WHEN Layaway write music, they think big. Each time they unleashed a new single they never fail to hit the same anthemic notes that have become their trademark.

Thinking big is how they have gotten to where they are now, and they continue in the same vein with their latest single Until Then, released earlier this month.

When it came to shooting the music video there was certainly a lot to consider, with lockdown hampering any real opportunity for the band to come together for a shoot. They would have to get creative and work within these restrictions.

But, even in the face of a pandemic, there is always a way to achieve that signature grand scale – make the video a worldwide event.

Until Then was accompanied by a video which features Layaway fans from all over the world. They got involved; they filmed themselves singing along to the song, and it makes the emotional content of the track that bit more impactful.

Singer Stewart Matheson tells The Weekender: “Musically, all our songs are very big. We describe them as cinematic alternative rock or moody alternative rock.

“It's the one thing we go for as a band and have done from the start. It needs to be big.

“Until Then has developed further from our last track Falling Knives. It's all about moving forward with each new song and I feel we've achieved that with this one.

“The song has been around in a couple of forms the last while but we've re-written certain aspects to make it bigger and better which is something Layaway always strives to do with songs. It's a fine line though of knowing when to call something finished.”

When you start recording a song or even just playing it in the studio space it seems a far reach for people as far away as Wales and Italy to be sending you in footage for the music video.”

He adds: “We had to work remotely [for the video], and it was interesting, to say the least.

“The hardest part was getting things consistent. We had some nice live shots of us from The Barrowlands when we headlined Pride last year and some footage from our last Scottish tour from Inverness which all slotted in perfectly.

“Our drummer Euan was working throughout lockdown but put the video together and really did a great job of it.

“We're all really happy with it and it was amazing getting people to send footage in. It was incredible to get feedback like that and getting people wanting to commit themselves to it.

“When you start recording a song or even just playing it in the studio space it seems a far reach for people as far away as Wales and Italy to be sending you in footage for the music video.”

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser: The video for Until Then The video for Until Then

Until Then is a hard-hitting track which deals with the fallout of addiction and its secondary effects.

Matheson delved into both sides of the tragedy, with a range of perspectives in mind.

“It is about addiction,” the singer adds. “Not a certain thing that people are addicted to, as such, but about how addiction affects people’s lives.

“When addiction captures someone it not only affects them but everyone around them and this song is written at the point where it's all out in the open, everyone knows about it.

“I love to play with perception in lyrics and in this song it's no different. I jump back and forth between how the person who is caught in addiction is feeling and then from the perception of someone in their life watching them self-destruct.

When addiction captures someone it not only affects them but everyone around them..."

“The song concludes with a form of escapism in the lyrics: "When I dream, it's in black and white; it doesn't seem so real. When I dream, it's in black and white; I'm numbing how I feel".  In a way, it's like they get out of reality, but there's still undertones of self-medicating language.”

The track has been racking up streams both for its video and the single itself – with listeners taking notice on the other side of the world.

For Matheson, the concept of reaching music fans thousands of miles away is so humbling.

He says: “The song has had so much positive support, it's really made us proud of the work that was put into it. We've been shared all over the world and had some really good radio play and support for it.

“It's amazing when you see plays in countries you've never been to and cities where you would love to visit. We've had people listening in Chicago, Sydney, Gothenburg, Rio de Janeiro and even Jaipur.

“We still have the most success in Glasgow and the UK with these things, but it's very humbling that a song we recorded the drums in our practice space in Dumbarton and then the rest in my home studio is being listened to by someone in Sweden, Canada, Australia and even Brazil is absolutely insane.”

LISTEN: Layaway - Until Then on Spotify

WATCH: Layaway - Until Then on YouTube