92 minute runtime exclaiming such things as “What is going on? Why are we seeing the mum’s boobs again? How long is this comedic set-up going to go on for?! Is that a young Jane Krakowski?”

Laurence: OK, let’s start with the plot – cheeky hapless dad Clark Griswold takes his wife Ellen and children Rusty and Audrey on a road trip cross country to visit Walley World.

I’ve never much enjoyed the ‘everything-goes-wrong road trip’ genre of family comedies: I find them stressful and usually want to flip tables as each inevitable disaster approaches. But this didn’t give me the toe-curling stress response I’d expected.

What was striking was just how many jokes are set up but then just… move on. Scenes like Clark getting lost in the desert feel like such well-trodden ground that you think “Ah, there’s the Lawrence of Arabia music, there’s the skeleton wearing the same clothes as him… soon he’ll collapse and some desert people will rescue him, and he’ll be indoctrinated into their way of life etc.”

But instead he just arrives at a gas station where the family is waiting. And then the film moves on. He’s not even comically sunburnt. It’s like the film goes “yeah, you know the rest of this bit,” and spares you the hassle of a punchline. It’s… efficient?

Long Cat Media write and produce the following podcasts: The Ballad of Anne and Mary with Christina Bianco, Sooz Kempner and Hamilton’s Karl Queensborough Mockery Manor, again starring Sooz Kempner and Alistair Beckett-King Madame Magenta: Sonos Mystica Listen to all of Long Cat Media’s podcasts wherever you get them or at longcatmedia.com/podcast — 65 —

September 2021 — Review

Lindsay: Comedy, some might argue, is about building stress and then relieving it in a heightened and/or unexpected manner (Gadsby!! *shakes fist*). But National Lampoon’s Vacation kept setting up stressful situations (dangerous driving, accidentally killing a pet, a granny dying) and then, instead of capitalising on all that zany potential, taking it reeeeeally easy. Like, hey man, no need to get too excited. It’s fine. Shit happens. *shrug* The film has the low, low stakes of a giant SNL skit. Or maybe the problem is that there’s no real commitment to mania.

Even at the climax when Chevy Chase is supposedly at his wit’s end, he’s only a smidge more wild-eyed and sweary than before.

And the wife’s response to her husband pointing a gun at two innocent security guards is essentially, “oh honey, siiiigh.” The overall result is VERY WEIRD, like a laid-back fever dream.

So it’s like a mellow cartoon. But then there’s the racism. Yep. The Griswolds are a parody of a typical middle-class American family, oh-so suburban and naive; the perfect set-up for tired ‘fish out of water’ tropes (even by 1983). The most heinous example of this is when they take a wrong turn into a ‘bad neighbourhood’, depicted as exclusively black. It’s a hive of gun-toting pimps, prostitutes and thieves, all primed to prey on the Griswolds when they ask for directions. The family drive away minus hubcaps. And that’s it. That’s literally the whole joke.

Laurence: I think this film hinges on how much we like Chevy Chase. As Clark, he gives it big comedy dad-throb energy.

He loves his kids (though forgets the girl’s name sometimes) and his wife Ellen (even when he’s vigorously attempting to cheat on her) and he’s just trying his dang best. Ellen herself is the straight man for Clark to bounce off, but she’s also there to be smokin’ hot. This might look like a family comedy, but in the first 20 minutes Ellen has been the butt of a blowjob gag, and we’ve seen full nipple in a ‘where’s the joke tho’ shower scene. Both of us were getting flashbacks to sitting with parents in childhood living rooms, watching what appeared to be an innocuous family comedy, then sitting in awkward silence when all the boobs appeared.

So, this isn’t really worth a rewatch. *But hey, tell you what else is set in the 80s and has a theme park and some decent comedy that isn’t racist or sexist - Mockery Manor!

THE SKINNY

Listings Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Here's a rundown of what's happening in music, art and theatre across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee this month.

To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings

Glasgow Music Tue 31 Aug BLOSSOMS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £36.50

Beloved indie band Blossoms bring their chart-topping recent album Foolish Loving Spaces to the stage for an unmissable live performance.

CARA ROSE (HANNAH SLAVIN + BRODIE BARCLAY + LEWIS ROSS) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 23:30, £8.80

Soulful melodies and incisive lyrics come together to create a compelling musical portrait of being young in the world today. Part of King Tut’s Summer Nights.

CRACK CLOUD

MONO, 20:00–23:00, £11

Vancouver-based multimedia collective Crack Cloud are known for their uniquely radical, subversive approach to music, blending the personal and the political with each new album.

DECLAN MCKENNA

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Only 22 years old, pop prodigy Declan McKenna has been radically altering the face of British music for several years thanks to an ambitious play with genre and subversive, politically astute writing.

PASSENGER

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 23:00, £29

September 2021 — Listings

Indie singer-songwriter darling Mike Rosenberg, AKA Passenger, brings his gentle, soulful lyrics and sound to the stage in celebration of his latest melancholy album Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted.

SARA ‘N’ JUNBUG (PSYCHADELICACY + DEAR CINDER) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

Lying at the intersection of folk and pop, Glasgow four piece Sara ‘N’ Junbug’s compelling sound is as fun as it is piercing. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Wed 01 Sep THE SNUTS

ORAN MOR, 17:00– 19:30, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts play an intimate acoustic show.

THE SNUTS

ORAN MOR, 19:30– 22:00, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts play an intimate acoustic show.

DECLAN MCKENNA

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Only 22 years old, pop prodigy Declan McKenna has been radically altering the face of British music for several years thanks to an ambitious play with genre and subversive, politically astute writing.

CULTE (TARRAGON + SCOTT C PARK + JEN ELLA) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

Summer vibes from a irresistible line up. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Sat 04 Sep

LITTLE BARRIE + MALCOLM CATTO

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, TBC

Exploring funk and psych, this coming together of two great musical acts is a unique musical experience.

Thu 02 Sep

NATHAN BALL

ORAN MOR, 17:00– 19:30, TBC

British singer-songwriter with a distinct summer sound.

THE SNUTS

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts play an intimate acoustic show.

THE SNUTS

ORAN MOR, 19:30– 22:00, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts play an intimate acoustic show.

SLEEPER + THE BLUETONES

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 18:30–22:00, £34.50

90s Britpop legends put on a co-headline show playing their debut albums in full.

GALLUS (MYSTIC PEACH + SHE)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, TBC

Glasgow-based five piece indie-punk band with a reputation for relentlessly energetic and entertaining live shows.

LAST HYENA (INTECHNICOLOUR + GREATER THE DIVIDE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

Bristol band known for their wry prog rock vibes.

Fri 03 Sep

LUKE LA VOLPE (BLACK DOVE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, TBC

Rising star who has supported the likes of Lewis Capaldi and The Snuts.

CHRIS HELME (MARK W. GEORGSSON) MONO, 19:30–22:00, £14

The frontman of indie band The Seahorses turns solo with gorgeous folk-infused music.

MASON HILL

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £14

A mix of classic and modern rock, these anthemic songs are not ones to miss.

EASY DAYS (TALK MORE + BEAFETS)

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £7

Mellow indie band Easy Days play out the end of summer.

THE GILHOOLYS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £5

A cult Glasgow band who made their name in the 90s,this well-loved indie rock group are back on stage.

SCHEME

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, £15

Well-loved local band play their first show after the sad passing of their founding member.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £9.90

DEMOB HAPPY (DEAD POET SOCIETY) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £12

Synth-filled, upbeat vibes from this Newcastle band.

PEEPING DREXELS (SALOON DION + GOTH GF) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £10

Underground five-piece bring their charismatic, grungey tunes to Scotland.

Sun 05 Sep THE LUKA STATE

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £8

Bringing a unique free spirit and positive energy to Glasgow’s music scene.

AOIFE NESSA FRANCES (ALEX REX + DJANA GABRIELLE)

MONO, 19:00–22:00, £9

Music that inhabits an ethereal, liminal landscape, traversing the beginnings of love and moments of loss.

TVAM (MANDRAKE HANDSHAKE + MODERN WOMAN + POLLY + THE KUNDALINI GENIE) BROADCAST, 16:00– 22:00, £14

Five bands take the stage for this all-afternoon mini fest.

GOOD DOG (BOBBY KAKOURIS + GRAYLING + RAVELOE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

A celebratory line up of live music. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Mon 06 Sep FOY VANCE

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, TBC

Foy Vance merges the folk sensibilities of his native Northern Ireland withthis rich musical history of Southern Americana.

BLACK MIDI

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00, £15

Post-punk, jazz and prog rock come together in a blistering performance from Mercury nominees black midi.

EMILY BURNS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £9.90

British musical artist inflienced by the likes of Tove Lo, Sigrid, and Kehlani.

THE SPECIALS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

One of the UK’s most foundational ska-punk bands infuse their music with an incisive politics.

SONIC BOOM

AFFLECKS PALACE

Renowned singer and producer Peter Kember known for his genre-bending sound.

Manchester-based band that have taken the local music scene by storm.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

ENJOYABLE LISTENS (LOUP HAVENITH + BLUSH CLUB) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

Avant garde pop from an acclaimed up-and-coming band. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Tue 07 Sep

JAX JONES (DANIEL BLUME)

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

THR PRIMITIVES

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £15

English 80s pop band reformed in 2009 to the delight of their fans.

SEAN FOCUS (OAKZY + SHERLOCK + MELROZE + AMA JANE + 4TUNE + TAZTAR) SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £10

Edinburgh-based Afrohop artist brings together a dynamic set of special guests.

JOHN GRANT

THE VIOLENT HEARTS (DANGERS OF LOVE + GLASS RASPBERRY)

The primary songwriter for alternative rock band The Czars takes the stage.

British punk rockers with a jagged edge and an even more jagged heart.

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £34

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £7

DOSS (GELATINE + DRAGGED UP + PEARLING)

JANET DEVLIN

VISTAS

Electro-pop influenced by the 90s dance scene.

Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Mon 13 Sep

Charming indie band from Edinburgh.

Fri 10 Sep

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £17.60 - £20.40

Prominent DJ Jax Jones headlines a smash party.

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £26 - £36

SAM FENDER

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Guitar-led melodies and socially engaged lyrics make for a dynamic show.

THE MAGPIES (CHAMELEON LADY + LIAM WELSH) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

Neo-folk’s leading stars pioneer their fresh sound.

Wed 08 Sep MEUTE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £22.70

Stunning brass music from a techno marching band.

HIMALAYAS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £8.80

Welsh rock group known for their energetic live performances.

SAM FENDER

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Guitar-led melodies and socially engaged lyrics make for a dynamic show.

LARKINS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £13.20

Big sounds are delivered by this catchy indie-pop group.

TOM CLARKE

ST LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00, £16

Musical artist from The Enemy plays his own tour.

LEBANON HANOVER

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:00–22:00, £13

Warm New Romantics-style songs from enigmatic duo Larissa Iceglass and Wiliam Maybelline.

DREAM NAILS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

ELBOW

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £51.40

Now on their eighth studio album, this is rock at its most lyrical.

KSI

KING TUT’S, 22:30– 22:00, TBC

Chart-topping musician with YouTube’s third biggest music channel.

FEVER

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £9

Four-piece group who have supported the likes of Blossoms.

ARAB STRAP

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Scottish indie rock band headed by Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton.

Thu 09 Sep

SPEAK EASY CIRCUS (CONNOR JOHNSTON) BLOC+, 21:00–22:00, TBC

Experimental indie posse from the East End of Glasgow.

New tunes from X-Factor hopeful Janet Devlin.

DERMOT KENNEDY (LOLA YOUNG + ZOLA COURTNEY) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Irish singer-songwriter heads out on his largest tour yet.

HAGGARD CAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £11

Hardcore punk band who have played Glastonbury.

PIZZAGIRL

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £11.50

Scouse singer drawing on influences as diverse as The Beatles and Janet Jackson.

TWINNIE

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Strong, socially aware song-writing is matched by irresistible country-pop tunes.

SHADER

NOUSHY 4TET (SOPHIE PENMAN)

Northwest-based indie rock band deliver an eclectic swirl of melodic guitar riffs and northern grooves.

Modern jazz quartet evolving Glasgow’s jazz scene.

Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £6

RURA

ST LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:00, £14

Instrumental group known for their raw yet polished sound.

ELIJAH WOLF (LORKIN O’REILLY + SCOUT + FAITH ELIOTT) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £9

Indie artist Elijah Wolf shines a hopeful, sentimental light on modern life.

Sat 11 Sep

SPEAR OF DESTINY ORAN MOR, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Punk rockers put on an exhilirating live show.

AMY MCDONALD

A feminist punk band of witches, this is a show not to be missed.

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00, £15

KING TUT’S, 22:30– 22:00, TBC

Beloved Scottish musician whose 2007 single This Is The Life topped charts in several countries.

Sun 12 Sep THE VAMPS (JC STEWART)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Beloved ppop rock band return with their fourth album Cherry Blossoms.

— 66 —

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £10

Tue 14 Sep

KYLE FALCONER

ORAN MOR, 20:00– 22:00, £16 - £20

Album launch for Kyle Falconer’s new solo album Love Songs For Laura.

DERMOT KENNEDY (LOLA YOUNG + ZOLA COURTNEY) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Irish singer-songwriter heads out on his largest tour yet.

CALLUM BEATTIE (KEIR GIBSON)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, TBC

Incisive songwriting that gets to the messy heart of love and life.

COURTING

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £8

Subersive Liverpudlian band with a punk edge.

BOY PABLO

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £16

Indie-pop tunes from Chilean-Norwegian musical artist Nicolas Muñoz.

PAN AMSTERDAM

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

A masterful genre-bender known as much for his accomplished jazz trumpeting as his wry lyrics.

JOE AND THE SHITBOYS (THE WIFE GUYS OF REDDIT) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

A radical queer band set on addressing homophobia in the rock scene.

Wed 15 Sep TOM GRENNAN

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Fri 17 Sep

PETTY THIEVES (TOMMY MCGUIRE + GRANT KILPATRICK) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, £8

Gritty, vibrant reggae-ska played by a dynamic eightpiece band.

NIGHTSHIFT (R AGGS + OPEN FACE)

MONO, 20:00–22:00, £8

A creative group of musicians pushing the boundaries of and blurring the lines between DIY, punk, experimentalism and indie pop.

GROVE

Playing his latest album, Tom Grennan brings his radical emotional honesty to the stage.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £8

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £12.50

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £16

SAM GELLAITRY

BLACK STONE CHERRY

Genderqueer Bristol-based producer and DJ creates a rave-inspired sound.

BRU-C

CAM COLE

A leading figure in the UK’s garage and drum and bass scene.

A one-man band show by singer-songwriter and seasoned busker Cam Cole.

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Scottish DJ’s experimental, genre-bending electronic music heralds the return of the club.

KNEECAP

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £15

Electric, politically minded hip hop trio from Belfast.

ARXX (GHOSTBABY + EVERYDAY PHARAOHS) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £7

ARXX aren't taking any shit, putting on a invigorating show.

DELTA SLEEP

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £13

Delta Sleep return to Glasgow to support their more recent release Soft Sounds.

HEIR OF THE CURSED (ADAM ROSS + AMIE HUCKSTEP + RAMBLER) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £7

Atmospheric instrumentals and soulful vocals mark out one of Scotland’s most unique artists. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Endless Summer.

Thu 16 Sep

BILLIE MARTEN (CONCHUR WHITE)

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £37

Hard rock Kentucky quartet head to Scotland.

SCHOOL DISCO (EASY PEELERS) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00, £7

Cosmic space-rock and heavy psych from Brighton.

THE QUILTER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £10

Melodic indie pop from Glasgow musician Stuart Dougan.

Sat 18 Sep

LUCA STRICAGNOLI ORAN MOR, 19:00– 22:00, £17.50

Using up to five guitars and modified capos, this is acoustic guitar playing like you’ve not seen before.

ANDREW CUSHIN

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £9

Candid, emotionally vulnerable writing from an astonishing young talent.

WITHDRONES

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £8

Melodic band Withdrones launch their new EP Meaning II: The Mind.

SARPA SALPA (WHITE NOVELS + KARDO) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £8

Emotionally intelligent songwriting from dreamy folk artist Billie Marten.

Influenced by the likes of Foals and Two Door Cinema Club, this is a live music at its most energetic and sweaty.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, TBC

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £12.50

OCEAN GROVE

TRAIL WEST

Australian nu-metal band with an eclectic sound.

A band leading the thriving scene of Gaels in the city of Glasgow.

TEENAGE FANCLUB

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £27.50

Scottish alternative rock band beloved in the 90s and still going strong.

ANNA ASH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

Speaking to the heady, gritty heat of an Americana summer, Anna Ash’s new album makes for a soulful live show.

GFOTY (SPINEE)

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £11

An exclusive performance by high concept indie-pop singer GFOTY.

THE SKINNY GRáINNE HOLLAND (MARIT & RONA + PADDY CAVANAGH TRIO)

DETER (SLOWMOVE)

BROADSIDE HACKS

PARIS STREET REBELS

Ambient guitars and melancholy vocals characterise Deter’s tunes.

Classic rock’n’roll from Fife.

Three bands come together for Gaels le Chéile's Ceòl is Craic’s celebration of Gaelic music.

Tue 21 Sep

Supergroup performance from members of Sorry, Dead Pretties, Girl Ray and more.

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 20:00–22:00, £5 - £14

SLIME CITY

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £12

Glasgow-based band playing fast-paced, existential nerd rock.

Sun 19 Sep

MR BEN & THE BEN'S (FAMILY SELECTION BOX + BUNKHOUSE) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £9

Vibrant storytelling and tender vocals set this indie band apart.

FLYTE

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £15

Dynamic indie rock band with an irresistible funk edge.

Mon 20 Sep

DODIE (WILL JOSPEPH COOK + MATILDA MANN) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £26.60

Intimate songs from one of indie pop’s most disarming rising stars.

LADY BIRD (DITZ + HAZEYDAYS)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:00, £9

Subersive punk-inspired music with a distinctly storytelling approach.

THE BLINDERS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £14

Gorgeous stories abound in the alt-rock lyrics of this Manchester-based band.

THE SNUTS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts put on a highenergy show.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

ASH

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £22.50

With a career spanning 25 years, alternative rock band play from their extensive back catalogue.

GOAT GIRL

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £14

South London post-punk band headline this set.

SODA BLONDE

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £8

Dublin alt-pop band celebrate their debut album Small Talk.

THE SNUTS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts put on a highenergy show.

LONELADY

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £12

Blending synth with a post-punk sensibility, LoneLady’s music has been released to widespread acclaim.

BRING ME THE HORIZON

THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, £48

Multi-award nominated, metalcore band bring their huge songs to a suitably enormous stage.

Wed 22 Sep

TOKYO POLICE CLUB BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £12

Canadian indie rock band jump across the pond for a buzzing show.

THE SNUTS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts put on a highenergy show.

Edinburgh Music Thu 02 Sep TIDE LINES

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £22

MAISIE PETERS

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, £14

English singer-songwriter plays a special, intimate set to launch her debut album.

THE WANDERING HEARTS

SUMMERHALL, 19:30– 22:00, £15 - £18

Harmonies come together in this dreamy folk-Americana.

Tue 07 Sep THE SNUTS

THE CAVES, 19:30– 22:00, £16

Sat 04 Sep

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts put on a highenergy show.

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £9 - £11

USHER HALL, 18:30– 22:00, £49.50 £71.50

STEVIE R. PEARCE & THE HOOLIGANS

Rock’n’roll legends showcase their new album Major League Song of a Bitch.

EDDI READER - 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £26 £28

One of Scotland’s most legendary singers celebrates four decades of music.

Sun 05 Sep

THE GALLOWGATE MURDERS (SOUNDMIND + LANA WILD) BANNERMANS, 19:00– 22:00, £6 - £8

Punk and grunge come together in this three-band set.

THE SPECIALS

One of the UK’s most foundational ska-punk bands infuse their music with an incisive politics.

Wed 08 Sep THE SNUTS

THE CAVES, 19:30– 22:00, £16

Emerging indie boy band The Snuts put on a highenergy show.

Thu 09 Sep BLACKWATER CONSPIRACY

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £12.50 - £15

Northern Irish five-piece band brings a uniquely classic rock sensibility to the stage.

MINERVA WAKES

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

Dark trip-hop is given a twist of glitchy psychedelia.

Thu 23 Sep WENDY JAMES

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, £15

The voice of Transvision Vamp brings an intimate yet high-energy show to celebrate her new album.

FATIMA YAMAHA

SWG3, 20:00–22:00, £16.50

Refined house and dreamy synths characterise Fatima Yamaha’s immersive live shows.

TEMPE (STEREOFIRE + PEACHED) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £5

Scottish band play their first show since their recent album release.

Fri 24 Sep

RIANNE DOWNEY

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, TBC

Courageous, emotionally acute songs from a rising star.

THE PIGEON DETECTIVES

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00, £18

Indie rock band with platinum records under their belts.

PHIL MADELEY

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £8

Phil Madeley’s songwriting speaks to modern states of alienation and loneliness with piercing clarity.

EXPLORING BIRDSONG

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £10

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

QUICHE (EMME WOODS)

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £8

Psychedelic pop rock quintet hailing from Glasgow play this local show.

THE FLAVOURS

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00, TBC

An intimate live gig by up-and-coming band The Flavours.

CALLOW YOUTH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

Manchester band head on their first UK headline tour.

Sat 25 Sep PROUD MARY

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, TBC

Manchester band play songs from their acclaimed fifth album Songs from Catalina.

FROM THE JAM

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Featuring Bruce Foxton from the original Jam line up, this incindiary live show features some of their best loved numbers.

TIN PIGEONS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £8.80

Bouncing, excitable indie-pop from charming two-piece band.

PRETTY PREACHERS CLUB (MAGPIE BLUE + BERTA KENNEDY) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £7

Glasgow alt-pop two piece founded during lockdown.

CHARLIE AND THE BHOYS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £22

A Celtic Irish folk band hailing from the heart of Glasgow.

BLACK CAT REVUE (THE DREADS + LAS ACUARELAS + ANDY MCBRIDE) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Music featuring influences from 1970s psychedelia to American rock’n’roll.

THE BYSON FAMILY ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, £18

Gorgeous, atmospheric Americana by well-established group.

KLEO (BABY TAYLAH + POCKET KNIFE + BOBBY KAKOURIS + RUNRUMMER + CHIZU NNAMDI) THE HUG AND PINT, 18:00–22:00, £10

A bumper bill of the best of local talent. Part of The Hug and Pint’s Any Minute Now sessions.

Sun 26 Sep

MASSIVE WAGONS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

Unabashed fun from rock’n’roll-inspired indie band with an ardent following.

POM POKO

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £12

Norway’s finest punkpop anti-conformists revisit their joyous debut album, Birthday.

MCFLY

THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, £51.10 - £90.80

JESSE MALIN (KRIS GRUEN)

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:00, £16

Songwriter and guitarist with introspective, razorsharp lyrics.

AVERAGE SEX

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £8

Power-pop band whose show are well above average.

ALL TIME LOW

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £33

American pop punk band with catchy riffs and anthemic melodies.

JOHN SMITH

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £16

Songwriter John Smith plays from his emotionally rich and remarkably vulnerable new album.

SCRITTI POLITTI

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Acclaimed British band celebrate their 1985 album Cupid & Psyche 85.

THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

Folk stories blend with pop euphoria, creating music that is haunted and yearning.

Tue 28 Sep SQUID

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £15

Mon 27 Sep

The hotly tipped post-punk, disco-funk phenomenon Squid is the brainchild of Ollie Judge, Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £25

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £9.20

One for the noughties kids - beloved boy band McFly are back together and back on the road.

LANY

HORSEY

American pop band who have supported the likes of Halsey and Troye Sivan.

South London group whose jazz and blues-inspired indie rock are making waves across the British music scene.

Piano-led progressive rock from Liverpool.

ELBOW

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00, £49.50

Now on their eighth studio album, this is rock at its most lyrical.

ALL WORK TOGETHER: WITHERED HAND + CARLA J. EASTON SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:00, £14

Summerhall’s new series of songwriter circles, this set highlights some of Scotland’s most exciting up-and-coming and established talents.

Fri 10 Sep

SERTRALINE (DREAMEATER)

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £9 - £12

A mesmerising live show from underground metal band.

Sat 11 Sep FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £27 £35.50

A classic band with a big sound and warm heart.

Tue 14 Sep

TEENAGE FANCLUB

ASSEMBLY ROOMS, 19:00–22:00, £27.50

Scottish alternative rock band beloved in the 90s and still going strong.

ARXX

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

ARXX aren't taking any shit, putting on a invigorating show.

Wed 15 Sep KYLE FALCONER

Fri 24 Sep

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00, £30.50 £35.50

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £15

BLACK STONE CHERRY

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, £16 - £20

Album launch for Kyle Falconer’s new solo album Love Songs For Laura.

PAN AMSTERDAM SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

A masterful genre-bender known as much for his accomplished jazz trumpeting as his wry lyrics.

THE TOY DOLLS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £22

Catchy songs and sensational stage presence make this one of The Toy Dolls one of the most recognisable punk bands in the UK.

Thu 16 Sep

SEETHING AKIRA

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £8 - £10

Up-and-coming electronic nu-core band take to Bannermans’ stage.

CALLUM BEATTIE

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Incisive songwriting that gets to the messy heart of love and life.

Hard rock Kentucky quartet head to Scotland.

MR BEN AND THE BEN'S (WITH FAMILY SELECTION BOX AND DINOSAUR 94) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £9

Beautiful jangly lo-fi pop reminiscent of the best of Belle and Sebastian and Beach House.

Sun 19 Sep

LUCA STRICAGNOLI THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, TBC

Using up to five guitars and modified capos, this is acoustic guitar playing like you’ve not seen before.

PALOMA FAITH

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00, £43.50 £108.90

Acclaimed singer-songwriter whose heartwrenching lyrics and unique depth of voice make her one of Britain’s most beloved artists.

Mon 20 Sep FLYTE

Fri 17 Sep

MARK BURGESS (THE CHAMELEONS) (GOTHZILLA) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £17

Sat 18 Sep

Legendary frontman from The Chameleons Mark Burgess puts on an intimate acoustic set to celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary.

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, £15

Dynamic indie rock band with an irresistible funk edge.

Wed 22 Sep

THUNDERMOTHER (BETH BLADE & THE BEAUTIFUL DISASTER) BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £12 - £15

Blending punk, metal, and blues rock, Thundermother’s new album is a distinct crowd-pleaser.

— 67 —

ROBERT JON AND THE WRECK

Blues rock singer-songwriters known for putting on a great live show.

Sat 25 Sep WENDY JAMES

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:00, £17 - £20

The voice of Transvision Vamp brings an intimate yet high-energy show to celebrate her new album.

DR HOOK STARRING DENNIS LOCORRIERE USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00, £44 - £66

Frontman of acclaimed rock band Dr Hook & the Medicine Show plays a memorable show.

Sun 26 Sep

SISTER JOHN (BROKEN CHANTER + ANNIE BOOTH) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £10

Folk-inspired harmonies come together in this multi-instrumentalist band featuring songwriting by acclaimed Amanda McKeown.

AVERAGE SEX (WITH WHISPERING PINES COLLECTIVE) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Power-pop band whose show are well above average.

ALL TIME LOW

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:00, £33

American pop punk band with catchy riffs and anthemic melodies.

L DEVINE

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £9

Unabashed, witty electropop makes for an electric live show.

RYAN MCMULLAN

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, £14.50

Fresh new talent hailing from Northern Ireland whose emotionally resonant lyrics and distinct voice mark him from the crowd.

IZZIE WALSH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8.50

Manchester musical artist blending Americana and folk to enchanting effect.

BURD ELLEN (DOROTHY HALE)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

Traditional music explores dark landscapes and strange stories.

Thu 30 Sep

KING NO-ONE (POLO + STOLEN YEARS) KING TUT’S, 19:00– 22:00, £12

Dynamic alt-pop rockers with blistering live shows.

THE STAVES

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £20

Known for their haunting, heart wrenching harmonies, sisters The Staves return to Scotland’s stage with their most recent album.

TEAM PICTURE

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £8.10

Wed 29 Sep

Leeds-based six-piece offering nostalgia-infused pop.

KING TUT’S, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £12

RED RUM CLUB

PETER BRODERICK

Wild-western vibes and catchy lyrics from Liverpool.

Multi-instrumentalist draws from folk, gospel and soul.

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS (PAULINE MURRAY)

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, £28.50

JILL JACKSON

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, £18.50

Gorgeous musical energy with hints of Joni Mitchell.

1980s post-punk dance from music legends The Psychedelic Furs CENTRAL CEE

SWG3, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Hardcore rap from a star of the British rap scene.

VIRGINIA WING

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:00, £9.20

Delicious pop from Manchester-based group exploring subersively dark themes of isolation and trauma.

ALL THEM WITCHES ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, TBC

Hard rock quartet hailing from Nashville.

Mon 27 Sep

Thu 30 Sep

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, £16

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

RYAN MCMULLAN

Fresh new talent hailing from Northern Ireland whose emotionally resonant lyrics and distinct voice mark him from the crowd.

COACH PARTY

An Isle of Wight band with irresistable pop hooks and witty lyrics.

BLACK FOXXES

Dundee Music

Offering a fresh take on 90s grunge and noughties emo, English indie band Black Foxxes are at once nostalgic and cutting edge.

Wed 22 Sep

Tue 28 Sep

Classic rock’n’roll from Fife.

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £11

MANIC STREET PREACHERS

USHER HALL, 19:00– 22:00, £38.50 £54.50

On their 14th studio album, acclaimed Welsh rock band show no signs of slowing down.

VIRGINIA WING

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Delicious pop from Manchester-based group exploring subersively dark themes of isolation and trauma.

Wed 29 Sep L DEVINE

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:00, £10

Unabashed, witty electropop makes for an electric live show.

CHILDCARE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £11

Childcare’s smart, tightly produced tracks combines the drive of punk with the catchiness of the best of early noughties indie.

PARIS STREET REBELS

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:30, £8

Thu 23 Sep THE FRATELLIS

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:00–22:00, £11

The Glasgow indie-rockers, led by lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli.

September 2021 — Listings

Scottish Highlands folk rock band Tide Lines guarantee a whirling, irresistibly energetic show.

Mon 06 Sep

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:00, £15

THE SKINNY

Theatre Glasgow Theatre

Edinburgh Glasgow Theatre Art

Oran Mor

Festival Theatre

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: CELESTIAL BODY 6 SEP, 1:00PM – 2:00PM, £12.50 - £15

Laura looks to the celestial body to change her life.

Hamish moves on from a trauma he’d rather forget.

Bruce joins a gym to win back his wife. A dark comedy about forgiveness and revenge.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: ROSE

13 SEP, 1:00PM – 2:00PM, £12.50 - £15

The inspiring true story of a working-class Scottish teenager who refused to play by society's rules to become the greatest professional female footballer in the world.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: JOKE

20 SEP, 1:00PM – 2:00PM, £12.50 - £15

A furloughed worker is accused of using offensive language, language he claims was meant as a joke; a joke that might threaten both his job and personal life.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: A NEW LIFE

27 SEP, 1:00PM – 2:00PM, £12.50 - £15

A heartfelt, surreal and truthful musical comedy about pregnancy and parenthood.

GREASE

27 SEP-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, £26.50 - £49.50

Summer may be over but this rock’n’roll tale of young summer love is anything but.

SOUTHERN LIGHT SINGS FOR THE KING’S 9-11 SEP, TIMES VARY, £23

A musical medlee of beloved numbers in support of the King's Theatre Redevelopment Campaign.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

TELL ME ON A SUNDAY 14-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, £20.50

An under-the-radar Andrew Lloyd Webber musical charting the romantic misadventures of a young girl in 1980s New York.

GROAN UPS

28 SEP-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, £16 - £36

From the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong comes this anarchic, side-splitting tale of coming-of-age.

The Edinburgh Playhouse CHICAGO

27 SEP-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

The King’s Theatre

Bringing the razzle dazzle to Scotland, this sexy Jazz age musical is a prohibitively good time.

11 SEP-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

14-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, £13 - £90

CHICAGO

Bringing the razzle dazzle to Scotland, this sexy Jazz age musical is a prohibitively good time.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY 21-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, £13 - £64.50

Wednesday Addams is all grown up in this riotous musical about America’s favourite weird family.

Theatre Royal

THE WOMAN IN BLACK 6-11 SEP, TIMES VARY, £13 - £51

September 2021 — Listings

Art

One of theatre’s most chilling plays, this classic Gothic horror has been terrifying audiences for decades.

GRAYSON PERRY: A SHOW FOR NORMAL PEOPLE 5 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £27.90 £32.90

Acclaimed artist and performer Grayson Perry takes a surreal, warm look at the human condition.

THE CAT AND THE CANARY 13-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, £13 - £49

A classic mystery thriller filled with remote mansions, greedy heirs, and a haunted presence.

SCOTTISH BALLET: STARSTRUCK

23-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, £13.40 - £37.90

The UK premiere of an original work created in 1960 for the Paris Opera Ballet by legendary actor and choreographer Gene Kelly.

9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL

Office sexism is given the boot in this classic Dolly Parton musical.

The Studio

ISLETS OF SILENCE 4 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £15

This delicate new drama explores the effects of a cancer diagnosis on a close-knit family.

Dundee Theatre Dundee Rep WINGS AROUND DUNDEE

7-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, £12 - £25

A new play by two-time Fringe First Award-winner John McCann, this magical realist urban tale is a sharply political look at the contemporary Dundee.

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art WINNIE HERBSTEIN: DAMPBUSTERS 1-4 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The third in a triptych of films that explore the past, present and future of community organising in Glasgow, Dampbusters centres on the work of housing activist Cathy McCormack and the ways in which urban space can be claimed and reclaimed.

SOOUN KIM + WEI ZHANG: THE AUTOBUZZ OF HYBRID KIM AND RABBIT

1-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow-based experimental artists use video, music and installation to explore ideas of hybrid identity and the queer Asian experience through K-pop music and social space.

Compass Gallery

ANNA GEERDES: BORDERLINE

18 SEP-9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A compelling new exhibition exploring the liminal and symbolic power of border spaces.

David Dale Gallery and Studios

TENDER SPOTS IN HARD CODE… FRAUGHT WITH POTENTIAL, FRAGILE WITH INDECISION 17 SEP-23 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

This exhibition brings together six early career digital artists, whose practice explores how ethics, care, and power can be explored through digital and material mediums.

Glasgow Print Studio MONO

1-25 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

MONO is a survey and celebration of one-off printmaking across the decades, exploring both the plurality and individuality that printmaking enables.

GoMA

NEP SIDHU: AN IMMEASURABLE MELODY, MEDICINE FOR A NIGHTMARE 1-5 SEP, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, TBC

Canadian artist Nep Sidhu’s work is embedded in Sikh metaphysics and histories, exploring relationships between memory, memorial and the divine in his very first European show.

DRINK IN THE BEAUTY 1 SEP-23 JAN 22, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Inspired by Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental treatise Silent Spring, this exhibition features artists engaging with our connection to the nonhuman, and thinking through the ethics and aesthetics of how we record nature.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum FRANCE-LISE MCGURN: ALOUD

Edinburgh Art &Gallery

1 SEP-1 JUN 22, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, TBC

France-Lise McGurn’s newly commissioned installation draws on her personal experiences of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, creating bewitching, almost sculptural forms that fill the museum’s gallery.

RGI Kelly Gallery

JAMES LUMSDEN: SLOW LIGHT

1 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

James Lumsden’s paintings are dense with colour, interrogating representations of landscape and the natural world through a play with abstraction and light.

HANNA TEN DOORNKAAT: DISSONANCE + HARMONY

4-29 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

SUMMER REFLECTIONS

1-11 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

This group exhibition by various current members of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts explores hopeful ideas of seasonal change and new beginnings.

Street Level Photoworks

Playing with the boundaries between two and three dimension, Hanna ten Doornkaat’s graphite pieces make unexpected use of material.

Arusha Gallery FREYA DOUGLASMORRIS: HILLS OF HONEY

1 SEP-3 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

MANDY BARKER: OUR PLASTIC OCEAN 1 SEP-10 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A photography series that traces the legacy of plastic pollution in our oceans, Mandy Barker’s images of found debris are eerily alive and suffocating.

Studio Pavilion at House for an Art Lover IRENE MCCANN: EARLY MORNING SONG

1 SEP-31 OCT, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of Glasgowbased artist Irene McCann’s dreamy, collage-like still lifes.

Tramway

PAUL PURGAS: WE FOUND OUR OWN REALITY

1 SEP-3 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An expansive mixedmedia installation spanning architecture, textiles, and soundscapes, We Found Our Own Reality explores the rich musical and technological history of India’s very first electronic music studio.

FLO BROOKS: ANGLETWICH

1 SEP-3 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A narrative of queer and trans experience in the UK, this semi-autobiographical exhibition draws on the isolation and familiarity of rural environments to explore how marginalised communities can imagine themselves in public spaces.

Incorporating stark, mesmerising use of colour with Modigliani-like figures, Freya Douglas-Morris’s landscapes convey a tangible, intoxicating sense of beauty.

City Art Centre CHARLES H. MACKIE: COLOUR AND LIGHT 1 SEP-10 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

This major retrospective of Scottish painter and printmaker Charles H. Mackie explores his dynamic experimentation with French Symbolism, Japanese art, and the Celtic Revival movement.

DONALD SMITH: ISLANDER

1-26 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Drawing on international artistic movements while remaining dedicated to Lewis’ local fishing communities, these intense, lyrical images celebrate the indomitable human spirit of Scottish island life.

IAN HAMILTON FINLAY: MARINE

1 SEP-3 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exploring maritime themes in renowned Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay’s oeuvre, this exhibition pulls work across decades and media, from stone, wood and neon sculptures to tapestry and postcards.

Collective Gallery

ALISON SCOTT: DITTO DITTO DITTO 1-19 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

These integrated sound and print works explore the space and possibilities of ‘meteor-ontology’: an exploration of how climate and weather are entangled in the nature of our being.

Dovecot Studios

JOCK MCFADYEN: LOST BOAT PARTY

1-25 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

These enigmatic, almost print-like works explore the magnificence of Scotland’s landscape, juxtaposed and complemented by the artists’s signature urban dystopia.

MAKING NUNO: JAPANESE TEXTILE INNOVATION FROM SUDŌ REIKO 17 SEP-8 JAN 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8.50 - £9.50

An innovative exhibition examining the life work of renowned Japanese textile artist Sudo Reiko, Making NUNO spotlights her unconventional practice and radical play with materiality.

Edinburgh Printmakers

SONIA MEHRA CHAWLA: ENTANGLEMENTS OF TIME & TIDE

1 SEP-21 NOV, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

A merging of visual arts and science, this exhibition explores the ecosystems of the North Sea, striving for an empathetic understanding of the oceans and the relationship between the human and nonhuman.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

ANDREW GANNON: ECCENTRIC LIMBS

1-25 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Using plaster casts to create surreal, subversive prosthetics, this exhibition interrogates the ways in which disabilities are conceptualised in our society.

ALAYA ANG + HUSSEIN MITHA: PLOTTING (AGAINST) THE GARDEN 1-29 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An intimate poetic sound installation, Plotting (Against) the Garden) examines the politics of the garden and the intersection between rural and urban spaces through a series of atmospheric compositions.

Fruitmarket

KARLA BLACK: SCULPTURES (20012021)

1 SEP-21 NOV, 10:00AM – 7:00PM, FREE

Combining traditional sculptural material with found objects such as cleaning products and cosmetics, Karla Black’s embodied sculptures fill the walls, ceilings, and floors of Fruitmarket. The exhibition, subtitled details for a retrospective, reopens Fruitmarket after a major refurb and expansion into the former Electric Circus space next door.

Ingleby Gallery FRANK WALTER (19262009): MUSIC OF THE SPHERES 1-25 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

Overlooked in his lifetime but now considered one of the most important Caribbean artists of the 20th century, Frank Walter’s striking circular paintings are assembled in this longawaited exhibition.

Jupiter Artland ALBERTA WHITTLE: RESET

1 SEP-31 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £0 - £10

A powerful response to the pandemic, climate emergency, and Black Lives Matter movement, RESET is a mesmerising challenge to our society’s various hostile environments.

RESET (GROUP SHOW)

1 SEP-31 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £0 - £10

A group exhibition accompanying Alberta Whittle’s solo show, featuring Sekai Machache, Mele Broomes, Basharat Khan and more.

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National Museum of Scotland

THE GALLOWAY HOARD: VIKING-AGE TREASURE

1-12 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

This treasure-filled exhibition brings together the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland.

Open Eye Gallery ALLUSION VI

4-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A selection of work by fourteen elected members of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, whose works engage in diverse ways with the Narrative tradition.

Royal Botanic Garden

CHRISTINE BORLAND: IN RELATION TO LINUM 1 SEP-2 OCT, 10:00AM – 4:30PM, FREE

This multidisciplinary project, featuring watercolours, prints and sculptural pieces, explores the lifecycle of flax, evolving RBGE’s 350-year relationship with the plant.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA FRANCES WALKER: TRAVELLING ON

1-5 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A retrospective in honour of prolific Scottish artist Frances Walker’s 90th birthday last year, Travelling On showcases a significant body of the artist’s evocative landscapes captured over her travels.

BILL SCOTT

1-5 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

This major retrospective of the work of past RSA President Bill Scott reintroduces Scott’s work for contemporary audiences.

ANDIAMO: FORTY YEARS OF THE RSA JOHN KINROSS SCHOLARSHIPS TO FLORENCE

11 SEP-17 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the John Kinross Scholarship, which has enabled over 400 emerging artists to travel to Florence, this exhibition pulls together works by 20 artists across the scholarship’s history.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

RAY HARRYHAUSEN: TITAN OF CINEMA 1 SEP-20 FEB 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £5 - £14

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition brings together the life work of a giant of cinematic history and the grandfather of modern special effects, showcasing some of his most iconic designs and achievements.

ISAAC JULIEN: LESSONS OF THE HOUR

1 SEP-10 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

This major ten-screen film installation from renowned British artist Isaac Julien offers a poetic mediation on the life and work of 19thcentury African-American writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

JOAN EARDLEY: CATTERLINE

1 SEP-9 JAN 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Celebrating the life and work of the artist Joan Eardley, this exhibition focuses on her post-war works created in Catterline.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

RUINED: REINVENTING SCOTTISH HISTORY

2 SEP-13 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

Four young Scots reinvent the bloody complexity of Scottish history, drawing on and subverting works from the National Portrait Gallery to pull visitors into an immersive, disorienting, and radical reimagination of our collective past.

ALISON WATT: A PORTRAIT WITHOUT LIKENESS

2 SEP-8 JAN 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

A body of new work created in response to celebrated eighteenth-century portraitist Allan Ramsay, Alison Watt’s paintings play with detail and ideas of femininity, exploring the art of portraiture beyond the subject.

THOMAS JOSHUA COOPER: THE WORLD’S EDGE

2 SEP-22 JAN 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

The only artist to have ever taken photographs of the two poles, Thomas Joshua Cooper is known for working in the extremes, pushing the boundaries of both creative practice and human endurance.

Stills

SEKAI MACHACHE: PROJECTS 20

1-18 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, TBC

Featuring work from Sekai Machache’s The Divine Sky, these porcelain-like photographs were created during the pandemic, exploring new ways of structuring artistic output.

Summerhall

BEVERLEY HOOD: WE BEGAN AS PART OF THE BODY 1-12 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:30PM, TBC

This immersive series of video projections, 3D prints, and virtual reality explores existential and ethical questions on the relationship between bodies and technology.

Presented as part of this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival.

VICTORIA EVANS: OSCILLATIONS

1-12 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:30PM, TBC

Using soundscapes and sonification of data in a unique, haunting way, Victoria Evans’ work engages with the way invisible forces in the universe tangibly affect our lives.

Presented as part of this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival.

The Queen’s Gallery

VICTORIA & ALBERT: OUR LIVES IN WATERCOLOUR

2 SEP-3 OCT, 9:30AM – 5:00PM, £0 - £7.80

Featuring 80 watercolours collected by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, this exhibition celebrates Scottish watercolour painting in the post-Romantic, industrial age.

THE SKINNY

The Scottish Gallery

CALUM MCCLURE: LE TIERS-PAYSAGE

2-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

JAMES MORRISON: DECADES OF STUDIO PRACTICE

2-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

This intimate exhibition celebrates the life and work of the late James Morrison, in the run up to a major retrospective arriving next year.

OLIVER COOK: FORM & LIGHT

2-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, TBC

Oliver Cook’s sculptural works carved from alabaster play with ideas of opaqueness and translucency, transforming stone into something ethereal.

GRANT MCCAIG: OVALIS

2-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A series of brooches by contemporary jeweller Grant McCaig exploring ideas of wholeness, clarity, and the relationship between function and aesthetics.

Torrance Gallery

FESTIVAL SHOW

1-11 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Torrance Gallery’s annual festival show returns, bringing together regular favourite artists with exciting new names for a perfect snapshot of contemporary art.

Dundee Art DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

CHIKAKO YAMASHIRO: CHINBIN WESTERN 1 SEP-21 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

This exhibition looks at the influence the Tay has had on the city of Dundee, and the ways in which its various faces, from early settlement to industrial giant, continue to reinvent its iconic waterfront.

Venues

Coffee shops, restaurants, and paninotecas are just some of the newest and coolest businesses to have emerged in Dundee in the last few months

Compiled by Jamie Wilde

V&A Dundee NIGHT FEVER: DESIGNING CLUB CULTURE

2 SEP-9 JAN 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £5 - £10

The perfect exhibition in the light of the last year, Night Fever explores the relationship between vibrant global club culture and fashion, architecture, and graphic design, giving an intoxicating glimpse into the art that informs our nights out.

WHAT IF…?/SCOTLAND 2 SEP-21 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

Designed to be staged at the Venice Biennale, this exhibition responds to the festival’s theme “How will we live together?” by collaborating with and involving local communities, highlighting and seeking to return to the civic responsibility of design.

Loco Rita’s

Heather Street Food

Loco Rita’s

With the V&A acting as a new cultural cornerstone in Dundee, it’s only right that other local businesses should also benefit from the museum’s widespread appeal.

Heather Street Food is one such business who has thrived thanks to the V&A; perched directly under Kengo Kuma’s futuristic construction, locals and tourists alike have taken to their fun food and personality. It’s been voted one of the top 10 street food vans in Scotland and it’s easy to see why. Italian-style bagels and feel-good donuts have been its staples from day one, but with its additional van and beer garden taking flight over the summer, prosecco and ice cream has taken Heather Street Food to a whole new level.

Loco Rita’s is the new sister restaurant of Dundee’s hugely popular Mexican eatery, Más. Housed in the same Hawkhill locale as the former Underdog vegan restaurant, the pandemic caused the business owners to reflect upon their goals and ambitions, which led to its new transformation earlier this year.

Before you step inside Loco Rita’s, the colourful snakeleopard mural surrounding the exterior provides a perfect, pre-meal photo opportunity. Inside, colour and character are even more abundant. Frozen margaritas and authentic Mexican beers bring the refreshing cool, while handmade empanadas and Taco Tuesday deals bring the sizzle and spice to the fully plant-based restaurant. Great for a quick bite or evening meal, this is a go-to for vegans and non-vegans alike.

1 RIVERSIDE ESPLANADE, DD1 4EZ

EH9 Espresso

248 PERTH RD, DD1 4LL

Dundee’s west end is the place to be for art lovers. Home to DJCAD (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design) and a host of literary-themed pubs, the city’s cultural quarter brims with independent businesses, who thrive among a supportive local community.

One of Perth Road’s newest additions comes in the form of independent coffee shop, EH9 Espresso. It’s run by Fraser Smith, a 25-year-old from Newport, and is his very first business venture after acquiring plentiful experience as a barista in Edinburgh. Having only been open three months, EH9 has already built a cult following. Its hot and iced coffees, sweet home bakes and friendly vibes are a perfect fit for the west end community. It’s no surprise that many locals have said “this is exactly what we’ve needed.”

OLD HAWKHILL, DD1 5EU

EH9 Espresso

Mezzaluna 19 WHITEHALL CRES, DD1 4BB

Dundee’s newest paninoteca comes in the form of Mezzaluna. With a love for wholesome Italian cooking stretching back to family roots from the 50s, the business has been riding an upward trajectory of late. From catering and events to street food to sandwich shop owners, Mezzaluna has been a real success story in Tayside despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Freshly made focaccia with a diverse range of fillings are a perfect lunch filler. Moreish arancini and bruschetta are also tasty tempters at any time of day. But a visit to Mezzaluna would not be complete without trying its cannoli. They’re a feast for the eyes as well as the belly and Dundonians can’t get enough of the stuff.

The Newport Bakery 54 WEST PORT, DD1 5ER

The Newport Bakery has ventured over the Tay to bring its delicious baked products to the people of Dundee.

Its owner, Jamie Scott, who won Masterchef: The Professionals in 2014, is also the owner of the awardwinning Newport Restaurant, and his team clearly have a flair for producing quality baked goods.

Country sourdough and croissant rolls are two of their slickest savoury concoctions, but its sweet treats look too good to resist. Strawberry and elderflower Danish pastries, tablet custard doughnuts and triple chocolate brownies are just a handful of the delectable options available at the bakery that’s turning heads for all the right reasons.

Mezzaluna

MARY MCINTYRE: PLACES WE THINK WE KNOW 1 SEP-21 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Engaging with ideas of spatiality and psychogeography, Mary McIntyre’s quiet interior photographs are presented in a uniquely sculptural way that pulls the gallery space into her work.

The McManus

A LOVE LETTER TO DUNDEE: JOSEPH MCKENZIE PHOTOGRAPHS 19641987

1 SEP-1 MAR 22, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

Turning to black and white photography from the 1960s-1980s, this exhibition charts the changing landscape of Dundee’s waterfront and the evolution of the City’s fortunes and its people.

Heather Street Food

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September 2021 — Listings

Drawing on influences as diverse as industrial landscapes and traditional Japanese theatre, Chikako Yamashiro’s filmmaking and photography practice explores themes of neocolonialism and collective memory.

1 SEP-2 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, TBC

Photo: James Calderwood

Landscapes of Glasgow paint the edges of the urban landscape, engaging with the interplay between natural and built environments.

TIME AND TIDE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE TAY

THE SKINNY

The Skinny On...

Bemz The Skinny On...

Jubemi Iyiku, the Glasgow-based Ayrshire rapper who performs under the moniker Bemz, takes on our Q&A this month ahead of his headline show at SWG3’s Poetry Club What’s your favourite place to visit?

Right now I enjoy Queen’s Park. I take my daughter there a lot and it just feels special now. We both love it.

Apart from your upcoming EP, M4, which other releases are you most looking forward to coming out this year?

Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J Hus.

What’s your favourite colour?

Green, the colour of the flag of my motherland.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?

Sharknado. So bad but soooooooo good.

Who was your hero growing up?

My older brothers. They always had the best things and I inspired to be like them.

How have you stayed inspired during the multiple lockdowns and various restrictions that have been in place for the past 18 months?

My main inspiration has been my daughter. Seeing her smile and all that has been the light in this dark time for me.

Whose work inspires you now?

Dave and Ghetts, simply because of how they put their emotions on a beat and make it work so well.

What’s your favourite meal to cook at home?

Cooking? What’s that? If I had to say though, I make the meanest spag bol this side of the world.

What three people would you invite to a dinner party?

This is a tough one. I’d invite Drake, Ange Postecoglou, and Tallah just so she can bring some sprinkle cake and custard.

What book(s) would you read if you got the ping alert to your phone and found out you had to self-isolate for the next ten days?

So this is my reality right now and I am reading Happy Sexy Millionaire [by Steven Bartlett]. Mainly just to work on my perspective in life.

Who’s the worst?

People are the worst.

Photo: Andy Xplore

When did you last cry?

Is it crying if you’re in a shower? Asking for a friend x What are you most scared of?

Not accomplishing what I’ve set out to in my life, because this means I failed.

September 2021 — Chat

When did you last vomit?

This, I can’t really remember, but my guess would be that it was because of one too many pints.

Tell us a secret?

Then it wouldn’t be a secret lol, but here’s one. Me and heights don’t mix.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?

Neil Francis Lennon, silly man.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal which animal would it be and why?

A honey badger. Hard and mental wee things with no care of what anyone thinks of them.

Since the return of live music this year, you’ve played a handful of shows. What’s been your favourite moment so far?

Playing the Edinburgh Fringe. That was special and I will always remember it.

Bemz plays The Poetry Club, SWG3, Glasgow, 23 Sep; his new EP, M4, is set for release on 24 Sep Follow Bemz on Instagram and Twitter: @bigbemz1

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THE SKINNY

October 2020

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August 2021 — Chat

The Skinny On...

THE SKINNY

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