Elgin & the Marbles – The Sun Never Sets
2026 has been a magnificent year for lyrical storytelling so far, even just in the last month or so there have been new albums from Sloan Brothers and Heavenly that have had me both charmed and captivated by the microcosms of life encapsulated in their songs. Now I can add to that list The Sun Never Sets from Elgin and the Marbles, who have completely and utterly captivated me with this delightfully enchanting album. The songs have a beguiling elegant grace and beauty within which they deliver lyrical tales laced with provocative and politically charged messages delivered in a deftly astute manner. Callum Baird excels in the use of brilliant adroit lyrics interwoven with pin point accurate observations dispatched using wryly acerbic wit and gloriously canny metaphors and superb imagery.
Musically, Elgin and the Marbles fall somewhere in the centre of a Venn diagram that includes The Hold Steady, Bob Dylan, Ben Folds Five and Duncan Reid and the Big Heads, adding their name to that list of accomplished lyrical storytellers, I’m sure Dylan himself would approve of the messages contained within the lyrics. Harmonica plays a big part in the music, kicking off proceedings in the opening track Before the World Burns, the song an perfect introduction of what is to come on the rest of the album, both musically and lyrically, a s mellow country feel soundtracks lyrics bemoaning the fall of society and our seeming desire to destroy the world. A quick scan of the song titles on the rest of the album and titles like The British Museum, Coronation Day and Stop the Boats all jump out and giving an indication of what is to come.
This album isn’t for those whose constant cry is keep politics out of music, and many of the songs would have right wing flag shaggers and roundabout painters squirming with unease, although some of the Neanderthals would probably struggle to make the links to what some of the shrewd metaphors are alluding to. The subjects held to account across the songs include the evil hypocrisy of the tiresome focus on stopping the boats that every right leaning politician salivates about daily (Stop the Boats), the anachronistic House of Windsor (Coronation Day), the whitewashing of history and the death of the British Empire (The British Museum) and the world of profit over people landlords (My House) and one of my favourite songs on the album Stick to the Plan which in a brilliantly worded nutshell summaries the Scottish Independence and Brexit votes perfectly. There may be many losers represented in the lyrics, but in terms of music, every song is a winner in this all killer no filler album.
As well as being astute in it’s observations of life in these fractured isles, there is also a personal side to many of these songs, take Something Good as an example, there is a melancholic charm in the gentle melody soundtracking lyrics relating to finding the something good of the title. The Rebound has a similar melancholic feel to it. And while we’re in reflective mood, the album’s closing gambit When We Were Special has Callum looking back to when times were different in the 90s, with plenty of pop culture references… vinyl v streaming, real cash v card… and musical references too Oasis, Suede, Alanis Morrisette and the recognition that while every generation views their own times, possibly with rose tinted glasses, as the golden era, we need to hold onto those precious memories.
On a final note, any band that references the greatest movie of all time is also good with me, I’ll leave you to work it out… it’s in the exquisite ballad Nothing Like You.
Louis McCorkindale & Vitaliy Tkachuk – Songs From the Wild Seas Edge
My introduction to the music of Louise McCorkindale and Vitaliy Tkachuk came in the form of the hauntingly affecting ballad My Only Sorrow, a forthright and stark musing on the end of life and those we leave behind. The single is a fitting introduction to the rest of the album, on which Louise explores the theme of death, something which comes to us all in the end, but which we often find difficult to discuss or face up to. Across the twelve songs she deals with this tough and delicate topic in several different ways, but in doing so never shies away from the topic with lyrics which are often personal, candid and upfront.
Her approach uses a blend of vivid imagery and personal reflections, and at times uses light-hearted humour to emphasise a point, like on the most upbeat song on the album Cinnamon Toast on which she steels herself for the day with a breakfast of coffee and cinnamon toast, taking advantage of the small moments of joy as she contemplates aging and the inevitable end and also on her story of the quirky Martha Bridie. The topic of death could be seen as bleak and depressing by many, but the way in which she deals with the subject in each song is so sensitive and her hushed vocal delivery so empathetic that it never really feels downbeat, and even brought a smile on occasion. The soundtrack to her words is provided by Vitaliy Tkachuk and is always utterly compassionate and sensitive to the nature of the lyrics, from classical and Spanish guitar through to strings, his score shows an appreciation and deep understanding of the songs, all the more remarkable given the fact that the recording sessions were conducted remotely with online sessions often cut short as Vitaliy had to take cover due to bombings in his homeland of Ukraine.
I’m sure depending on individual’s personal situations this could at times be a difficult listen, but it is also in many ways a comforting listen, it certainly makes you confront your own thoughts and fears about your own mortality, and perhaps even in some ways and situations helps to accept the inevitability of death and maybe an incentive to make the most of the time we have on this planet with our loved ones.
The Foot and Leg Clinic – Sit Down for Rock and Roll
It feels like a lifetime since I last had the good fortune of seeing the quirky idiosyncrasies of The Wife Guys of Reddit live… and I guess I now never will again… but all is not lost as the inimitable heroes (in a half shell? – I can’t see any reference to the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles without thinking of the band after seeing them live regaled in full turtle get up) have just rebranded with their shiny new name, The Foot and Leg Clinic, being just as singularly off the wall as the previous title, the change having to come about due to cease and desist orders… So all their previous releases have all been rechristened with the new moniker on all good streaming platforms (and the bad ones too), and most importantly these releases have now been joined by this most welcome of album releases, Sit Down For Rock n Roll, preceded by the release of the single Where Did All the Fruit Go?
Thankfully the name tag change is merely that, not an identity change, and despite several bumps in the road along the way that could have threatened to derail them, the band has come out stronger than ever, while retain the same infectious off the wall, left of centre lo-fi slacker sound, with plenty of subtle eccentricities weaved throughout the album to sustain any musically inquisitive mind, and never leaving you wanting. The songs dip into different genres and styles and switch from tender and acoustic, through off kilter jangling slacker rock, to compelling full on jagged guitars with ease, sometimes all in the one song in the case of Hot Air! And all of that is before you even mention the immaculate vocal interplay between Niamh and Arion, delivering some peerlessly unique lyrical couplets and clever word play, while these are sometimes oblique and fantastically outlandish, they always intrigue and delight. And worms make several appearances… This is exactly how to deliver a debut album in style. Charming and witty. Compelling and tender. Infectiously moreish.
The Rotations – Gung Ho
In an alternate universe where David Lynch was Scottish and Twin Peaks had been set in the less salubrious, seedier side of Glasgow, The Rotations would be the perfect band to provide the soundtrack, with the atmosphere created by the songs on Gung Ho feeling best suited to a late night smoky retreat where punters keep themselves to themselves hidden away in dark corners wishing to remain incommunicado while drinking away their troubles.
The music across these twelve tracks is measured and unhurried, with the sparse arrangements of carefully considered instruments creating the perfect levels of contrast and shade in often hushed overtones to match the mood of the low key vocals. Vocals that incidentally sound like the bastard child of Jock Scott and Ivor Cutler. This isn’t an album for the faint-hearted as the mood of the songs switches from that of louche smugness on the off-the-wall ramshackle trashy blues of the album opener The Cat That Got the Cream through to the sombre melancholy and desolate sadness of songs like the beautifully heartfelt A Sense of You, with the near whispered vocal paired with plaintive piano while elsewhere you’ve got spaghetti western stylings on As The Crow Flies and the exploration of our inevitable ending on the delightfully eccentric album closer Requiem For the Dalry Lama which closes out fittingly on Auld Lang Syne. There is often a feeling of imminent threat or menace in the songs, not so much directly from the lyrics, but suggested or implied by the understated musical arrangements and the song structures, channelling the spirit of The Amazing Snakeheads.
Not an album to out on when you’re getting ready for a big night out, but one which deserves your full attention when you’ve got those moments of quiet and headspace to focus all your attention on the music, close the curtains, turn out the lights and crank up the volume.