Welcome

The Wendy House

Compilation album featuring two tracks each from six Scottish bands.

The brainchild of Glasgow duo Finniston, it's a means of spreading the word about the acts involved. It's this on a shoestring pro-active approach that is so damn exciting about music at the moment. From that point of view this compilation is probably better approached as being a sampler, it looks like they will be following it up with other releases.

Rather than reviewing it as an album I'll deal with it act by act, and they are:

Attic Lights www.atticlights.co.uk
West coast scotland meets west coast America in shamelessly sun drenched harmonies and melodic rock. They carry it off superbly, in other peoples hands this could sound contrived or forced, Attic Lights make it their own. From the songwriting here they are well worth checking out. Someone please sign them so they can tour every where otherwise you'll have to get yourself up to sunny Scotland to see them live.

Evan Crichton www.evancrichton.com
Apparently he's a Big Beardy Bloke yet he sings in a high voice, here he is represented by two songs of an introspective nature. Certainly version 2 assures that he can hold his head high amongst his peers and not fall into the singer songwriter morass.

Finniston www.finniston.co.uk
You can read our profile of this duo and a review of their recent ep on SpiralEarth. We like them a lot, simple as that.

The Boy Lacks Patience www.theboylackspatience.com
In their notes they describe him as Ben Folds meets Beethoven. And he does sound a bit like Ben Folds backed by piano (mercifully not like Beethoven singing...). Call Centre Blues particularly grabs attention.

The State Broadcasters www.thestatebroadcasters.com
Closest in sound to Finniston, leaning towards a slightly more laid back Americana.

Vivien Scotson www.vivienscotson.com
A couple of delightful tracks from this singer songwriter from the Highlands. Arresting voice, Love Undercover is a great track that gets it's power from her voice and a simple arrangement. There are hundreds of singer/songwriters out there vying for our attention so it takes something special to stand out. Vivien Scotson has 'it'.

All in all this CD is a glorious affirmation that the Scottish music scene is vibrant and alive with invention. This is music that looks out to the world rather than being mired in a parochial setting. Hopefully they will get the chance to produce more under the Wendy House umbrella before they are snapped up by the record companies.

Iain Hazlewood