According to Spotify, fans of ‘Pictish Trail’ also like artists such as King Creosote, James Yorkston and Aidan Moffat. In other words, search under the tags ‘Maverick’, ‘Scottish’, ‘Indie’ and the name is likely to come up.
‘Pictish Trail’ is the alias of Johnny Lynch who, for more than a decade, has lived on the tiny Hebridean island of Eigg where sheep outnumber its 100 or so human inhabitants.
In this remote location, you’d imagine Lynch might have adapted more easily to the Covid social distancing regulations but they actually proved as much as a challenge as any city dweller.
It seems that up until the poandemic struck Lynch had been largely oblivious his immediate surroundings. “Nature, let’s face it, is boring” he says and adds “I’ve never been much inclined to write songs about nature, or about any specific geographical or environmental aspects of island life.”
For his fifth album, however, he retreated to his bothy cabin and now acknowledges “what a privilege it is to live here.” This doesn’t mean that ‘Island Family’ is a set of gentle pastoral meditations; far from it.
Inspired by American artists such as The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and early Beck, his electro-acoustic psych-pop tunes combine organised chaos with sea shanties, ice cream van melodies and Scottish jigs. Trad folk lovers are not the target audience.
Produced by long-term collaborator Rob Jones, the album opens with its title track where rattling drum machine rhythms underpin the general pandemonium. The video for this (and for Natural Successor) feature the bearded artist dancing wildly and battling rather than bonding with the vengeful forces of nature represented by swollen-headed monsters that resemble demonic Tweenies.
The demos for the ten tracks were recorded on an 8-track machine with Lynch playing just bass guitar, drum machine, casio keyboard and sampler. It’s fair to say these rudimentary lo-fi elements have not been greatly embellished for the official versions. It’s the home-made quality that give the record its charm.
Scrambled Eigg madness prevails. Although quieter numbers like Thistle and the "solar-powered-ballad”Melody Something provide some respite the final two tracks - Green Mountain and Remote Control - return us to the fuzzy psychedelia where Lynch is very much in his element.
