THERE is something so beautifully honest in the way Matt Scott muses over the release of his debut album.

The Ayrshire man wrote and recorded the ten tracks as a labour of love, drawing upon a varied range of influences in the process including classic rock, modern indie, prog-rock, alongside a touch of Americana and grunge.

And the fruits of his work – As It Was When It Happened, released on August 7 – appears to have already made an impression with music fans of many different persuasions.

There can be a genre jump from song to song, but the cultured vocals on offer serve as both anchor and way finder. It gives the feel of a playlist Scott collated in his head of all his favourite songs.

The variety comes down to a desire to be original and to not be boxed in by expectations. Had it not been for Scott's voice lassoing each track, listeners would be forgiven for thinking each song was a different band – this is the album's unexpected strength.

"All the songs are, in one way or another, different from each other," Scott tells The Weekender. "The hope is that they stand out as being original, but are united by a common theme running through them all. There is a thread of myself throughout each song.

"A lot of different things are going on the album; all the chaos in the world and other things.

"And that's why the album is called As it Was When It Happened – it's just a snap shot in time."

Scott admits he can be harsh on himself when it comes to writing new material; however, the hope of tapping into something that hasn't been done before will always be high on his hit list.

He says: "There is always a conscious and an unconscious bias when writing songs. So, if I come up with a guitar riff that sound even remotely like one of my other songs, I would instantly not want to use it.

"But there are so many influences that come through in my writing, and so when I listen back to song I'll think: 'That sounds a lot like Springsteen, or that's just a rip-off that Bob Dylan song'.

"I am constantly firing that back at myself and questioning whether this is original and whether this is how I want it to sound. You are constantly striving to get the best sound for yourself."

He adds: "I'm sure the scattered nature of the album – sitting the likes of Peeping Tom next to Love Me Honey Love – is a bit obscure, but that's what my style and what my ideas are. Why not have one song that harks back to Thin Lizzy and then have Tom Waits or Julian Casablancas in the next?

"These are all the things I love in music and to be able to put them on a record that has, at least, some sense of common thread through it makes me happy.

"And I love the idea that the album is being appreciated as a unit right now. It completely contravenes the notion in the music industry that folk only listen to 2-3-minute songs and you need to snappy and chirpy. The album just isn't that and a lot of people are picking it up.

"It's exceeding my expectations and a lot of people are wanting to know about it."