MOLLY NILSSON - ZENITH

Molly Nilsson is a Berlin based singer/songwriter whose album Zenith is released on the ever excellent Night School Records on 25 September. Recorded in her home city of Berlin, Zenith sees Molly "reveling in big arrangements, sweeping synth strings, bigger choruses and emotions" and it promises to be a cracker of an album

Check out  the superb lead track 1995 here:

The album is available for pre-order from Night School here and there are 500 spectacular looking white vinyl versions up for grabs. Be quick.

Full album review to follow...

INTERVIEW: SHONA BROWN

Since November 2014, Shona Brown has released a single a month as part of her 10 in 10 project. Using electronics, loops and effects to manipulate her vocals and flute, Shona creates quite wonderful soundscapes and songs that have made a real impression on anyone who has heard them. The singles themselves have been consistently excellent and the whole project has been a real success and a testament to her ambition and talent. Her live shows are well worth catching too as she brings new life to the tracks and never fails to grab your attention. To round the 10 in 10 series off, her new single, , You Are My Music came out on 10 August ahead of her run of shows at the Fringe in Edinburgh from 12 to 15 August inclusive. I caught up with Shona to find out how the last ten months have gone for her.

APA: Tell us a bit about You Are My Music, the new and final single in the 10 in 10 project

SB: You Are My Music is a song with lots harmonised vocals, sweeping reversed piano sounds and more flute and ambient electronics. It's a very personal song - more so than the others

APA: What inspired you to embark upon the 10 in 10 series?

SB: My background is as a classical musician - I'm very new to the electronics and production side of things. I really took the plunge and bought all the equipment without knowing much about it so I thought 10 in 10 would be a great challenge for me! I wanted to try and hone my productions skills and find my "sound." There's nothing like 10 months of deadlines to get you over any procrastination! I also hoped people would be interested to hear my progress over the 10 months.

APA: Did you have the songs written already or have some been written as the project has gone on?

SB: A mixture. I had this crazy idea that I would have finished them all by Christmas, This didn't happen - what did happen was a panic every month and a lot of late nights! Some of the songs were half written but I find the process of finishing a track much harder than beginning it so even the half-baked songs were a challenge.

APA: How have you found the reception to 10 in 10?

SB: I really didn't know what to expect as I've never done anything quite like this before. A few highlights from the project include playing live on STV Glasgow and BBC Radio Scotland. It's also put me on the radar of people like yourself!

APA: It's been quite a few months for you what with the singles, live shows and playing at the Barrowlands with Mogwai. A tough one maybe, but what's been your highlight or highlights?

SB: Playing the Barras with Mogwai has to be up there as it was an amazing experience. Finishing the last track was a highlight too - I joke! Really, for me, the best thing about it has been building up my confidence throughout the process. In the past I had found presenting my music to the world such a daunting experience and a struggle. Making myself do this every month has boosted my confidence no end. I've learned so much about the technical stuff and the creative process too.

APA: If you HAD to choose which would you pick as your favourite from the ten releases?

SB: Eek - that is so difficult. I often find the ones I like best aren't necessarily the ones other people pick up on. I was really proud of Air as I think I found some really interesting sounds and it's opened up many technical possibilities for me. I'm also pretty keen on this last song, You Are My Music, as it's very personal to me

APA: Other than a well deserved rest, what does the future hold for you?

SB: Well this week, I'm doing a run of shows at the Fringe in Edinburgh. After that, a rest before I begin working on an album - I'd like to release on next year.

Thanks very much to Shona for taking the time to speak to me. Have a listen to the superb You Are My Music above and, if you're in Edinburgh between 12 and 15 August, go and catch her show at the Lauriston Hall.

Meantime, go to Shona's Facebook page or her website and have a listen to the whole 10 in 10 series 

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: THE INSOMNIAC PROJECT - IN AND OUT (OF MY HEAD)

As regular readers probably know, we've a bit of a soft spot here at Almost Predictable Almost for Glasgow six piece The Insomniac Project. Combining disco, electronica and synthpop (think of LCD Soundsystem versus Giorgio Moroder), the band caused quite a stir with their recent demo release campaign (here) and they were one of the featured acts in our Glasgow Electronic Too blog in March this year. 

The band are set to release their debut single In And Out (Of My Head) on August 31 and we're delighted to bring you the world exclusive premiere of that track today

Produced by Lewis Gardiner of Prides, In And Out (Of My Head)  is a full on disco belter that will tempt even the most reluctant among you to hit the dancefloor. The song's relentless groove is added to with a full on pop chorus that most bands would kill for and it builds to a quite wonderful, glitterball filled crescendo. Have a listen below - I guarantee you that you will start grooving around in your seat within seconds. 

The band celebrate the release with a launch party at Glasgow's Nice 'N' Sleazy on Friday 4th September. Grab your tickets for what promises to be quite a night from here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-insomniac-project-debut-single-launch-4th-sept-tickets-18081065955

In And Out (Of My Head) by The Insomniac Project is released on 31 August 2015 and will be available on ITunes and all digital outlets

The Insomniac Project Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Insomniac-Project/330344370464489?fref=ts

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 5

Every month, I team up with Neil from Scottish Fiction to put together a six track e.p. showing off the best new Scottish music which we then make available to you lovely people to download entirely free of charge. You simply couldn't get better value. This month's e.p. is a cracker and can be obtained, once again at no cost to you at all here:

https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-5

This month's tracks are:

EARTHS - KANGERLUSSUAQ

Kangerlussuaq demonstrates a new, previously unseen side to Earths. Stripped away from the fuzz and lo-fi elements, we see uplifting guitars, crisp percussion and haunting vocals.

POOR FRISCO - WHAT'S LEFT OF IT

Taken from their forthcoming debut album, What's Left Of It showcases Poor Frisco at their best. With shades of The Shins and The Pixies at play, What's Left Of It is a great track from the East Kilbride five piece

THE MAYBES - WHAT YOU CAN REMEMBER

The Maybes are a Glagsow based duo whose recent e.p. Contra Todos features this track, What You Can Remember, which displays their melodic indiepop at its best.

GUS HARROWER - MYSTERY

Mystery is the lead and title track from the debut e.p. by Edinburgh's Gus Harrower. At only 17, Gus is already a talented singer/songwriter who brings to mind the likes of Bon Iver.

YuTaNi - MT. MINAKAMI

YuTaNi is the solo project of Machines In Heaven's Connor Reid. His album, At The End Of A Day, is a superb mix of downtempo and ambient eletronica. Mt. Minakami is the album's centrepiece - a beautiful slice of eletropop influenced electronica and one of this year's outstanding tracks.

NOTHING UNIVERSE - PYRE

With a track from the band's live e.p. recorded at King Tut's, this track showcases the direction Nothing Universe, previously known as Phases, have been taking with their music. Layered, dense and intriguing, Pyre builds things up only to tear it all down in a climatic frenzy.

Stream the whole album below and then go and help yourself to a download:

Thanks once again to all the artists for taking part and thanks to you for listening. Make sure you check out all the bands' various social media pages.

LIVE REVIEW: SCOTTISH FICTION PRESENTS WITH DEC. '91, AKELA & MT. DOUBT

As well as providing an invaluable source of new Scottish music, Neil Wilson's Scottish Fiction is also well known for its gig nights. Last night at The Hug And Pint on Great Western Road, Glasgow, the Scottish Fiction Presents gig put on three bands who were all different in style and sound but complimented each other perfectly to give everyone there a hugely enjoyable night.

First up were Dec. '91. The band's track When You Come featured on the most recent Almost Scottish Fiction e.p. (here) but the acoustic feel of that track was no preparation for what was to come. We instead got a mix of early Pixies, some Jack White like guitar sonic waves and, as spotted by Dougie the venue's sound engineer, a distinct Jonathan Richman feel. It was loud, chaotic and superb with the Pixies influence felt not only in the sound but also in some of the lyrics. One to watch no doubt.

Dec. '91 - picture taken from Scottish Fiction's Twitter feed

Next up were Akela, a band who I'd never heard before but one who certainly made a good impression. Their sound brought to mind Talking Heads in places or the likes of Vampire Weekend with even a little bit of Wilco like alt-country thrown in for good measure. Their new single Past Sunrise was one of the stand out tracks (https://soundcloud.com/akela-music/past-sunrise) but the whole set worked really well. One of the good things about a gig like this is discovery of a new band to keep an eye on - Akela were that band last night.

Akela

The headliners were Mt. Doubt, whose debut album My Past Is A Quiet Beast has been getting a lot of attention from many places including this very blog this week (review). As I said in my review, it's a powerful release that really impresses but live, it's taken to another level entirely. Leo Bargery is transformed from the man on the album to someone who seems to have mashed together Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen and had them backed by The National. It's engrossing and incredibly powerful stuff. The whole set flew by and was quite superb. I'm quite sure that Mt Doubt are on the verge of something very special indeed - music this good and this powerful can't fail.

Mt. Doubt.

So that was that - a fine evening featuring a diverse selection of bands that came together quite wonderfully. Thanks very much to Neil at Scottish Fiction for arranging it. You must all keep an eye out for future Scottish Fiction Presents gigs as you won't want to miss them. I've got to say as well that The Hug And Pint is a cracking small venue. The sound was spot on and the bar is a great, friendly place. I'll certainly be back there for gigs. 

Scottish Fiction - http://scottishfiction.blogspot.co.uk/

The Hug And Pint - http://www.thehugandpint.com/

Mt Doubt - https://www.facebook.com/MtDoubt?fref=ts

Akela - https://www.facebook.com/AkelaBand?fref=ts

Dec. '91 - https://www.facebook.com/dec91?fref=ts

MT. DOUBT - MY PAST IS A QUIET BEAST

Mt. Doubt is a solo project by Edinburgh based musician Leo Bargery and his debut album My Past Is A Quiet Beast is something rather special. Mixing introspective lyrics with large scale sounds, think a mix of Radiohead, Arcade Fire and The National, My Past Is A Quiet Beast is a really impressive and confident debut with much promise.

Opener Beast is a slow building, brooding affair, with the phrase "My past is a quiet beast"  repeated throughout, building to a power ending that certainly sounds cathartic for Bargery. The next track Feathers is the opposite of Beast,  all pop and melody and really quite brilliant. It's my stand out track from the album and one you'll certainly want to hear (listen below). Slump displays the darker side of Mt Doubt again, before Bend Sinister lets some light back in albeit in the dark yet optimistic way The National handle their lighter moments. It's been said many times already by those who've heard Mt. Doubt, but there is definitely something of the Matt Berninger in the way Bergary delivers his vocals and that's of course no bad thing at all.

Fans of this blog and the Almost Scottish Fiction releases will already be familiar with the excellent Bend which featured on the third e.p. (here) and the track works beautifully when heard in its album setting. Dancing Phantoms and  I Break Spirit follow Bend and both are atmospheric slices of dark indie pop and they lead to the swirling, gripping Telmessos which, like many tracks here sounds like it would be comfortably at home in some pretty big venues. The influence of The National is again felt on another of the album's stand outs Soft Wrists, before we end on Asunder, a rousing, joyous finale to what has been a hugely enjoyable album.

My Past Is A Quiet Beast really is an intriguing and rather wonderful debut and it deserves as much attention as it can possibly get. Highly recommended.

Mt. Doubt play live at The Hug & Pint, Glasgow on Tuesday 4 August headlining the Scottish Fiction Presents... gig. Tickets are £5 and are available from www.hugandpint.com

My Past Is A Quiet Beast is out now and is available on Mt. Doubt's Soundcloud page and on cd here http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ByLandCollective

RODNEY CROMWELL - AGE OF ANXIETY

As an Electronic Sound subscriber, I heard Rodney Cromwell's superb Barry Was An Arms Dealer in the August edition and fell in love with it straightaway. It's a track that merges the simplicity and pop nous of early synthpop with a modern edge and is amongst one of the finest things I've heard this year. You can listen for yourself below. Having investigated Rodney further I quickly ended up with his album Age Of Anxiety and all its label Happy Robots Records catalogue. It's an outstanding album and one that I can't recommend highly enough for fans of synthpop, electropop or whatever you want to call it.

The brief The Internationale kicks the album off before the early Hot Chip like Cassiopeia lands the first blow on your ears. Waves of soothing synths give way to treated vocals and New Order like bass before the song wraps up, returned to the synths of the start. There are a couple of recurring influences throughout the album to my ears, namely Power Corruption & Lies era New Order and Vince Clarke in his early days with the likes of Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell or Yazoo's Upstairs At Eric's but they don't become overbearing at all. Rodney takes the pure pop of Clarke and mixes it with the harder edge, at least by comparison, of New Order but puts his own stamp on it. The next track is the aforementioned Barry Was An Arms Dealer and that heralds a run of quite outstanding songs.

You Will Struggle takes the synthpop formula the album is quickly perfecting and adds an I Feel Love style bassline to the mix, creating a sublime track. The cousin of Kraftwerk, One Two Seven follows, as good as anything else here and then the New Order go pop of Fax Machine Breakup arrives mixing melodies, melodica and some rather superb lyrics ("I sold some records but not a lot/I won't be floating Happy Robots") to superb effect. At this stage, I found myself enjoying the album more than I'd enjoyed many albums recently as it is just irresistible. Baby Robot comes next, and the titular robot is clearly a fan of New Order's Temptation which is no bad thing and the penultimate The Blue Cloud takes us back to the disco albeit one which is DJ'd by Ralf Hutter and Giorgio Moroder. We then end on the near 7 minute Black Dog  which displays the influences I've perhaps already overdone, but ends the album perfectly.

It's a brave move to release an album that relies on a certain era of synthpop as translating that effectively is difficult and has led to a number of rather useless releases in the recent past. This album though is basically flawless and is one that within which every fan of electronic pop will find something to love. It only seems a matter of time until Rodney's prediction is Fax Machine Breakup is proved wrong. Go and listen to this album right now.