“Feel You More Than The World Right Now” by Spinning Coin

Spinning Coin at Lynn Park, Glasgow, 04/08/2019 – photo by Owen Godbert

Now here’s a sure fire way to cheer up a grey damp day in Dunedin, NZ…. some new Spinning Coin from Scotland’s rain city Glasgow. Their 2nd album “Hyacinth” was released yesterday  and here’s the second song “Feel You More Than The World Right Now”:

Their first album “Permo” was a hyper-jangly melodic 21st century update of that 1980s/ 1990s Glasgow guitar pop sound.  Following “Permo” the group had a slight line-up change, drafting in Hairband‘s Rachel Taylor on bass and vocals (and songwriting duties), and the new album “Hyacinth” reflects a broadening songwriting approach while retaining all the essential elements that made them so appealing from the outset.

This particular song stood out on first listen because of the sparkling light shining out from the first seconds from those hyperactive jangling guitars. Sean Armstrong’s  wavering croon takes on the attitude of Edwyn Collins in early Orange Juice, pumps it full of lighter-than-air gasses, and blasts it into space in a flower-filled rocket-ship.  Free-wheeling, ebullient, beautiful, and just a little bit loopy.

The LP of “Hyacinth” is released on The Pastels Stephen McRobbie’s Geographic Records imprint in the Domino Records stable. It’s also available mailorder via Monorail Music in Glasgow and Norman Records.

 

“Bubble Sword” by Hairband

Glasgow 5-piece Hairband -which features members of groups Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff, Lush Purr and Kaputt – has just released a self-titled first 12″ EP last week. Here’s “Bubble Sword” from the EP –

When “Flying” by Hairband was featured on PopLib back in April the song came to notice via a charity fund-raiser compilation of music by an eclectic cast of Glasgow artists. “Flying” intrigued because of its unique style – that rare phenomena of something that sounds fresh and different while still indisputably part of the family tree of ‘pop music’.

Happily it was the advance rider of this 5 song 12″ EP, via their local Glasgow record shop label Monorail Music, released last week. The self-titled debut release from Hairband includes “Flying” and, as should be obvious from the wonderful “Bubble Sword” here, finds 4 more ways to bend the rock and pop ‘rules’ and delight.

“Bubble Sword” is constructed on restless post-punk funk bass and drums, with some avant-garde counter-point guitar patterns over top, emulating a re-purposed Afro-beat kind of rhythmic propulsion, then with a more straight forward noisy sing-a-long chorus.  It doesn’t sound like anything from the halcyon days of post-punk, but it does capture the possibilities of that era for music to go in multiple different directions – sometimes in the same song.

That rhythmic push and pull is at the musical heart of the EP. Each song is a different and distinct thing; related but separate musical events. Each song weaves and braids the band’s instrumentation and voices in different patterns of melody, tone and rhythm. Everything contributes to the whole, and more often than not the instrument that leaps out with something unexpected and audacious is one of the three guitar parts. Listen to “White Teeth” in particular for some sublime guitar interplay.

More than anything else the EP transmits the exploratory joy of a group of friends collaborating apparently without fear, and without self-imposed restrictions tying the music or playing to any particular style or genre. Whatever the chemistry or methodology is here, Hairband have clearly found something that works for them. And also, happily, for us as listeners.

“Albany” by Spinning Coin

Glasgow guitar pop band Spinning Coin have their first single out on Geographic Music. It’s called “Albany” and it’s from the gentler section of their already impressive songbook.

Having seen them play live in Glasgow last year I’m keen to hear a full album from them. They were supporting Joanna Gruesome at Glad Cafe that night so pulled out a set-list of their noisier rattlers. It was wonderful to behold – a heady mixture of wistfully melodic jangling psychedelic guitar pop and noisy string-bending guitar skronk.

The video for “Albany” – filmed on 8mm film by Roxanne Clifford (Veronica Falls, The Royal We, Baggy Attitude) – fits the song perfectly. Timeless, faded, personal, nostalgic and conveying the physical and psychic geography of the bands’ home city.

Geographic Music is a label run by Stephen McRobbie and Katrina Mitchell of The Pastels under the umbrella of Domino Records. The video for The Pastels “Crawl Babies” single features the same foot-bridge – the South Portland Street Suspension Bridge – spanning the Clyde river which runs through Glasgow.

That provides a perfect excuse to share the “Crawl Babies” video below too. In the interests of, well, geographic synchronicity, or something. Anyway…

The 7″ single of Spinning Coin’s “Albany” is out in April and can be pre-ordered from Domino Records.

“You Don’t Look The Same” by Spinning Coin

Spinning Coin at The Glad Cafe, Glasgow

Spinning Coin are a guitar band from Glasgow, Scotland, turning heads with their wired take on jangling psychedelic pop delivered with a side serving of squalling lead guitar – something which is not evident on this song from a recent Edinburgh student radio compilation.

I saw Spinning Coin playing at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow last week, supporting Joanna Gruesome. They were a fantastic live band, heavier and noisier than this recording and with great song following great song. They mixed up jangling off-kilter psych-pop with melodic harder-edged songs, with both guitarists alternating lead vocal duties.

The band are set to release a single on Geographic and an album is also rumored. Well worth making a note of Spinning Coin for future reference.