Browsing Tag

Scottish Folk

Peaks & Valleys speak for the melancholic souls in their orchestral indie-folk single, Surrender

Posted on 13 December 2022

Peaks & Valleys have debuted their masterful, aptly morose EP, How Far We Fell, featuring the bitter-sweet exposition of grief, Surrender. The Edinburgh-based three-piece start with sombre acoustic guitars before the quiescently ennui-laden vocals hush desolation into the polished orchestral production, which brings in orchestral strings and minor piano keys to pay homage to the roots of Scottish Folk and laden you with compassion for the disillusioned protagonist portrayed.

In a time when it feels like everyone with a shred of empathy and awareness is succumbing to the subjugating grips of futility, Surrender will undoubtedly have a profound effect. The grief shared through the lyricism that leaves plenty of room to inject your reason for melancholy against the climactic orchestral crescendos is inexplicably beautiful in its resounding darkness.

Surrender will be available to stream from December 13th via SoundCloud.

Follow Peaks & Valleys on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Snows of Yesteryear ‘Wait by the Shore’ in their orchestral indie folk exposition of generational grief.

Posted on 7 December 2022

Snows of Yesteryear could only hail from Scotland with their mesmerising future-resisting take on orchestral indie-folk, which resounds in their debut single, Wait by the Shore.

No one can ever truly replace the alchemy that blossomed in the melancholy of the original Frightened line-up. But Snows of Yesteryear set our hearts and minds alight with a similar spark as the high-octave vocals from Kat Orr captivate as they mourn the tragedies which befell Scottish fishermen in 1881.

Classic, but still a million miles from archaic, Wait by the Shore is an achingly artful dark exposition of generational grief that proves the up-and-coming indie folk outfit is inseparable from their sonic and hometown roots.

Wait by the Shore is now available to stream on Spotify. The official music video will premiere on December 9th, and their debut album is in the pipeline, so get them on your radar.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Deep Sea Tourist explored our embitteringly perplexing world in his alt-folk single, Bodies

Posted on 23 August 2022

Scottish singer-songwriter, Deep Sea Tourist, channelled the melodious evocativeness of Frightened Rabbit in his alt-folk single, Bodies, taken from his 2022 album, Everything Will Be Okay, Probably.

The loss of Scott Hutchinson left a massive empathy-shaped hole in the Scottish indie scene. If anyone has the astute compassion to fill it, it is Deep Sea Tourist. He dove deep into introspection to pull out comforting melancholy and blissfully resolving acoustic melodies accentuated by folky strings.

Bodies almost unravels as an intimate conversation on the confusion that transpires when we try to excavate an understanding of our human experience in this ever-perplexing and imbittering world. Bodies is genuinely one of the most stunning singles I have listened to this year. If I wasn’t on so many antidepressants, the floodgates would have undoubtedly opened to the tune of it.

Everything Will Be Okay, Probably is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast