mull historical society
In My Mind There's A Photograph via LNFG
Reviewed by Stuart Clarkson
Album released 29th May 26
The latest release from Colin MacIntyre aka Μull Historical Society combines the worlds of music and books and features contributions from a collection of acclaimed authors such as Irvine Welsh as well as a host of other Pulitzer, Booker and other prize winning authors.
The premise is simple enough, the authors were asked to reflect on a single, meaningful photograph from their life and Colin would then add the music to their words to produce a finished song. In effect playing Elton to their Bernie and in the process bringing their emotive words to life.
The formula proved successful in the band’s previous album, 2023’s In My Mind There’s A Room when the subject matter was a special room as opposed to a photograph.
My initial scepticism surrounding the concept was founded on the belief that the idea may weaken the songs as it does with some musicals where lyrics are shoe horned in to a musical composition on order to fit the narrative.
However upon hearing the record I was pleased to be proved wrong and the songs enhance each author’s words and bring their thoughts to a new audience.
Colin’s voice lends emotion to each contribution amplifying the issues and causing the words to jump off the page if you will in a way that would not be possible in a book alone.
He appears attuned to the author’s ideas and the final output is a cohesive and convincing interpretation of their thoughts , retaining the original spirit whilst adding an extra layer of poignancy.
All human life is here with topics ranging from casualties in 9/11 to a day out in a Hillman Imp, and from Gaza to the re-development of Glasgow.
All the songs were written by the authors and Colin who himself is an award winning author.
The album’s power pop opener gets us off to a barnstorming start with its Strangleresque chorus of ‘Where are the heroes’ in reference to the author’s Grandfather who was a night mail train worker.
Punky guitar riffs and a spiky delivery grab the attention.
This leads on to a poignant piano led piece dripping with emotion which tells the story of the author, Colin McCann’s father-in-law defying the odds in escaping the collapsing second tower on 9/11 and walking back to his family’s embrace.
Cattle Bells is a glorious ballad with a Gospel choir accompaniment featuring words from Sir Alexander McCall esteemed author of No1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Charing Cross canyon ups the tempo and is more familiar Mull Historical Society territory. The subject is the re-development of Glasgow and its resultant effect on people’s lives. A Wish We’d Taen Mair is Len Pennie’s contribution and her spoken word Scottish brogue suits the song perfectly as she looks back on a childhood photo and her changing priorities over the years.
Elsewhere Midnight Sun has a glorious singalong romp of a chorus as Paul Lynch re-visits his grand-parent’s long vacated former home. Dopamine Eyes is Irvine Walsh’s contribution and describes the first masked meeting with his future wife during lockdown set to an indie pop backing.
Several musical styles are showcased on the album and each appears well matched to the subject matter and complements the sentiments being expressed.
A thought provoking release that stands on its own merits as a good album but improves immeasurably with repeated listens and acquaintance with the themes. A nostalgic look at an old photograph is something that resonates with most of us and this album takes that process to the next level.
Everyone concerned in the production of the record must be delighted with the results and each author has a uniquely personal song to look back on.
deer tick
Coin-O-Matic via ATO Records
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released - 5th June 26
It feels fitting that this album's title implies pot luck- Deer Tick seem incredibly resistant to giving people what they might expect, & while Dog Years starts on an almost Dylan-ish ramble, it opens out into something far more Springsteen- ish, born in a considerably duller USA than even the one the Boss sought to expose as a land of dreams taken rather than given? The formula is in place on first single Mary Singletary, which adds a sort of morbid McCartneyish rhyme scheme ( think Temporary Secretary with added anger & resignation).
Endless Loop feels like just that, another small-town Springsteenism with a dreamlike quality & almost Beach Boys harmony- endless summer as threat, not promise. Sweetest Things adds a little Crosby, Stills & Nash jangle just to enthral the ear while making you unsure this is an America you actually want to be sucked into, an undercurrent of something slightly sinister underneath all that honey-dripping, ACI a more explicit hard- luck story- the back to Earth thud after all too brief shoots of something approaching happiness.
And maybe that's the message here- enjoy it while it lasts, as it isn't forever, even if you do have to steal a car to be able to enjoy the drive. Entirely apt, then, that Everything Born carries more than a whiff of the Cars, rock & roll with an added touch of new- wave just to remind us of the future ahead as much as the past left behind, Deer-ears knowingly to the ground.
Eyelid adds a touch of paranoia, a swerve towards a perhaps truer reflection of life in the land of the allegedly free & home of those brave enough to rail against what poses as democracy before I Am An Island arrives as an affirmation of independence & celebration of freedom itself, but is it real or imagined?
Exit Door the line between reality & fantasy is properly blurred, and closing track Candy Cigarettes is either a lament for or yearning to return to a simpler time, swatted away as easily as a childhood baseball.....
the veils
Fragile World - via V2 Records
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released - 19th June 26
Is it really this easy to make a record which could strike a chord with anyone disaffected by the state of the world?
Given that Finn Andrews has had skin in the game on that score for a while now its perhaps little surprise his boots are on & he's back to give it another kick from the relatively safe vantage point of New Zealand with The Veils.
But amidst all the implied gloom there is piano- led beauty, as if Seventies Elton John decided to go Antipodean rather than indulge Bernie Taupin's Americana whims, world- weariness hidden under a delicate cloak- Aurora surely begging for inclusion in some sort of nature documentary as well as setting the tone for much of what's to follow.
High Hopes reading as disappointment in a relationship which may have promised plenty before it all went south, the morning after the night before in glorious technicolour, an ultra- HD hymn to what may have been/ was.
Lungs adds a bit of a stadium thumpalong & mostly succeeds in setting up a sort of Kiwi Goodbye Yellow Brick Road with a wonder of the natural world/ romantic bent, all from Are You Awake Tonight- In This Heart benefitting from an understated conceptual heft underneath the borrowings from old Reg circa Tumbleweed Connection/Madman Across The Water/ Honky Chateau for a sense of place, with splashes of Good Morning To The Night for the electronic flourishes.
The Widening Dark a definite film- soundtrack candidate before My Foolish Heart gives the whole thing Wings- & whether yours was or remains an open book, there's plenty of pathos/ catharsis to be found in a world surely familiar to anyone who's ever truly loved & lost.
the rolling stones
Foreign Tongues - Polydor Capital Records
Reviewed by Neil Milner
Album released 10th July 26
There’s a certain sport in being dismissive about the Rolling Stones.
The jokes write themselves: the longevity, the mythology, the sheer improbability of their continued existence as a functioning band. And yetForeign Tongues, their twenty‑fifth studio album, brazenly dismantles all that cynicism. It’s an excellent record. Not “excellent for their age”, not “surprisingly decent”, but genuinely, confidently excellent.
The opening track, Rough and Twisted, wastes no time reminding you where they came from. It’s a swaggering nod to their early Chicago blues obsessions, played with enough bite to avoid the museum‑piece trap. There’s life here, real life, and it sets the tone for an album that refuses to behave like a legacy victory lap.
In the Stars follows with those unmistakable Stones riffs, sharpened rather than softened by time. It has an edge, a purpose, a sense that they’re not merely revisiting old tricks but reinhabiting them.
Mr Charm is even more surprising: a mash‑up of Undercover of the Night‑era tension with a contemporary soundscape, Mick Jagger railing, quite directly, against the tech‑bro cult of endless monetisation. “Mad mogul Mr Musk” gets name‑checked, and while some will roll their eyes, Jagger’s point is clear enough: life cannot be reduced to the endless pursuit of capital, even if you’re a wealthy rock star yourself.
Not everything lands with the same force. Divine Intervention is a perfectly serviceable slice of forgotten 1980s radio pop, the kind of thing you’d hear once, nod politely at, and never think about again. But the album snaps back into focus with Never Wanna Want to Lose You, a genuinely global‑hit‑in‑waiting. It’s energetic, funky, and threaded with that classic Stones DNA; the proverbial stick of Rolling Stones rock with their name running through it.
There is pace and menace in Hit Me in the Head, made more poignant by the presence of the late Charlie Watts on drums. It’s fast, borderline punkish, and a quietly emotional reminder of what he brought to the band. Elsewhere on the record, Steve Jordan keeps the engine running with crisp, muscular playing.
The guest list is impressive without ever feeling like a gimmick: Paul McCartney’s bass adds punch to Covered in You, Robert Smith drifts through Divine Intervention and Never Wanna Lose You with guitar, synth and backing vocals, and Steve Winwood’s Hammond organ colours several tracks. Even Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers features briefly on percussion. These aren’t celebrity cameos; they’re contributions that genuinely shape the record.
One of the album’s most affecting moments arrives with Some of Us, sung not by Jagger but by Keith Richards. His softer, more weathered voice opens the track, and the contrast is beautiful — fragile, human, and quietly moving. It’s a reminder that Richards is the emotional counterweight to Jagger’s theatricality.
The album highlight is penultimate track Back in Your Life, a powerful elegiac ballad with the potential to be globally enormous. It’s the kind of song that makes you stop what you’re doing and listen, which is not something one expects from a band in its seventh decade.
The album closes with Beautiful Delilah, a Chuck Berry cover delivered with earthy blues grit, a neat full‑circle gesture. They also cover Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good.
I’m not a massive fan of the Rolling Stones. I admire much of their work from the 1960s through the 1980s, but I’ve never been part of the cult. Yet Foreign Tongues is a seriously good record. It’s vibrant, sometimes cerebral, occasionally strange, and far more alive than anyone has any right to expect. Jagger’s vocals are still strong, expressive, and capable of cutting through. His harmonica solos are a delight. And as you would expect, the musicianship, led by Richards and Ronnie Wood is exceptional throughout.
My only criticism is the production throughout has a distinctly polished 1980s sheen, but that could be the sound they wanted.
They hint that they have another album’s worth of material ready which is fortunate as they don’t sound remotely interested in exiting the stage. In fact, they sound like they’ve just remembered how much fun it is to own it.
Track listing:
1. Rough and Twisted
2. In the Stars
3. Jealous Lover
4. Mr. Charm
5. Divine Intervention
6. Ringing Hollow
7. Never Wanna Lose You
8. Hit Me in the Head
9. You Know I'm No Good
10. Some of Us
11. Covered in You
12. Side Effects
13. Back in Your Life
14. Beautiful Delilah
durutti column
Renascent - London Records
Reviewed by John McEvoy
Album released 31st July 26
After 15 long years, I am delighted to say that Vini Reilly has returned with an album that feels less like a comeback, and more like a timely reminder of what we have all been missing.
The anticipation that has surrounded the forthcoming release of a new Durutti Column album has not been the usual hysterical over the top nonsense that is frequently encountered, this is an album that will quietly make its way out into the world on the 31st July and you really should make time to listen to this in all the various formats including cassette!!
Renascent, is the first new studio album from Vini Reilly in over 15 years, and perhaps inevitably carries the weight of absence, illness and endurance.
Reilly’s guitar has always sounded like a private language overheard: liquid, hesitant, luminous, more concerned with atmosphere than display and on Renascent, that language has changed slightly nut hasn’t diminished in any way.
The opening pieces, “Echoes In The Memory” and “Your Shadow At Morning”, immediately place the listener in familiar Durutti territory: rippling shadowy figures, soft-focus harmonies, and subtle melodies that appear swirl beautifully. There is a grace to them, and the music looks backwards, but not in a negative way.
Much of the album’s power lies in the tension between fragility and forward motion. “Time Present And Time Past” is aptly titled, its drifting contours suggesting both recollection and continuation, while “Vapour In A Matchbox” has the kind of intimacy its name implies. Long-time associate Keir Stewart’s presence helps shape the record without crowding it, adding keyboards, bass and production that frame Reilly’s playing with care.
The result is spacious rather than sparse: every sound seems to have room to breathe.
There are surprises, too. “Liars”, features Vivi Reilly’s voice in a manner that feels raw and oddly direct, its repeated phrases giving the track a contemporary edge. “Your Shadow At Evening” quickens the pulse, hinting at movement without ever abandoning the record’s hushed centre. Another outstanding track is “Sargasso Sea”, featuring Caoilfhionn Rose’s on vocals and is both tender and beautiful.
If Renascent invites comparison with the Factory-era landmarks that first made The Durutti Column, it certainly isn’t a nostalgia trip as Reilly’s music has never belonged to any specific genre.
What makes Renascent so damned good is that after such a long absence is that it’s an indication of a fire that still burns bright and deserves to be successful.
For this of us who have followed Reilly across the years, it will feel like the return of an old voice and for newcomers, it offers an entrance into one of British music’s most idiosyncratic catalogues.
Either way, Renascent is miraculous, subtle, wonderful and unmistakably Durutti Column.
Welcome back, we missed you...
dma's
DMA's - Wonderlick Recording Company
Reviewed by John McEvoy
Album released 21st Aug 26
The DMA’s are back with their 5 album ‘DMA’s” and the Sydney trio are no longer the scrappy Britpop outsiders many first mistook them for; they are now a band with a substantial catalogue, and a large UK following.
Released on 21 August, DMA’S arrives as a statement of renewal rather than reinvention: 11 songs that gather the band’s familiar rush of melody, melancholy and communal uplift, then roughen the edges just enough to keep things interesting.
The opening “El Alamein” sets the tone with confidence. Tommy O’Dell’s voice remains DMA’S’ most reliable emotional instrument: unshowy, direct and capable of making even simple lines feel lived-in. Around him, Johnny Took and Matt Mason build a sound that is recognisably theirs but denser than the jangly nostalgia of their earliest work. The song establishes the album’s main trick: making scale feel personal.
“My Baby’s Place”, the first single and the band’s first fully self-produced release, is the record’s warm centre. Its charm lies in restraint: the melody is immediate, the guitars shimmer rather than charge. It is classic DMA’S in the best sense, but not merely a retreat to old habits. The production leaves space around the vocal, allowing the song’s sweetness to breathe.
“Hurracane” is built around the kind of chorus DMA’S can write in their sleep, and has an undeniable catchy force. “Killing Time”, by contrast, is one of the places where the record’s evolution feels sharper. Faster, darker and more restless, it leads with a pulsing rhythm into the band’s usual melodic clarity. “Heatin Park” pushes further still, with heavier guitars and pounding drums giving it a grit that acknowledges the band’s bond with British indie culture.
Midway through the album “Emailz” slows the pace and contemplates the chaos and painful aftermath of separation. “One & Only” sees guitar return front and centre in what is quite simply a love song. Both these tracks showcase the bands ability for plainspoken feeling. DMA’S have never been a band to bury meaning under layers of abstraction; their strength is emotional legibility, and here that directness works because the performances carry conviction.
“Dancing Luck” is a delightful acoustic song, moving away from the albums expectant indie-rock style and is sure to be a crowd pleaser during their live sets. “Concrete” returns to the distinctive DMA sound and “Windows” brings a late album calm to proceedings.
Album closer “Distance” neatly closes the album with a familiar sound and style that so many people love the DMA’s for.
This may not be their most earth-shattering album to date, but it is the sound of a band who know who they are, know their craft and what they are capable of. There is certainly enough here to keep long-time fans happy, and plenty of material to draw the attention of the curious who may not have come across them before.
