Andrew Eaton: The Prompt

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 13:56

I AM listening to a new compilation CD called A Sort Of Homecoming: The Best of New Scottish Music, and feeling not the shock of the new but a warm nostalgic glow.

A Sort Of Homecoming is the first release on Fourtrak, a new Peebles-based indie label. On its website, label founder Bobby Mooney says he was inspired by Alan McGee and Alan Horne, the enterprising Scots who founded Creation (which brought us My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and, later, Oasis) and Postcard (once home to Orange Juice). The CD brings together 20 bands and singer-songwriters who Mooney thinks are "the brightest stars of the Scottish music scene".

Judging by his choices, his taste in music is as old-fashioned as his taste in labels. There is little here that could be called cutting edge. At times it feels as if he's trying to recreate a favourite indie compilation from 25 years ago using sound-alike bands from now – The Great Money Trick instead of The Darling Buds, Red Ammo instead of The Sundays etc. I'm not at all surprised to find Glasgow band the Starlets on there. With their fuzzy guitars and whispered vocals, they are pretty much the archetype of old-style indie guitar pop. Which may partly explain why, despite making three beautiful, haunting albums, they remain as obscure at the end of this decade as they were at the start. They are a band out of time.

The same feels true of a lot of other bands on A Sort Of Homecoming. Odeon Beat Club have been kicking around since 1999. Thieves In Suits have already split up.

This is not a criticism of Fourtrak. I like the CD, and am grateful to Mooney for alerting me to Social Services (quirky, piano-driven pop), Bring Back The Planes (four students from St Andrews who sound more than a little like Aberfeldy) and Owen Thomas (a kind of one-man Kings of Convenience).

And actually, in supporting bands who are quietly doing their own thing, Fourtrak really is honouring the spirit of those cottage industry, community-spirited indie labels of the past. The Creation records Fourtrak reminds me of is the one long before Oasis came along, a friendly little sanctuary for acts who might never make it big, or change the face of music, but who deserve an enthusiastic champion.

These days, fame-hungry bands barely need a label until they make it big. Set up a MySpace page, sell your own CDs, gig till you drop, and away you go. For everyone else, though – the misfits, the part-timers, the bedroom musicians – Fourtrak is just what's needed. Find out more at www.fourtrakrecords.co.uk.

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 15/11/09