The Pictish Trail
Secret Soundz Vol 2
(Fence)
Were it not for the dangerously modern-sounding analogue synthesisers, opening snippet of vocoder and – less frivolously – pin-sharp digital editing, Johnny Lynch's new album might have been made more than 40 years ago. Even more than many of his cottage industry fellow travellers (a caravan on Eigg in his case), the songsmith trading as The Pictish Trail favours a very 1960s' sensibility.
References include a nod to John Lennon in Sequels and a transparent familiarity with the practice of BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Delia Derbyshire, on his synthesiser interludes between more conventional songs. The result is as much fun to listen to as you imagine Lynch had making it, and if there is a darker undertow to some lyrics, it is generally obscured by beguiling melodies. Lynch's partnership with Adem in Silver Columns and role as general factotum of the Fife label has sometimes left his solo identity behind – catch him live at Glasgow Art Club on Thursday.
Keith Bruce
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