The Skinny Issue 224 May 2026

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

LT United - We are the Winners

Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Marie Davidson - Work It (Soulwax Remix)

Charli xcx - party 4 u

Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone

Caribou - Can't Do Without You

Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

Björk - Army of Me

M.I.A. – Paper Planes

Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Kneecap - Get Your Brits Out

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for 'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 244, May 2026 © Radge Media C.I.C. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk

The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

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Meet the team

Championing creativity in Scotland

We asked: If you were standing for election on 7 May, what would be the top three pledges of your manifesto?

Rosamund West

Editor-in-Chief

"Abolish the monarchy, 100% tax on landlords, affordable childcare (also ban private equity investment in e.g. nurseries, care homes)."

Myrtle Boot Clubs Editor

"Young Scot Cards for the young at heart, Balmoral to be turned into a Butlins, girls and gays permitted to drink at the football."

Laurie Presswood General Manager

"Cancel jury duty, vigilante justice for people playing their phones loudly on buses, make Dundee the capital of Europe."

Sandy Park

Commercial Director

"Sort out (vague term for a pledge, I know) the NHS, fund animal shelters and ban (or at least limit) the election propaganda through the post."

Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor

"Ban *This*, Legalise *That*, and just *Sort It All Out* (then I win and do full eco-Stalinism lol what am i like xx)"

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor

"Big time sad that we can't just opt for free ice cream etc. But mass social inequality & oppression will do that to a Staff Picks."

Production

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager

"Abolish landlords, centralise the vibes and a legally binding ban on anyone saying 'it is what it is'."

Joanna Hare

Business Development Executive

"Free public transport, Glastonbury tickets to me and all my pals every year until we die, Phoebe Willison to be elected the Lord Provost of Glasgow."

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor

"Free healthcare, free education, a free boyfriend pillow for everyone who wants one."

Rachel Ashenden Art Editor "1) Abolish the monarchy and billionaires. 2) Introduce Basic Income for the Arts across Scotland. 3) Saunas on the NHS (but also sort out the NHS first and foremost)."

Phoebe Willison Designer

"Abolish elections, force ecocommunism on everyone, and make Dolly Parton First Minister/Dictator"

Ema Smekalova

Media Sales Executive

"Trans rights!!! Eat the rich! Also my dream is that one day buildings in the UK will have proper insulation<3"

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist

"1) Tax the rich properly and fix everything that’s broken with the revenue. 2) Nationalise pretty much everything and invest profits back into communities. 3) Deport Nigel Farage to an uninhabited Scottish island."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Free horses for everyone, verrrrry low taxes, and if you don't vote for me, some fires might start near your houses."

Ellie Robertson Editorial Assistant

"Based on how my last game of SimCity went, all I can really promise is to keep Scotland free of active volcanoes and killer robots. At least until my laptop battery dies."

Emilie Roberts

Media Sales Executive

"Men to be born in jail and prove their way out, abolish the monarchy, United Celtic Nations (aka England in the bin)."

Tallah Brash Music Editor

"I'd pledge to: provide more support for working musicians and music venues, stop all antisocial behaviour on public transport, and a clamp down on littering. Plus everything else on this page. Maybe not the horses though x"

Mika Morava Theatre Editor

"Reclaim the commons, tax the rich at a rate proportional to how much they talk about 'hard work', sunset clause on all group chats."

Editorial

Words: Rosamund West

Another month, another somewhat ambiguous theme that prompted endless discussion in the editorial group chat about what exactly this is. The jumping-off points were the Scottish elections and May Day, but they are happening, respectively, three days after and three days before the magazine hits the street. Is it an election special? Too narrow for the content. A May Day special? Again, happening literally before the magazine comes out. There’s a throughline of societal ills. Is that anything? The ‘searching for change’ theme was proposed then dismissed by Jamie Dunn as sounding “too much like I need money for the bus.”

In the end we settled on politics and community because that is sort of what all these features are about. We open with an introduction to the next generation of Scottish politicians, with Eilidh inviting a selection from across the non-fascist parties to share what motivates them to represent their communities. We take a closer look at Purpose Built Student Accommodation, the parasitic blight of Scottish cities and an active contributor to the lack of affordable housing for permanent residents. It’s terrible for students and their neighbours! Great for extractive capitalism though.

As Glasgow’s Kinning Park Complex turns 30, we hear about their 55-day programme of events honouring the 55 days the building was occupied by local mothers and campaigners to prevent its closure. It’s a positive tale of local resistance and community organising that must surely inform the response to the existential threat to Trongate 103. In our next feature, we look at how the drive for landlord profits is endangering this crucial creative hub.

Film looks at documentary Sailm nan Daoine, an exploration of Gaelic psalm singing and its grounding in community

and identity. Music meets DOSS to talk all things Glasgow, and learns about musical instrument libraries and the massive impact they can have on making music accessible. One writer shares the personal history of dancing that led to organising diasporic celebration Brown Gals Dance Club. Books meet the Syrian journalist behind a new collection of testimonials from Gazans living under genocide, Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices From Gaza. Our poster this month is a May Day design by illustrator and cartoonist Lorna Miller. We also have an interview with her discussing, amongst other things, the resilience necessary for a creative career.

Beyond the theme, we’ve got an interview with Spanish director Carla Simón on the forthcoming Romería, which mines her personal history to record a lost generation. We have an interview with another Carla, Carla J Easton, here to discuss her fifth solo album, I Think That I Might Love You, which she’s recorded in amongst directing an award-winning documentary and doing a PhD. Lauren Auder tells us about her new album, Whole World As Vigil, ahead of her forthcoming gig at Hidden Door Festival, which is returning to the old Paper Factory in early June.

Theatre’s looking forward to a new Scottish Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro, and Comedy meets Fatiha El-Ghorri to hear about how she’s had to (maybe literally?) fight for her place on stage. We close with another comedian, as Stuart McPherson takes on our Q&A ahead of his touring show, Crisps and a Lie Down, arriving in Glasgow. We asked for his campaign promises, should he run for parliament – fixing pot holes and vape shop regulation, very sensible and highly electable.

Cover Artist

Vaso is a Greek illustrator, graphic designer and comic artist. She studied illustration, worked for several years in a creative studio environment and is currently a freelancer. She makes travel-journal type zines and personal, dark humored comics. Forever experimenting with different ways of working – from digital to analogue – treating each project as a unique endeavour in need of its own dialect, under a common language that characterises the body of her work.

vasomillo.com

IG: @squidstew

Love Bites: The Girly-Pops’ Discourse

This month’s columnist hails the feminist power of niche celebrity gossip

Words: Phoebe Willison

If you’ve managed to escape the scourge of being Terminally Online, you’re about to wonder what the hell I’m talking about. Skip this month’s column: you don’t need to know and you’ll be happier for it. For the comrades – read on.

I love The Discourse. Particularly, niche celebrity gossip mined to an unrecognisable husk, a cud of cultural grass masticated and shit back out 10,000 times. Yes, I do want to hear Club Chalamet’s take on Balletgate! Tell me more about Gigi Hadid’s reaction to Zayn Malik saying he’s never been in love! And I’m here to argue that an investment in this girly-pops’ Discourse does a radical political feminist make.

The likes of Tefi Talks, Ziwe and Polyester Zine are fundamental listening. Consuming podcasts and YouTube videos is a revolutionary routine I’ve recently implemented. Participating in active listening, via trusted sources aligned with my political propensities, helps me avoid the dangerous ennui of doomscrolling and toxic comment sections.

Let’s, for a moment, give The Discourse its scientific name – gossip. A quick google will show you a swathe of articles, backed up with peerreviewed journals, arguing that gossip is good. It’s a tool used to keep other women safe, sharing stories about dangerous men or workplace inequalities. Can the male, pale and stale possibly recognise the danger of a healthy communication network amongst marginalised genders?

Through this rigorous training regime as a Discourse Legal Observer, I’ve honed my own skillset in analysis and debate. I am now armed with a cache of radical munitions, prepared for any in-person argument. Smile more? Please. I can hear my online sisters in arms rally behind me, as I rule that asking women to smile is a crime punishable by death by boredom, whilst I woman-splain to you the repercussions of the Amy-Louise Wood teeth sketch on SNL Or best of all, I can ignore, safe in the knowledge that I am a member of an elite team of warriors, refocusing my energy on DMing Gigi to tell her she didn’t deserve that.

Heads Up

Creatives

of Colour Festival

Various venues, Glasgow, 7-10 May

Dedicated to the creative contributions of People of Colour in Scotland, Creatives of Colour Festival is a gorgeous celebration of the wide variety of experiences, subjectivities and practices that exist in our creative community. There’s spoken word performances from the likes of Titi Farukuoye and Theresa Muñoz, a gig with Ray Aggs, Miwa Nagato-Apthorp and Simone Seales, as well as screenings, workshops and more.

The Inky Light The Warm Glow: Both Hands

The Safari Lounge, Edinburgh, 9 May, 8pm

Edinburgh synth-pop duo Both Hands – one hand, presumably, is Hailey Beavis on vocals, the other Brian Pokora on synths – have just released their debut single ahead of their debut album

Be Like a Mountain In a Moonlit Way out this September. Catch a preview at this gorgeous part-gig part-party, with DJ sets from Airwrecka, Skies Up b2b FlightCase, and Supper Club.

Francis Dosoo: Portrait of Dorothy Gale DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, 16 May-2 Aug

Forget about Wicked: there’s a new Wizard of Oz interpretation in town. Edinburgh artist Francis Dosoo’s Portrait of Dorothy Gale draws on the 1978 film The Wiz, itself a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz, to examine the way we look at historic moving images and the gaps between individual images that form in our memory and cultural spaces.

Paisley Book Festival

Various venues, Paisley, 15-17 May

It’s sunny! Right now! Get out of your house and to a gig, festival, or exhibition before they take the sun from us again!

Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

Knockengorroch

Galloway, 21-24 May

Nestled in the Carsphairn Hills, Knockengorroch is Scotland’s longest-running greenfield festival. They’re bringing their usual stunning programme of roots, world and folk music to the Dumfries and Galloway landscape: South Africa’s BCUC: Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness are making their Knock debut, Kefaya and Elaha Soroor blend synth rock with Afghani folk music and the likes of Mungo’s Hi-Fi Sound System and Optimo run the late night stages.

14 May, 7pm

RSA Annual Exhibition

RSA: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 9 May-14 Jun

Revolution Days

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 20-23 May, various times

Based on real life experiences and testimonials, Revolution Days looks at the legacy of the Arab Spring 15 years on, and at the reality of war and aid work across different communities. Following Samira, a Scottish aid worker determined to make a difference, Revolution Days highlights the simultaneous hope and disillusionment of revolution through a powerful onewoman performance.

Jacques Greene: Free Time x LUCKYME

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 17 May, 6pm

Canadian musician and producer Jacques Greene stops by Edinburgh for an early evening set of his signature hazy club music that subverts the beats and energy of dance music into a dreamier, more intimate experience. His first two albums with LuckyMe – Feel Infinite and Dawn Chorus – were released to critical acclaim; his most recent, made with Nosaj Thing, is a bold testament to the creative experiments of collaboration.

May

Breakin’ Convention

Festival of Hip-hop Theatre

Tramway, Glasgow, 23 May, 7:30pm

Since 2004, Breakin’ Convention has been bringing hip-hop theatre to the heart of London’s dance community at Sadler’s Wells. This year they’re travelling up to Glasgow with a carefully curated programme of international and local performances, including TRAPLORD, the Olivier Award-winning creation from Beyoncé’s choreographer Ivan Michael Blackstock.

DAYS Festival

The Pitt, Edinburgh, 30 May, 1pm

As the days get longer (and longer and longer, please God let it never end), soak up as much sunshine as possible at DAYS Festival – a collaboration between Sneaky Pete’s and RARE programming some of the buzziest DJs around for an all-day, one-day festival. Catch Daniel Avery, Helena Hauff, Feena, Carmen Baía and more and be home in bed by midnight.

Esme Emerson

King Tut’s, Glasgow, 5 May, 7:30pm

If you like HAIM and First Aid Kit not only because they rock, but specifically because they’re related, then Esme Emerson are primed to be your new obsession. The sibling duo have a handful of EPs and LPs under their belts, including last year’s Applesauce: replete with dreamy indie numbers that draw as much on gentle folk as they do bright pop.

Burnside

Òran Mór, Glasgow, 6 May, 7pm

Åsa Johannesson:

The

Queering of Photography

Stills, Edinburgh, until 27 Jun

Åsa Johannesson’s first solo exhibition in Scotland continues the artist’s career-long preoccupation with photographic portraiture and queer representation. Playing within the traditional formal bounds of classical studio portraiture, Johannesson explores the ways in which the genre can lend itself to a queer sensibility and vocabulary, and the ways in which such a queer language can evolve artistic modes of expression.

Perth Museum, Perth, 29 May-6 Sep

Glasgow Zine Festival

Various venues, Glasgow, 19-24 May

Do it all yourself at Glasgow Zine Festival, Glasgow Zine Library’s annual celebration of DIY and print culture. Make blackout poetry zines, explore ideas of community and Palestinian liberation, assemble ephemera into a documentation of cityscapes, subvert the family album with a zine dedicated to your best friend, or drop in and make a mix CD. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more wholesome time this month.

Haseeb IqbalFred Alexander - Mark Quinn

The Flying Duck, Glasgow, 15 May, 11pm

Three UK-based DIY parties – Haseeb

Iqbal’s Studio Crumb, Fred Alexander’s Vita Nova and Mark Quinn’s Habitat –come together in this one-off club night going deep into the recesses of fringe club music. Expect eclectic sonic experiments ranging from dub and jazz-infused tones to heavier beats.

The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 30 May, 7:30pm

What's On

All details correct at the time of writing

Music

May kicks off with a little taste of festival season in the form of Edinburgh TradFest (until 11 May). Don’t miss A’ Chiad Litir (4 May), Josie Duncan’s show about ‘Scottish Sappho’ Marie Maitland, Ukrainian folk from singer and composer Ganna (9 May) or Canadian folk from award-winning Kaïa Kater (10 May). In Glasgow, the Creatives of Colour Festival takes over The Glad Cafe (8 May) with R.AGGS, Miwa Nagato-Apthorp, Simone Seales and Salam Kitty (DJ) all on the bill. On 9 May, Nice N Sleazy host the Grid City all-dayer featuring Ample House, Lizzie Esau and Plasticine, or help celebrate Last Night From Glasgow’s 10th anniversary at Cottiers featuring Bröntes. On that same weekend, The Road to The Great Escape takes over King Tut’s (9 & 10 May) with Cowboy Hunters, Clothesline from Hell, Brodie Barclay and Quiet Man. Festival vibes aside, there’s loads more local talent to seek out this month. In Glasgow, Cathal Murphy ends a massive run of dates at The Rum Shack (5 May). On the same night, The Twilight Sad play the first of two nights at the Barrowlands celebrating IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE Middle Class Guilt launch Their King of Comedy at Nice N Sleazy (7 May), Hamish Hawk brings his Ivor Cutler show, Life in a Scotch Sitting-room, vol. 0, to Òran Mór (10 May), and Selkie hosts a night of ambient electronics and dream pop at The Old Hairdresser’s (13 May). At Cottiers, wojtek the bear launch i don’t think you want to hear this (21 May), Conscious Pilot beckon the arrival of Human Poultry at Stereo (22 May), Snout celebrate Dog Days at The Hug & Pint (23 May) and Carla J. Easton honours I Think That I Might Love You at The Rum Shack (29 May). Read our chat with Carla on p.45 In Edinburgh, Both Hands celebrate their debut single, Sea Spray, at The Safari Lounge (9 May); trio of Michaels, Slime City bring their bratty art-rock to The Mash House (14 May); pop girlies Katherine Aly and SHEARS are on support duty for Rose Rey at Sneaky Pete’s (14 May); Faith Eliott’s captivating brand of folk can be found at The Bowler’s Rest (15 May); and rising soul star James Emmanuel heads to Cabaret Voltaire (16 May). Folk singersongwriter Orla Noble launches her album unfurl with a special show at The Caves (17 May), while Holly Powers launches Sweetpea at the Pianodrome Bruntsfield on the 20th. Alt-rock and nu-metal is the dish of the day when Dead Pony celebrate Eat My Dust! at La Belle Angele (27 May), and the Hen Hoose Collective bring The Twelve to The Queen’s Hall (28 May). On 30 May, Acolyte launch The Blue Dark at the Leith FAB Cricket Club, while SHHE celebrates THALASSA at The Queen’s Hallon the same night, after playing Dundee’s Bonar Hall on 28 May.

Artists doubling up this month include Broken Chanter (The Rum Shack, 15 May; Leith FAB Cricket Club, 16 May), The Yummy Fur & Buffet Lunch (Leith Fab Cricket Club, 23 May; The Old Hairdresser’s, 24 May), The Countess of Fife (Voodoo Rooms, 21 May; The Glad Cafe, 23 May) and Bottle Rockets (MacArts, Galashiels, 15 May; King Tut’s, 30 May).

Elsewhere in Edinburgh, don’t miss Mind Enterprises (The Liquid Room, 7 May), Jesca Hoop (The Caves, 12 May), deary (Voodoo Rooms, 14 May), Rival Consoles and Sevendeaths (The Liquid Room, 15 May), Max Cooper (Usher Hall, 20 May) and Blind Yeo (Sneaky Pete’s, 25 May), who also play The Glad Cafe in Glasgow (26 May). Also in Glasgow, catch Lucrecia Dalt (Saint Luke’s, 7 May), Mitski (Barrowlands, 11 May), Chalk (The Art School, 14 May), The Bug Club (The Glad Cafe, 16 May), Warmduscher (Classic Grand, 19 May), Fcukers (SWG3, 20 May), Doja Cat (OVO Hydro, 21 May), PinkPantheress (SEC Centre, 23 May), Open Mike Eagle (Stereo, 30 May) and

Big Thief (Barrowlands, 30 & 31 May). Or why not catch Pixies in Dunfermline (Alhambra Theatre, 21 May). [Tallah Brash]

Film

Who says scary movies are just for the spooky season? The always excellent Dundead (7-10 May), the annual horror fest from Dundee Contemporary Arts, returns for its 14th edition, and this year they’ve teamed up with the dynamite feminist film collective Invisible Women. On the docket is a weekend of new horror films like Avalon Fast’s Camp (7 May), which has been described as a witchy, dreamy odyssey about feminine power and redemption; Katherine Dundas’s Theater Is Dead (8 May), a deliriously camp horror-comedy about attempting a career in the arts; and Yanis Koussim’s Roqia (9 May), a supernatural horror set during the Algerian Civil War of the 90s.

But what we’re most excited for is Invisible Women’s contribution to Dundead: She’s a Maneater!, a retrospective all about women whose carnal pleasures include cannibalism. The programme features Julia Ducournau’s visceral coming-of-age horror Raw (7 May), Fruit Chan’s Dumplings (9 May), in which an older actress finds a novel way to stay youthful, and Claire Denis’ dazzling Trouble Every Day (10 May), in which a mysterious virus makes people both horny and hungry.

As has now become tradition, Glasgow Film Theatre celebrates its birthday every May with the GFT Birthday Programme, the bulk of which features classics that should be seen on the big screen at least once. Top of our must-see list is a double-bill of two of Steven Spielberg’s most soulful works, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (23 May). We’ll also be taking the very rare opportunity to see Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (17 May) screened big alongside his new stunner Resurrection (10 & 12 May). And the range of the late, great Diane Keaton’s talents is celebrated with Annie Hall (6-7 May), The First Wives Club (27-28 May) and The Godfather (31 May). The lineup also includes a trio of screenings from celluloid: John Ford’s The Searchers (until 7 May, 70mm), Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (16 May, 70mm), and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient (17 May, 35mm).

Talking of celluloid, few filmmakers are more devoted to the beauty and fragility of film stock than Mark Jenkin. Filmhouse in Edinburgh are celebrating this fact with Mark Jenkin on Film, a season of the Cornish filmmaker’s work exhibited on 35mm. Time-loop drama Rose of Nevada screens on 9 May, his debut Bait is on 16 May, and his folk-horror-tinged middle film Enys Men screens 17 May.

Doc’n’Roll Film Festival, the much-loved touring fest celebrating music subcultures, returns to Scottish cinemas. The Cameo in Edinburgh has one screening: How Tanita Tikaram Became A LIAR, Natacha Horn’s doc exploring the creative and emotional journey of the eponymous British singer-songwriter. GFT, meanwhile, hosts four, a highlight of which looks to be Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me, Robert Clem’s spotlight on Blues icon Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton. Full details at docnrollfestival.com. [Jamie Dunn]

Clubs

On Friday 8 May, Maude Vôs makes a Glasgow debut in anticipation of their upcoming EP, with Gravity Pleasure and Skinny Dipping joining forces to bring a FLINTA-focused lineup to EXIT. More femme-led fun on Saturday 9 May, as Edinburgh’s Chromatic welcomes Silva Snipa to shell out The Bongo Club – an unmissable one for fans of jungle and DnB. RARE hosts Ross From Friends b2b Cameo Blush at Sub Club, Glasgow – expect two of the UK’s finest slinging house, bass and experimental selections to the crowd (14 May).

The following night at Sub Club, ec2a label-head and UK garage aficionado Dr Dubplate is set to keep the basement moving until 4am (15 May). Round the corner, INK TANK brings a night of Scottish grime to Stereo, with Rapture 4D and RED KING heading the lineup (15 May). Haseeb Iqbal, Fred Alexander and Mark Quinn come together at The Flying Duck, Glasgow, to take listeners on a winding journey through genre, era and sound (15 May). No tough choices on Saturday 16 May, as Haram Haram’s early show at Sub Club sets you up for the rest of the night – high-energy selector Surusinghe headlines. Later that evening, Skee Mask plays all night long at La Cheetah Club, Glasgow – expect low-end experimentation and techno cuts from the inimitable producer.

On Wednesday 20 May, Borley Room returns to Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, with Scottish garage heavyweights Jenn Gunn and gau7t joining

the midweek party. Beckoning in the Spring Bank Holiday with a healthy dose of DnB are Dillinja and Mrs Magoo at The Bongo Club, Edinburgh (22 May). Over to the West, poet and producer James Massiah performs live at EXIT, Glasgow (22 May). The year-long birthday party continues for FUSE, this time with RIZ LA TEEF, Grove and Mixtress bringing weighty bass to Stereo, Glasgow (22 May).

In need of a warm up to the Edinburgh marathon? We recommend jogging over to The Bongo Club to catch Crazy P celebrating 14 years of Edinbugh party, HECT㋡RS (23 May). Alternatively, Athens of the North Disco Club returns to Edinburgh sweatbox Sneaky Pete’s for an all-vinyl, all-groovy night (23 May). No Sunday scaries as Morrison Street host house legend Todd Edwards for a clubbers matinee at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh – doors open at 6pm (24 May). On Thursday 28 May, Kyoto-based producer Stones Taro joins the YBZ crew at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, for breakbeats, bass and UKG with a Japanese twist. To close out the month, Glasgow’s Hometown Sound System meets Edinburgh’s Messenger Sound System at The Art School, Glasgow – less sound clash, more dub harmony (29 May).

[Myrtle Boot]

Art

At the Common Guild, Glasgow, Polish photographer Joanna Piotrowska presents A moment of darkness at noon, her first exhibition in Scotland. The exhibition furthers Piotrowska’s investigations into the unconscious through Jungian psychoanalysis. Nude portraits, landscapes and collages made up of fragments from her family’s archive conjure a hazy space between memory, dream and the unconscious. The exhibition opens on 23 May and continues until 18 July.

Also in Glasgow, Street Level Photoworks at Trongate 103 shows Marc Davenant’s documentary photography series that captures the stories of unhoused people. The exhibition, Outsiders, emphasises governmental neglect and substandard housing conditions by capturing “the full spectrum of homelessness”. Outsiders is on view until 13 May.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Stills exhibits The Queering of Photography by Åsa Johannesson. Focused on the possibilities of queer documentary, Johannesson reimagines the conventions of classical studio portraiture to illuminate overlooked queer gestures and aesthetics within photographic traditions and histories. The exhibition closes on 27 June.

At Dovecot Studios, The Biba Story: 1964-1975 showcases the international fashion brand’s rise to fame and revolutionary role in the 1960s and 70s aesthetic. The Biba Story stars over 100 vintage items, from leopard print coats to sequinned bodices, and is on view until 27 June. [Rachel Ashenden]

Theatre

Scottish theatre in May seems grounded in real lives and recent histories, with stories of labour, protest and personal survival on stage across the month.

At Glasgow’s Tron Theatre, Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In (until 9 May) revisits the 1981 Greenock factory strike, developed with the women who took part. It’s a local story with contemporary resonance, rooted in a collective action that threads through even the making of the show. Questions of work and class continue at the Citz, where Sweat (2-16 May) examines the unravelling of friendships in a Pennsylvania steel town. Lynn Nottage’s play returns later in the month at the Royal Lyceum Theatre (27 May-13 Jun), giving Edinburgh audiences a chance to catch an unflinching look at economic decline and its human cost.

The Lyceum also stages Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil (8-23 May), a warmer counterpoint of family, football and belonging. Meanwhile, Dundee Rep will see Educating Rita (from 23 May), Willy Russell’s familiar tale of an unlikely friendship between a hairdresser and an academic.

At the Traverse Theatre, political storytelling continues with The Freshwater Five (15-16 May), revisiting the controversial case of five Isle of Wight fishermen imprisoned for alleged drug smuggling. This is followed by Baby Mash-Up, What On Earth Are You Doing? (22-23 May), which also plays at the Tron Theatre (14-15 May), blending Troubles-era drama with something surreal and unsettling.

Back at the Citizens Theatre, Night Waking (13-16 May) adapts Sarah Moss’s novel into a portrait of motherhood on the edge, while Revolution Days (20-23 May) draws on the real experiences of a Scottish-Arab aid worker doing humanitarian work during the Arab Spring.

Across the month, May keeps its focus on people under pressure at work, at home, and in the middle of history as it unfolds. [Mika Morava]

Comedy

Starting strong, Leila Navabi is touring her second show to Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre this month (16 May, 7pm). Telling the story of her and her wife’s fertility journey, Relay unites Navabi’s talents for stand-up and catchy tunes with a very sweet, life-affirming story of queer baby-making.

We’re also graced by two of the SNL UK cast as soon as their first series ends. The fantastic Larry Dean gives us a WIP of his new Fringe and tour show Hellbent (Monkey Barrel, 19 May, 7pm & 9pm). Snap up a chance to see him in the intimate Edinburgh venue before he’s gallivanting across the country and playing huge crowds.

Fellow cast member Ayoade Bamgboye brings her Best Newcomerwinning show, Swings & Roundabouts, back to Scotland (Monkey Barrel, 23 May, 6pm / The Stand, Glasgow, 3 Jun, 8pm) after her SNL casting postponed her initial tour dates. Deadpan, shapeshifting, and totally original, Bamgboye’s debut show is well worth a look.

And as for June, there’s plenty of gigs to choose from, but we’d recommend you book quick for these two WIPs. Sami Abu Wardeh’s here to work up his first solely stand-up hour after two clown-heavy shows at the Fringe (Monkey Barrel, 13 Jun, 8pm), although we reckon there’ll still be a tonne of silliness in this new hour.

Catherine Bohart’s back in town too (Monkey Barrel, 28 Jun, 6pm), testing out material for her Borrowing Trouble tour which hits Scottish stages in November. Expect it to be crammed full of sweet, gossipy gags and the feeling that you’ve just met your new best friend. [Polly Glynn]

Books

Paisley Book Festival returns to the titular town from 15-17 May with a packed programme of bookish events revolving around the theme Everyday Heroes, Everlasting Icons. Big names like Val McDermid and Nicola Sturgeon appear, Scottish-Bulgarian author Kapka Kassabova discusses her latest eco non-fiction book Borrowed Land, Graeme Armstrong talks about his latest book Raveheart, and Katalina Watt and Angie Spoto explore the Gothic potential of maritime adventures, amongst others. For a more grassroots vibe, head to Glasgow Zine Festival, where DIY culture is the name of the game. There’s events on Palestinian solidarity, a zine fair, and a workshop on making a zine for your best friend run by The Skinny’s Books Editor (hi) and Theatre Editor.

Over at Lighthouse Bookshop, there’s the last couple of events for First Date, Edinburgh’s romance festival: a panel with Kai Spellmeier and Gayathiri Kamalakanthan (6 May), and a late night book market (7 May). They’re also launching Few and Far Between with Jan Carson (20 May) and Elle Machray’s queer feminist Dickens reimaging Havisham (27 May). And at Portobello Bookshop, Hannah Lavery launches Everything Everyday: A Year of Empty Promises on 7 May and Ella Risbridger launches her latest highlyanticipated cookbook The Kitchen Book on 22 May. [Anahit Behrooz]

Sreath ùr bho Acair, ag amas air leughadairean Gàidhlig a tha airson togail air an cuid sgilean leughaidh

An exciting new series of Gaelic fiction from Acair, including a glossary support system, audio books and online support

Features

24 Scotland’s next generation of politicians introduce themselves ahead of this month’s election.

27 We unpack the impact of Purpose Built Student Accommodation looming large over Scotland’s cities.

28 We celebrate 30 years of community resistance and creativity at Kinning Park Complex

30 With Trongate 103 under threat, we question the profit-motivated decisions damaging the arts community.

32 The team behind new documentary Sailm nan Daoine take us on a tour of Gaelic psalm singing.

34 We catch up with DOSS to talk all things Glasgow and dig into their new EP.

39 The co-founder of Brown Gals Dance Club on dancefloors and diaspora.

41 Syrian journalist Samar Yazbek on her latest book, a collection of testimonials from Gazans living under genocide.

42 Spanish director Carla Simón on mining her own painful upbringing in the forthcoming Romería

44 Lauren Auder on her new album Whole World As Vigil and playing Hidden Door.

47 Scottish Opera’s co-conductor and chorus director Susannah Wapshott on why The Marriage of Figaro still resonates today.

48 The rise and rise of comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri

On the website...

We catch up with SAY Award winners Kai Reesu for our Music Now podcast; The Cineskinny podcast continues, and continues to be good, every other Thursday; our New Scottish Music playlist is updated every Friday so listen out for that; oh and issue three of GNAW, our food and drink magazine, is out mid-May, so look out for *that*

Shot of the month

Dry Cleaning @ SWG3, Glasgow, 24 Apr by

Marilena Vlachopoulou

Across

9. Hi! George here. This is puzzle #72 for The Skinny, and also my last. Thanks to everyone who's attempted them the past six or so years. As the French might say, "Hat!" (7)

10. Glee (7)

11. Telling porkies (5)

12. Oversimplified (9)

13. Sore gnasher (9)

14. Scottish aristocrat or landowner (5)

15. Stateside equivalent of British Summer Time (8,7)

20. Demon (5)

22. Visual – HR gala pic (anag) (9)

25. Stamina (9)

26. Encounters (5)

27. Admit (7)

28. Disconcert (7)

Compiled by George Sully

1. Chiselled (8)

2. Cat colouring (6)

3. Chinese furniture philosophy (4,4)

4. Category – rules (6)

5. Chicken or horseman? (8)

6. Unsubscribe (6)

7. Citizen (8)

8. Mean (6)

16. Providing – conceding (8)

17. Majesty? (8)

18. Impassioned (8)

19. Pleasers (anag) –commercial executive (5,3)

20. Swindle – jumper (6)

21. Cloud over (6)

23. Way – street (6)

24. Thanks – seeya! (6)

Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk

Turn to page 7 for the solutions

GOT A QUESTION?

In this month’s advice column, one reader sleeps with a friend who won’t text back

Slept with a good male friend a couple of weeks ago and haven’t heard from him since. We didn’t text too regularly anyways, but I know he’s avoidant when it comes to love life complexities. WTF, as a romantic-hearted lady, do I do? I can only write so many bad poems...

WTF indeed. Firstly, allow me to congratulate you on an impeccable example of rhetorical diplomacy. “He’s avoidant when it comes to love life complexities,” is, truly, a masterpiece of the genre. May I perhaps phrase it in a slightly different way? It won’t win prizes at the UN but: “He does not have the requisite emotional consideration to treat people with whom he’s been intimate with care.”

OK, I know this is going to come off as girlboss misandry of the worst kind and before anyone accuses me of that, let me say that actually having too much sympathy for men is my leading character flaw. If I were the titular ancient mariner, a white boy with no selfawareness would be flapping his big wings behind my ship, occasionally shitting on my head. So this is absolutely not a ‘fuck you who needs men’ kind of response, but it is a ‘maybe try and extend the same generosity and compassion you are extending towards him towards yourself too’ response. You also have needs. You also deserve understanding and care. Why is he sleeping with his friends if he can’t handle it, is my question.

What do you do? Stop writing poetry for one, that has never helped anybody. I know I’m meant to give vague advice so you self-actualise yourself but what I would actually do is: talk to him. If it doesn’t help, stop trying to fix it but also make it clear (if this is what you want!) that you are open to friendship. Be warm and friendly to show you’re not in a huff but don’t put any active effort in until he does. Avoidant people sometimes forget their own agency, that their behaviour shifts relationships and signals a wall that they themselves don’t want. Until he figures that out, there’s not very much you can do except – if the friendship matters to you – hold space until he does.

This is assuming the goal is friendship. If the goal is romance because you’ve caught feelings, I can only say, based on the information you’ve given me, that that is a terrible idea and you should stop it right now. Bonne chance!

At Mansfield Place in Edinburgh, one writer gets lost in murals by the Arts and Crafts pioneer Phoebe Anna Traquair

Words: Eleanor Affleck

Iam a useless bug on the great floor of the former Catholic Apostolic Church. The murals I have come to see are very high up and I haven’t brought my glasses. I’m craning my neck and I can’t focus my eyes. Each blink kaleidoscopes precise six-winged seraphim into blurry 24-winged smears.

Guided tours leave every 20 minutes to tell us about Phoebe Anna Traquair’s mural paintings and her wider contributions to the Arts and Crafts movement. I’ve been excited to come. Now I’m here and I’m too hot, my back hurts, and nothing is going in. I crawl through the nave, straining and recoiling, fantasising about unzipping my carapace and floating up to the roof to experience the work unhindered by a body. Then, as we step into one of the chapels, I spot a perfectly painted dog rose next to the foot of a foolish virgin, at eye level. I know you know, Phoebe Anna Traquair, I can feel your rose in my hands. Have you also slipped the petals between your fingers to squeeze out the faint scent, then rubbed them behind your ears? I start to pick out other wildflowers around me: wallflowers, snowdrops, carnations, poppies and daffodils. I notice this delicacy everywhere: transparent rainbows, mandorlas, halos, lightly shaded wings and robes. I am reminded of William Blake’s watercolours – unsurprising given Blake’s influence on Traquair. In person, Blake’s works are tiny. I picture a hunched giant, painstakingly engraving his plates for the Book of Job over and over again. To see his illustrations translated on such a scale by Traquair – herself now a tiny zipping spark flying over the walls of the church, drunk from the fumes of the turpentine she thinned her oils with – I am a giant, then a flea – the work is in the body.

mansfieldtraquair.org.uk/the-murals

Do you have a problem Anahit could help with? Get in touch by email on pettyshit@theskinny.co.uk, send us your quandaries with an almost-unhelpful level of anonymity via NGL, or look out for Ask Anahit callouts on our Instagram stories

Party Party!

We celebrated The Skinny’s 20th anniversary last month with a mini-festival in Edinburgh, so please allow us to give ourselves, and everyone else who helped make it happen, a pat on the back!

Words: Tallah Brash

Photography: Rebecca Ramsay

We officially celebrated our 20th anniversary of making this lovely monthly free magazine last October, so planning for our mega party started around a year ago. But, well, life got in the way, so we only just celebrated on 23 April and it was so worth the wait, as you’ll see from this wonderful array of photos from Rebecca Ramsay. With all the balloons now popped, lametta, confetti and paper chains in the bins, and headaches now a distant memory, we have A LOT of people to thank for making it all happen. To our top dog sponsor Thorne Records for being a true champion of the mag and a forever believer in the power and importance of physical media – we love you. To Trystan and Chris from Paradise Palms, People’s Leisure Club and Gilded Saloon for being so supportive of us and our idea for the party, and for also helping partially fund it. Thanks also to the staff working across their three venues – to

Bartek, Jess, Flik, Carla, Rana, Lara, Robin, Cas and everyone else, you are all amazing!

To our incredible live artists and DJs, it simply wouldn’t have been a party without you. We are forever indebted to the live talents of Thundermoon (featuring surprise guest Megan Black), Texture Texture, Town Centre, CUZINO & Nwanneka and DOSS, and excep- tional song selectors for the rest of the night – Supper Club, HONEY, Arusa Qureshi, Marinello Studio, Al Gu and Saint Sunday from EHFM, Annafleur from Femmergy, Nick from Sneaks and G from Young Fathers – you all absolutely smashed it!

Finally, a massive thanks also to Jubel, Fettercairn and Bon Accord for the delicious drinks, to Tasty Buns for the quite incredible vegan empire biscuits and enormous birthday cake(s) and to Civerinos for feeding the bands who joined us for early soundchecks – we salute you!

VARIOUS DATES BONGO’S BINGO

VARIOUS DATES BELFAST BRUNCH CO

VARIOUS DATES FROM FEAST TO FLING

SATURDAY 2 MAY SLVL B2B USH: PRTY

WEDNESDAY 6 MAY THE CHARLATANS

FRIDAY 8 MAY THE ROYSTON CLUB

SUNDAY 10 MAY

GIRLYPOP LIVE

FEATURING THE WORLD’S FINEST TRIBUTES

SUNDAY 14 JUNE THE ULTIMATE K-POP LIVE SHOW EDINBURGH

SATURDAY 27 JUNE DROPKICK MURPHYS

SUNDAY 28 JUNE

NATIONAL BRICK EVENTS-EDINBURGH

FRIDAY 3 JULY ANTARCTIC MONKEYS

MONDAY 6 JULY THE MACCABEES

TUESDAY 28 JULY LENNY PEARCE

SATURDAY 1 AUGUST AN EVENING WITH CHICANE

SATURDAY 15 AUGUST

DEFINITELY OASIS: 96 REVISITED

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS SINCE KNEBWORTH, LOCH LOMOND & MAINE ROAD

TUESDAY 25 AUGUST

WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST KINGFISHR

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER DON BROCO

FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER AGNIESZKA CHYLINSKA

SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER THE UNDERTONES 50TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER HEAVEN 17

SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER THE REYTONS

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER

BLACK STONE CHERRY THE CELEBRATE TOUR

SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER A NIGHT AT THE DARTS

MONDAY 9 NOVEMBER SKYE NEWMAN

FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER PICTURE THIS

FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER

BBC RADIO 2 DANCE SOUNDS OF THE 90S WITH VERNON KAY

Inspired by the twin events of the Scottish elections and May Day, our theme pages this month delve into issues of politics, community activism, societal ills and some of the people working hard to fix them. We open with an on-thenose exploration of Scottish politics, with words from some of the nation’s new generation of aspiring representatives.

Purpose-built student accommodation is popular with parasitic property developers, unpopular with people who actually want to live in the cities, students and, it turns out, councils. We take a look

at its rise and rise. We also celebrate 30 years of occupation at Kinning Park Complex, bemoan the threat to Trongate 103 from, you guessed it, parasitic property managers, and learn about the communal action of song in Gaelic-language documentary Sailm nan Daoine (Psalms of the People).

Illustrator and May Day poster designer Lorna Miller reflects on the resistance and resilience of a creative career, we talk to DOSS and explore three musical instrument libraries, while one writer reflects on the personal act of community-building with Brown Gals Dance Club.

Next Gen

Election season is well and truly here. We speak to Scotland’s next generation of politicians about representing their communities, the ins and outs of party politics, and their hopes for the future

Leaflets arrive daily now. Party colours, party logos, party promises – they all tell us that change is possible, if only we’ll give them our vote. And it’s a hard vote to win: it’s no secret that young people are increasingly tired of party politics and its incessant failings.

The last Scottish Parliament Election, in 2021, largely unfolded within the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various social inequalities and political corruption it exposed. In 2026, however, the playing field has shifted. The rise of Nigel Farage’s far-right party Reform is a terrifying yet unignorable reality, set to make advances here in Scotland. Meanwhile, the success of the Green Party of England and Wales is pointing towards a collapse of the two-party system, with the Scottish Greens expected to reflect some similar gains north of the border. Polling conducted by Savanta for the BBC finds that top of mind for voters is the economy (including the cost of living crisis), health and social care, and immigration. Unsurprisingly, housing remains a key issue, most often mentioned by younger voters.

While many turn to grassroots organising within our local communities, the electoral system rages on. And so, we’re wondering: can the youth save party politics – or can party politics save the youth? Probably not, but Scotland’s next generation of politicians are keen to offer some muchneeded hope.

Iris Duane, Scottish Greens candidate for Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill constituency and third place candidate for Glasgow region

“I didn’t get involved in politics, politics got involved in me,” says Iris Duane, named one of The Young Women’s Movement 30 Under 30 in 2023. “People look at me, a person of colour, working class, single parent household, transgender and whatever else and see me as a bit of a box ticking exercise instead of a person.” As a full-time student who also works in community engagement and policy, Duane has a lot on her plate but still manages to campaign for “a future that goes beyond taglines,” believing that politics can and should bring tangible benefits to all.

“I don’t think grassroot organising should be portrayed as divorced from party politics,” says Duane. “It’s truly my belief that that is what has led to the significant distrust in party politics is the fact that grassroot organising has been ripped away from parties.” For Duane, the far-right has capitalised upon our collective exhaustion, blaming those within our communities for all ills, rather than elites with too much money and too much power.

In future, Duane would love to see the Greens more closely involved with the trade union movement and further engaging with communities of colour. The success of the party down south is an exciting prospect. Meanwhile, here in Scotland, Duane will continue to champion full rent controls

Words: Eilidh Akilade

as well as cost-of-living saving policies, with a focus on truly local devolution. “When we say the youth want the politics of hope, it’s not just about the feelings of hope, it’s about the idea that our lives won’t continue to be dragged along by managed decline, that building a future for ourselves might actually be possible.”

Fatima Joji, SNP candidate for Aberdeenshire West constituency and third place candidate for North East Scotland region

“I didn’t set out to be a politician. I wanted to work in journalism and hold truth to power,” says Fatima Joji, who was born and raised in Aberdeenshire and studied at both Robert Gordon University and the University of Birmingham. “It became clear to me that if I wanted to create real change, politics was the most effective way to do it rather than remaining on the outside.” Currently an elected Aberdeenshire Council councillor, representing her home ward of Westhill and District, Joji hopes to find herself in Holyrood come May. In collaborating with campaign groups such as Engender and Elect Her, Joji is keen to use her background in policy, advocacy and communications to encourage women’s active participation in politics.

Joji has always voted SNP. “I was raised in an independence-supporting household, but even beyond that, my research and understanding of

“Politics should offer hope, and it does that when people who are concerned for their community and those across our country step up and engage meaningfully”

Isla McCay

countries gaining independence globally, including Nigeria from Britain, showed me the damage caused by Scotland being tied to Westminster,” she says. With the SNP’s track record – maintaining free tuition and prescriptions, and introducing the Baby Box alongside free bus travel for under22s and older people – Joji feels the party has proven itself time and time again.

Speaking to young voters in her area, Joji has found that many are concerned about the ongoing cost of living crisis, job security, housing affordability and climate change. Ensuring such voters have a seat at the “decision-making table” is integral; the SNP’s lowering of the voting age to 16, Joji says, is testament to their belief in this. “[I]f policies directly affect young people, who better to listen to than those living through those decisions?”

Q Manivannan, Scottish Greens third place candidate for Edinburgh and Lothians East region

Q Manivannan moved to Scotland in 2021; alongside their activism and campaigning, they’re an artist and are currently completing a PhD in anthropology at the University of St Andrews. They first joined the Scottish Greens when the party set

up a Palestine Solidarity Group in 2023. “When activist demands go through a political process, they often come out the other side, completely stripped of that radicalism,” Manivannan says. However, the Scottish Greens give them hope: “It feels like a party that listens to movements rather than just trying to manage them and triage them.”

These days, Manivannan finds themselves knocking on nearly one hundred doors a day, hoping to speak with their local community about the Scottish Greens and their candidacy. “The one thing that’s common to everybody is that they’re not apathetic, as a lot of people would like us to believe.” Today’s young people are grieving, says Manivannan: for the destruction of our climate, the housing system, and queer and trans rights. Feelings of political disillusionment are a direct consequence of this grief; Manivannan hopes, however, that there’s a better way.

Reflecting on running for the Fountainbridge/ Craiglockhart by-election last year, Manivannan notes that the Scottish Greens were “very sweet, in the sense that they took care of me, they were kind”. In the last year, the party also introduced free bus travel for refugees and asylum seekers, while also backing Scotland for Decrim’s campaign against MSP Ash Regan’s Prostitution Bill, which would see Scotland adopt the Nordic Model. “It’s an actual politics of care that is emotional but then oriented towards joy and justice rather than fear and exclusion.”

Isla McCay, Scottish Labour candidate for Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch constituency and first place candidate for Highlands and Islands region

For four years, Isla McCay has lived in Aviemore, moving up north after graduating from university to work in outdoors education. With family in Moray, McCay knew the Highlands well; calling it home herself was an exciting prospect. However, the area isn’t without its issues. “The availability of affordable housing across Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch is at a critical level. I know it’s a problem in a lot of places, but here it’s undermining our communities by contributing to staff shortages for essential public services, and driving depopulation,” she says. “If we’re to secure the future of the Highlands and Islands, particularly so young people can live here, housing needs to be a priority.” Such matters are at the forefront of McCay’s campaign.

For McCay, her passion for politics “has been driven by witnessing the rise of populism, nationalism, division and the far-right.” Voting for the first time in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, McCay’s adolescence was steeped in political uncertainty: the 2010 Cameron-Clegg coalition government, followed by the 2014 Independence Referendum and the 2016 Brexit Referendum. “Scottish Labour was the party that offered me hope that we could build a better Scotland, and I believe that Holyrood is where we achieve that.”

McCay wants young people, like her, to take their politics beyond social media –into the streets, into councils, into parliament. “Politics should offer hope, and it does that when people who are concerned for their community and those across our country step up and engage meaningfully. If you let the negativity and division drive you away from politics, it certainly won’t get any better.”

Jack Middleton, SNP candidate for Aberdeen Central constituency

As of 2011, Aberdeen Central has been an SNP stronghold, held by former Scottish Government minister Kevin Stewart. Following Stewart’s decision not to stand this spring, 30-year-old Jack Middleton is now stepping up to the plate. Working in Holyrood for nearly a decade, Middleton is excited to stand in the constituency where he was born and now lives. “I’m driven to improve the lives of working-class people in Scotland, and I reckon that real change is a team sport.”

For Middleton, SNP policies have been hugely beneficial as a young person living in Scotland – specifically, maintaining free university tuition. However, he notes that such policies can only go so far in a nation bound by Westminster.

“The younger generation are the first in the post-war era that are promised by Westminster that they’ll have it worse than their parents, grandparents and those that came before them. That means they’ll have less money in their pocket; they’ll need to work longer into old age and for many the pursuit of homeownership is simply a dream that feels unobtainable.” With the SNP promising limits on essential supermarket groceries and a £2 cap for single bus fares in their 2026 manifesto, Middleton is hopeful for Scotland’s future – ideally, for Middleton, one without the “embarrassment” of the Royal Family.

While recent years have largely put talk of Scottish independence on the back burner, Middleton believes that an SNP majority at this election would deliver another referendum. “Young people are guided more by ‘political movements’ just now and the independence campaign remains the most exciting and radical campaign on these islands.”

Building Up, Pushing Out

Vacant land? No problem – there’s an unaffordable and exploitative solution to that. One writer unpacks the impact of Purpose Built Student Accommodation looming large over our cities

March’s Glasgow Central fire has brought city planning – previously an unglamorous, jargon-filled policy area –  to the front of minds whenever we enter a building we care about. How we feel in a space can be a powerful catalyst for considering what is contributing to, and taking away from, our ability to be in community with one another. As we are priced out of community hubs and warm spaces, another business is quickly springing up in our absence: Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA).  PBSA companies argue that mixing business and residential space will boost local economies, provide employment and create blended neighbourhoods where people can rest and work.  In reality, the model might work more for shareholders’ profit than for community good. And the sting is all the sharper when we see non-profit services that have a track record of improving wellbeing and providing employment pushed out to make way for PBSA developers.

So, what about their other aims, of student wellbeing and creating a one-stop neighbourhood for students? If you’re wealthy, you might be able to participate in this new community. But as the

‘How we feel in a space can be a powerful catalyst for considering what is contributing to, and taking away from, our ability to be in community with one another’

cost of going to university increases, especially for international students, many PBSAs sit empty. I speak to Sophia, an international student at the University of Edinburgh, who says: “They have a gym, laundry services, movie room, which is great if you can afford it, but £400 a week for a 15m room was just too much for me.” As noted by property consultancy Allsopp, 47% of accommodation in new PBSAs is studio flats; this, therefore, primarily attracts students in the top income range. Meanwhile, universities face their own funding pressures and are outsourcing varied services to private companies. This leaves students stranded in a new city, facing a fight for limited spaces in the just-about-affordable university-owned accommodation, or being locked into unbreakable, expensive private leases, with very few renters’ rights.

Kate Nevens, a Scottish Green Party candidate for the upcoming Scottish elections, says her constituents in Leith are isolated in “teeny-tiny bedsit-type rooms, really poor for people’s mental health.” When they’re marketed to international students, often coming to Scotland on their own for the first time, the effects are multiplied. “It’s difficult for international students to get guarantors and navigate the housing system while abroad, so PBSAs are exploiting that market.” As reported by the BBC, HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) found that 10,000 fewer international students came to Scotland in 2024. If this trend continues, the single-use limitations of PBSAs will add salt to the wound of empty buildings that could have housed multiple households, businesses and third-sector organisations currently fighting for survival in an economically hostile renting market.

In March, the renters’ union Living Rent held a public assembly on PBSAs with over 100 residents in attendance. Secretary for Edinburgh, Aditi Jehangir, says, “Students are paying through the nose to live in poor quality developments that take up space where we could be building long-term social housing.” As the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence noted in their 2024 report, the rise in student homelessness is caused, in part, by a bedspace gap of 6,000+ in both Dundee and Glasgow and 13,000+ in Edinburgh. According to the Scottish National Union of Students, in 2021, 12% of students had experienced homelessness while studying. Jehangir says PBSAs are not the answer to student needs, calling on Edinburgh Council to “clamp down on more student accommodation being built through binning current projects, denying future developments and restricting what can be built and where.”

Tim Pogson, Scottish Labour Councillor and Edinburgh’s Housing Convener, attended the public assembly and reflected to me, “If a developer wants to build student accommodation on their land, that is their decision. Whatever we think of PBSA, the council, as a planning authority, can only refuse planning permission based on robust, defensible policies.” Those policies are set by the Scottish Government, so “many PBSAs have been refused by the council only to be granted permission on appeal to the Scottish Government.” Furthermore, as the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce highlights, the Scottish Government excluded PBSAs from their 2025 rent

Words: Jj Fadaka

Illustration: Dalila D'Amico

control legislation, leaving students vulnerable to unbreakable tenancy agreements. Tim Pogson points me to the council’s ‘Call for Ideas’ – a community consultation, taking place between July and September 2026 – to put forward suggestions for Edinburgh’s 2040 city plan; however, whether this plan can overturn the Scottish Government’s leniency on PBSAs is unclear.

Across Scotland, arts and community hubs, and independent businesses – longstanding social anchors – have been driven out by rising rents and a lack of will by the government and local councils to sustain them. The Scottish Government’s own research shows demand for rent and quality control, and more legislative rights in regards to PBSAs. But where is the action? Will these developers be allowed to continue siphoning off opportunities for community wealth building and dictating the design of our neighbourhoods? Or will the diverse range of students, creative groups, residents, local business owners, workers, co-ops and charities finally lead the design of the cities we’ve been building up for so long? Here’s hoping for the latter.

30 years of Kinning Park Complex

This spring, Kinning Park Complex marks 30 years on from the occupation that saved it, with a 55-day programme of events. We speak to Events and Volunteer Coordinator Ren Clark about community organising, and reimagining the future of third spaces

“Having a community space that has been successfully community-led for 30 years is really special and quite rare, especially in the current moment where services are being cut.” That’s Ren Clark, the Events and Volunteer Coordinator at Kinning Park Complex (KPC). They’ve been heavily involved in shaping KPC’s latest programme: 30 years of Kinning Park Complex, running from 3 May to 27 June.

Clark shares how each day of the 55-day programme honours the 55 days the building was occupied by local mothers and campaigners to prevent its closure, when it was deemed ‘surplus to requirements’: “In 1996, the building was a community centre run by the council, and they decided to scrap all the funding and close the doors with not much notice. At the time, the centre provided key childcare provisions, after-school activities, and wellbeing activities for the local community.”

After 55 days of collective action, the building was saved and transferred into community control for a peppercorn rent of £1 a year. In 2019, the local community officially purchased the building through the Community Empowerment Act – a powerful example of what community organising can achieve.

Those who occupied the space, which was then called Kinning Park Neighbourhood Centre, weren’t just fighting to save a building; they were redefining who gets to own and shape public space. 30 years later, that act of collective resistance lives on in KPC.

I ask Clark what people can expect from the 55 days. “Part of this programme is about throwing the doors open to people and making it really clear that it’s a space for the community, for anyone who needs to use it and anyone who can find a home here,” Clark explains. “There’s a lot of art, music, history, and stuff around activism and activist education that honours that part of KPC’s history.”  Clark hopes that those who walk through the door “can shape the complex and be part of KPC, making it whatever it is that they need, whether that’s wellbeing, for the community or for their kids.” Just as important, the collaborative programme invites new people in, particularly those who may not yet feel connected to the space. It’s about “helping people become aware of KPC and how it might fit into their lives,” Clark adds.

The events speak to both the past and future. Some support the community with tools to advocate for themselves and their neighbours – for instance, a talk by the tenant union, Living Rent, and a community consultation of the local parks. Others bring people together through community meals. Meanwhile, a roller skating disco nods to a fundraiser held during the sit-in and weekly oral history drop-ins invite people to share and preserve their memories of the buildings, as part of a growing community archive.

The events throughout the 55 days have a common thread of community organising. I ask why organising on a grassroots level feels important. “Getting involved in community activities is also activism, meeting your neighbours is also activism, if you want to think about it that way. Part of the programme is about widening those ideas of what community organising is, and giving people an opportunity to learn about what’s happening in the local area, and ways that they can get involved should they want to.”

This multilevel type of community organising feels critical. “Kinning Park and Greater Govan have been really underserved and under-resourced neighbourhoods,” Clark says. “Greater Govan is such an amazing place because there’s so much community grassroots stuff happening because

Words: Samar Jamal

“Getting involved in community activities is also activism, meeting your neighbours is also activism”

Ren Clark, Events and Volunteer Coordinator at Kinning Park Complex

they’ve had no choice but to kind of galvanise and push forward for services themselves.”

Speaking with Clark is a reminder that KPC’s story is not an isolated one. The attempted closure of the Neighbourhood Centre was part of a wider pattern of closures of public buildings at the time. Nearby, Govanhill Baths faced a similar fate, prompting its own occupation and ongoing campaign. This history makes spaces like KPC and others even more vital. Across Glasgow, community spaces continue to face closure or organisations are forced out because of high rents. Arts venues like The Space andorganisations like Listen Gallery, come to mind. Meanwhile, the CCA closure raises wider questions about mismanagement, accountability, and what genuine solidarity looks like, particularly when it comes to Palestine. The CCA's governance is currently being investigated by the charity regulator, OSCR. Now, Trongate 103 is the latest space under threat.

Amid these closures, the Kinning Park Complex programme invites us to reimagine what third spaces could be. “Glasgow feels like it’s [at] a very tense point, and I think being able to learn from the spaces that are successful, in a different way, is so key. This helps us and allows us to learn how to avoid these things happening in the future or to resist these things when they happen,” Clark shares.  Community ownership is an option for securing sustainable third spaces. It’s a longer process, though, and until communities are able to do that, it’s clear that it’s important these spaces exist in some capacity. “It’s so crucial to have a place where people can come together, relax, and access free activities," says Clark, "where they can meet, be creative, eat together – especially in neighbourhoods that don’t always get those opportunities.”

Kinning Park Complex: 30 Years of Community takes place 3 May to 27 Jun

kinningparkcomplex.org

Save Trongate 103

Glasgow’s art scene is under threat. In light of City Property’s decision to quadruple rent for tenants at Trongate 103, we question the profitmotivated decisions damaging the arts community

There’s a gigantic protest banner stretched across three storeys of the building at Trongate 103. In letters six feet tall, it pleads: ‘GCC DON’T BREAK OUR ‘ARTS.’ It’s a huge pushback, against a huge problem; Glasgow’s art spaces are under fire.

Last February, City Property – a subsidiary of Glasgow City Council (GCC) – terminated the lease agreements of the seven charities and cultural organisations who call Trongate 103 home, issuing new contracts, with occupancy costs skyrocketing by four times the current rate. Their proposition puts the tenants in unprecedented and precarious conditions if they choose to sign, and out of a home if they don’t. With this one swift rent hike, they threaten to undo years of community building, ripping apart Glasgow’s major cultural ecosystem.  Running since 2009, Trongate 103 has served as an exhibition space, workshop venue and affordable studio for local artists. As a deeply valued space foundational to the city’s creative scene, residents and supporters alike were shocked by City Property’s new proposal. In true Glasgow fashion, the city has rallied together, starting a petition which now has 25,000 signatures, and in March, hundreds took to the streets to express their devastation at the possibility of losing (yet another) pillar of the arts community.

As a result of this pushback, GCC has backed a Green motion which will secure a £200,000 ‘Culture and Creative Industry Property Support Fund’, allowing short term relief to those organisations dealing with City Property’s soaring costs. Green Councillor Holly Bruce, who fiercely campaigned for the support fund, explained just what is at stake if the city were to lose such a space. “The campaign to save Trongate 103 isn’t just about a building,” she explained, adding: “It’s about the very soul of Glasgow.” The fund, however, is marked for city wide distribution, so it’s still unclear how much of the financial help will go to Trongate 103 directly. In short, this is not a long- term solution, meaning the future of the building and its residents remains uncertain.

Home to collectives who otherwise could not survive the crippling commercial rents that run riot in the city centre, Trongate 103 allows its tenants to value community, care and cultural significance above profits, principles seemingly insignificant to a commercial outfit like City Property.

Organisations such as Glasgow Print Studio and Street Level Photoworks for instance, function as major UK centres for contemporary art, which help cement the city’s international reputation, with recent exhibitions by artists including Ciara Phillips, Claire Barclay and Simon Phipps. Other

Words: Holly Allan

'Trongate 103 is not just bricks and mortar, but a community that nurtures confidence, connection and opportunity'

spaces, such as Transmission Gallery and Glasgow Project Room, have nurtured emerging and earlycareer artists through grassroots, artist-led programming, while charities GMAC and Project Ability provide essential community support and talent development. Project Ability, in particular, offers essential support for artists with learning disabilities and mental ill-health, with its gallery profiling both service users and internationally recognised artists, including 2025 Turner Prize winner Nnena Kalu. Together, Trongate 103’s organisations form a cultural network which promotes global exchange while supporting emerging local talent, and championing socially engaged practice.

Despite sharing the same building, the organisations are taking varied approaches to the new let agreement, reflecting the varying needs of the diverse communities they serve. With the needs of their artists paramount, Project Ability have reluctantly signed the new lease stating: “Our artists are at the heart of everything we do. With that in mind, and not without significant concern and reluctance, we have taken the decision to sign the new lease in order to ensure we can continue to provide a vital space for over 200 artists each week to create, connect and be supported.”

However, they also stated their future remains uncertain, with “serious concerns about the sustainability of operating under these new terms.”

Others are protesting the new conditions, leaving the building entirely. Choosing to move their premises to The Pyramid at Anderston, GMAC reflected on their time in the building as being “fraught with behind-the-scenes problems, emanating from Glasgow City Council’s decision (16 years ago) to move Trongate 103 into a commercial property portfolio.” It is this tension that is at the heart of the issue; creativity and commerce don’t mix well.

Gary, an artist who attends Project Ability’s Aspire programme, spoke on the importance of Trongate 103 for artists like himself: “Some of us only have this place to go to and for people who depend on this space they would lose a lot of their confidence and lose friends. They’d lose out! In my lifetime I would never have thought that I would

have had work in an exhibition until I came here. I don’t want that to go.”

Gary’s experience shows the human impact that City Property overlooks: Trongate 103 is not just bricks and mortar, but a community that nurtures confidence, connection and opportunity.

Gary is just one of the 200+ artists and cultural workers who will be affected by the rent hike, which will disrupt the lives and livelihoods of the immediate artists, while also putting a major cultural dent in Glasgow’s footing as a respected international arts destination, something which will have a domino effect in years to come.

The situation at Trongate 103 is representative of the slow erosion of Glasgow’s rich cultural scene. It seems to have been in a downward spiral since the 2024/25 financial year – the Scottish Government could not confirm the release of £6.6 million for Creative Scotland, resulting in a temporary closure of the Open Fund for Individuals. It may be the case that the Culture and Creative Industry Property Support Fund suspends the situation at Trongate 103, rather than fully resolving it. The deep-rooted issue is that Glasgow’s cultural spaces are treated as commercial assets first, and community infrastructure second.

Following the demise of the CCA, alongside the slew of temporary closures affecting councilrun venues such as The Lighthouse, the People’s Palace and Queen’s Park Glasshouses, it is understandable that the people of Glasgow feel their communities and culture have been reduced to an afterthought.

When asked for a comment, GCC lauded that only one of the seven organisations has decided to move out of the premises claiming that “the building retains its original purpose of supporting cultural organisations.” Although true, it fails to consider the challenging circumstances these organisations are now navigating; higher rents, uncapped service charges and a council that doesn’t see the value in creating sustainable environments for the arts to thrive. The building may appear unchanged, but a culture of uncertainty festers beneath the surface. In this context, the relief fund feels like a mere band-aid over the city’s gaping wound.

The situation feels especially pertinent with Glasgow International looming. Scotland’s biennial festival of contemporary art is set to welcome artists and cultural workers from across the globe this June. This international cultural event is sure to put the Trongate 103 situation under the microscope, perhaps prompting the council to ask: what does it mean to welcome the world to a city whose cultural infrastructure is in crisis?

So what is the long term solution? City wide rent controls, publicly owned and protected spaces and a major shift in the perception of cultural value. Without these the relief fund is not preservation, it’s managed decline. This is why the

rallying cry around Trongate 103 could be heard so loudly; this isn’t an isolated incident, but a systemic issue.

Last month, as hundreds marched in solidarity with the studios and charities, many of the placards read ‘Everybody To Trongate 103’, an homage to the ‘Everybody To Kenmure Street’ protests of 2021. The now infamous incident saw hundreds of people flocking to Kenmure Street, blocking a van detaining two Sikh residents for

alleged immigration violations. After eight hours the men were released and the movement has since become legend in the city, demonstrating the power of community solidarity. Through invoking the spirit of past movements, the protestors signal an unwavering belief in the strength of collective action. It’s a powerful reminder of what we as a city can achieve when we stand together.  change.org/p/save-trongate103-from-closure

Play it Again, Psalm

Documentary Sailm nan Daoine brings audiences along on an intimate road trip exploring the emotional and cultural resonance of Gaelic psalm singing. Director Jack Archer and musician Rob MacNeacail tell us more

Gaelic psalm singing holds a special place among musical traditions. While rooted in Ossianic ballads and Presbyterian services, its influence is felt worldwide following lines of immigration. In the mostly Gaelic-language documentary Sailm nan Daoine (Psalms of the People), director Jack Archer and musician Rob MacNeacail focus on people’s shared experience of psalm singing, exploring threads of music, community and identity.

The project began with Archer filming MacNeacail’s psalm group and realising that the creativity and tradition of psalm singing offered a rich vein to mine. “I had someone interesting who was doing something interesting,” is how the filmmaker puts it. When Archer proposed the documentary to MacNeacail, the musician initially wanted a behind-the-scenes role, but as the project developed, it made sense for him to act as the guide through a world so important to his art and life – a role he enthusiastically embraced. “Gaelic psalm singing is a huge subject, and I liked that we weren’t trying to tell every aspect of it,” explains Archer. “If we made it about what Rob was doing, then it would be personal. Singing should be personal.”

“Psalms are such a precious part of Gaelic culture,” adds MacNeacail, “and Jack is very good at threading needles when it comes to rich but sensitive culture. If I had been making the film, it would have been a three-hour polemic standing next to my granny’s grave, going ‘And another thing!’ Jack brought out everything I wanted to say in much better taste.”

Sailm nan Daoine follows MacNeacail on a journey from Carlops in the Borders through the Inner (Kilmure, Skye) and Outer (Lewis) Hebrides before moving west and south to East Belfast and Cork as he encounters church groups, community choruses and prominent psalm singer Calum Martin. “The film came naturally,” says Archer of the resulting road movie doc. “There was not much that didn’t happen in front of the camera.”

MacNeacail jokes that he was often trying to make Archer laugh, but in a documentary covering sensitive and intersecting cultural, religious, and linguistic grounds, levity proved a valuable tool. Winning trust with the various communities they visited was achieved through enthusiasm, research, and not taking themselves too seriously. “You get people to open up by being yourself,” Archer says, “and Rob would struggle to be anyone but himself. People relate to that.

“Psalm singing is a precious religious tradition, and you don’t want to offend, but people who are not religious but brought up in that culture also find it precious, and there are sometimes difficult, unclear feelings, so you don’t want to stumble in. We had a lot of discussions about sensitivities, including with BBC Alba, so we had support in every aspect of the planning and the filming.”

MacNeacail notes the passion of the film’s subjects made them willing sharers: “Everyone is keen to get other people on board with psalmery, and you can tell when somebody treats something precious with respect.”

The pair say they find the living, embodied, communal action of psalm singing as important as

Words: Carmen Paddock

“The Gaelic psalms are like unpacking generational trauma through song”

Rob MacNeacail

its history. “Psalmery is participative,” Archer says. “What Rob is doing is not making history, it’s making the present and the future. I’m interested in how people remember it, what they do with it, and how that helps them see the world.”

MacNeacail stresses he is no history expert, but he shares his personal thesis: “The psalms are where I see the experiential aspect of the religious tradition, because Presbyterianism is very much based on reading the Bible and educating yourself. Whatever one might say against Calvin and Knox, they probably helped spread reading in Europe. But the psalms create bonds. I can imagine communities doing that in times of extreme hardship.”

The church is difficult ground for some, but psalmery can still be treasured whatever your level of belief. MacNeacail’s family mirrors this complicated relationship. He sees his practice as reconciling his dad’s and grandmother’s perspectives. “It’s terribly complicated and difficult to articulate,” he says, “but there’s something going on internally that is part of that history. The Gaelic psalms are like unpacking generational trauma through song.”

While records may introduce people to psalmery, live music-making cannot be replicated on Spotify. For Archer, hearing the music recorded with background noises – “the music of what happens” – had a special, immediate energy: “Even if you were to do the same psalm twice with the same group of people, it would be different.”

Psalmery offers MacNeacail an open, communal artistic tradition, he says, and presenting in Carlops alongside three other presenters was one of his favourite psalm singing moments. “We passed this music around and held the whole community. It felt so special,” he recalls. “One of the great crimes of modernity is believing that singing is the job of the artist and performer.”

In Gaelic psalmery, every group’s unique mix of experience, emotion, and talents gives the singing “a rich texture, so you want as broad a group as possible,” explains MacNeacail. He’s a talented singer who loves to perform, but he clearly gets a lot from bringing these songs to others. “I don’t get self-conscious when presenting in the way I do if performing,” he says, “because I have a role and a function to benefit people around me. On a personal level, that is lovely.”

Sailm nan Daoine is released 15 May by Hopscotch

Celebrate GFT’s birthday with

Strip It Back

Hours before doors open for their sold-out show at The Art School, we catch up with DOSS to talk all things Glasgow and dig into their new EP

Sat in the green room, Sorley, Brodie and Chilly from Glaswegian post-punk band DOSS are nestled deep in the heart of enemy territory. In three hours, they headline The Art School, coming back to the very heart of Glaswegian scenesterdom after touring internationally – America, France, Milton Keynes – over the past year.

The band have rejected the usual avenues to prominence in Glasgow, preferring to chart their own path. They’re famously not friendly with the promoter gang that decides who lives and dies in the city’s scene. With their sold-out Art School show, there’s a sense that DOSS are channelling a vital alternative, breaking free from the ‘Glasgow band’ label, and becoming something more than that.

“It’s been hard,” says Sorley. “Even the shite stuff is kinda fun though, but you realise you’re working for free all the time… rehearsals, travel time. Like it’s a struggle even just letting for like all our equipment, our vehicles are all shit. But there’s also something quite rewarding about it… We’re not like a massive, big band or anything, but in Glasgow at least we get a good crowd, I think because people connect with that, there’s a…”

“A sense of community, isn’t there?” says Chilly. Sorley nods. “Yeah, there’s a non-pretentiousness to it.” “Underdog,” agrees Brodie. Sorley

takes a sip from his can, “Yeah, totally… people are kind of rooting for you in that sense.

“It’s funny because like we still don’t have an entourage, or a clique of bands that we play with all the time. It feels like – and I’m not saying this in an egotistical way at all – it’s its own wee ‘hing. It’s purely just because of the fans and people that like the band.

“I talked to my pal and he was like, ‘You’re really good at marketing yourself’. I’m no’ marketing myself, it just is what it’s like, the fuckin five stooges tryna like suss out social media. Daein’ reels and aw this. I’m like, ‘how the fuck do I do this?’”

Chilly picks up: “It’s the same with art and everything, it’s all these wee scenesters, and it’s all these cool people...” “Aw, you didn’t come to my exhibition!” interjects Sorley in a Glasgow Uni accent. “Yeah,” finishes Chilly, “just stroking each other’s egos.”

Sorley looks down for a moment. “I just cannot fake it. When Chilly joined the band, he kind of hammered that in; he was like ‘we cannot become Local Legends.’” “Just another Glasgow band,” Chilly mutters. “Just stuck there, it’s like, fuck that.”

The new EP marks a shift in sound and place for the band, their riotous cacophony infused with a new, louche groove. It conjures a world after sunset, a mangled reflection of individualism,

Words: Alexander Ralston

“It’s definitely on life support right now, but I love Glasgow”

Sorley, DOSS

peopled by desperate men oozing out of snakeskin boots. “It’s like, you know in Blue Velvet, that opening scene where it goes under the grass… The white picket fence with this dark undercurrent,” says Sorley. It’s a dark-side-of-town cowboy Americana; a place devoid of romance, its paranoid, macho denizens hopelessly searching for illusions of control.

While their songwriting approach has expanded and evolved (“You cannae keep writing Posers,” declares Sorley), themes familiar to the DOSS obsessive remain: disaffection, power, malaise – and avenues for their alleviation. The EP’s estranged setting provides a cipher for problems much closer to home. DOSS’s relationship with Glasgow is complex, and part of their appeal lies in their ability to tap into and express the city’s latent fears and moods.

“The city is in mass decline… it feels like Glasgow City Council are just selling it out, and it feels like it’s definitely lost its edge. When you’ve got a bohemian city, that’s where good art gets made, that’s where good culture thrives. We used to be one of the best music cities in the world. But now, it’s just.. It’s kinda like watching a friend die a wee bit.” “A wee bit, aye,” adds Chilly. “Heartbroken.”

Sorley continues: “You have no control, and you feel so attached to it… I mean, I’d love to move away, but I’ll have moments, walking through the city. I always think it’s like walking through veins… like you’re walking through this living, breathing, entity. It’s definitely on life support right now, but I love Glasgow. Chilly fucking hates it.”

The EP’s closer, Howdy Partner, captures the weariness permeating a society caught in a spiralling rat-race. But it also offers a glint of hope, a world on the other side of morbid consumption. “It was meant to be a kind of deeper song,” says Sorley. “George Carlin says ‘trying to be happy by accumulating things is like trying to feed hunger by taping sandwiches to yourself’... It’s meant to be a cathartic release, going: none of this really matters. All that really matters is your relationships, the intimate things within your life, as opposed to material goods.”

“It’s like, love is more important than all this shit,” asserts Brodie. “Aye, just strip it back to what the core of life is about. What the main things are.”

doss e.p. is released on 29 May via Alcopop! Records

instagram.com/doss.c_nt

Play Time

Music Broth, We Make Music Instrument Libraries and GLOSS tell us about the role of music instrument libraries in overcoming barriers to music tuition, reducing waste and connecting communities

In 2017, a Glasgow musician wanted to find a way to share the musical instruments they’d inherited. In 2021, a librarian running a youth music workshop in Muirhouse, Edinburgh realised that music learners needed instruments they could take home. During lockdown, an electronic musician wanted somewhere to share his skills with budding musicians. These three problems arrived at a common solution: music instrument libraries.

When Jen O’Brien co-founded Music Broth in 2017, there were no other instrument libraries in the UK and very few in the world. The Glasgow social enterprise now has over 4000 donated instruments at their site in Finnieston. “We wanted it to be a social enterprise that wouldn’t be depending on funding and wouldn’t disappear,” O’Brien recalls. Membership has remained at £6 per month since the project began and members can borrow instruments for as long as their membership is active. But O’Brien emphasises, “We never ask anyone to contribute if they can’t afford it; the whole idea is getting things out to people.”

As well as the library itself, the charity hosts workshops and jam sessions for musicians of all ages and abilities. While many families find it an affordable way to allow kids to try out different instruments, projects such as their ‘build-a-band’ workshops are aimed at adults learning or relearning to play. And Music Broth has found ways to reach people beyond Glasgow too, with regular pop-ups everywhere from Linlithgow to Stornoway. Also aiming to reach people across Scotland, We Make Music Instrument Libraries is a campaign organised by Music Education Partnership Group and Tinderbox Collective that equips public libraries across Scotland with donated musical instruments that can be borrowed just as you would a book. Starting in Muirhouse Library in 2021, the project has already set up collections in almost 50 libraries and, last year, lent out around 1500 instruments. Through long-term loans and their educational programme, funded by the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative, they have provided countless children with instruments they might not otherwise have access to.

Hannah McCooke, the project’s Coordinator, explains that every community has its own needs and thus every instrument library is different, whether they offer punk workshops for teenagers or music exploration for babies. “It’s not a central person, especially like me, sitting in Edinburgh and deciding, ‘this is what Culloden needs.’ I don’t know what Culloden needs, but the librarian does.”

Both organisations have taken inspiration from other circular economy projects such as tool libraries, and repairing instruments is integral to their work. “The point is to try and take these old instruments that are often really good quality instruments because they’re older and spend that wee bit of time and money to get that instrument back into circulation and not in a landfill,” explains McCooke. “It’s probably a romantic thought of

Words: Zoë White

“It’s probably a romantic thought of mine, but I just think instruments want to be played”

Hannah McCooke, We Make Music Instrument Libraries

mine,” she adds, “but I just think instruments want to be played.”

Similarly, Music Broth aims to be zero-waste. “If we can’t make an instrument musical, we harvest it for parts to make another instrument musical. And even the carcasses that we’ve harvested, we try to make into something else,” says O’Brien. The library often repairs electrical music equipment too, she explains. “We’ve had stuff come into us ‘unrepairable’ and we’ve fixed it and it’s gone out and done 20 more gigs. And then we’ve repaired it again and it’s done 20 more!”

In the world of electronic music, accessing education and resources can be especially challenging. Lewis and Suzi Cook, best known as electronic pop duo Free Love, are co-founders of GLOSS (Glasgow Library of Synthesised Sound). “Although electronic music is new-ish, it still has developed its own conservatism within the tradition,” Lewis reflects, noting that, despite a lot of its innovators being women, it’s still a male-dominated field. “We try our best to place ourselves outside of that and stay true to the ideals of the

pioneers who were using electronic instruments as a way to subvert the norms.”

GLOSS started as a series of online educational workshops during the pandemic and has since moved into its own space in the Gorbals, offering bookable sessions for visitors to use their wide range of synthesisers and recording equipment. “The first thing we say to anyone coming through our doors is that everything in this room is here for you to play with,” says Lewis.

He sees the project as a reaction to the rise of AI music software, which, he argues, takes a view of creativity as an “obstacle” rather than a practice with value in and of itself. Central to the project is the opportunity for experimentation and collaboration. “It comes back to music being a social thing,” he says. “Getting a chance to make your own music and present it to people, it’s sort of fertilising the soil that allows things to grow bigger.”

Since Music Broth began as a tiny Glasgow project, music instrument libraries have helped reimagine the role of community spaces. McCooke sees the potential of libraries as social hubs, where ideas are shared as much as things: “People getting tools, sewing machines, instruments, having a cup of tea and connecting with the people around them and getting educational opportunities… it’s all connected. It’s all building something that creates a connected community where people rely on each other.”

Find out more about Music Broth at musicbroth.org, GLOSS at gloss.scot and We Make Music Instrument Libraries at wemakemusicscotland.org/instrument-libraries

Drawing Strength

Glasgow illustrator and artist Lorna Miller has spent decades moving between comics, political cartooning and design work. We discuss the reinvention and resilience that come with the cycles of creative careers

“Iview being an artist as a state of being, not a job title,” Lorna Miller tells me, while we chat in Glasgow’s West End. There’s still the last chilly breath of winter in the air, but it’s one of the first bright days of the year, and the spring bulbs are starting to appear, bright daffodils lining the embankments of parks and roads.

For a number of years, Miller designed the May Day posters for Glasgow Trades Council, seen dotted around the city promoting the marches, rallies and events of each year’s programme. Before and after this work, she’s been on a series of journeys, cycling through periods of growth and rest throughout her colourful career.

Having graduated from GSA in 1994, Miller moved down to Brighton, where she took on work as a comic colourist. This role sat as part of the traditional production chain in comics at the time, before software like Photoshop became standard, adding colour to pages after they had been pencilled and inked.

While beginning in watercolour, a medium Miller was comfortable with, the company quickly moved to digital colouring. She pulled a classic fake-it-till-you-make-it after telling the company she can definitely do digital colouring, then immediately going to a friend, ”I’ve just taken this job – you need to show me how to do it.”

During this time, Miller had great success with her self-directed project Witch, a satirical graphic novel: “It was basically a spoof of girls’ and boys’ annuals that I’d grown up with,” she explains. “There was always a theme of gender issues in my work... it was ripe for satire.”

The success of Witch brought “a whole load of work” her way for the next 15 years, until a move to Hastings focused her practice on more political matters.

“There was a road being built in Hastings that was just a carry on. It was like the Tories were just grabbing the land. It was through an SSI site. It was actually a nature reserve.”

The feeling of frustration Miller experienced, combined with the community found in collective action, galvanised her to use her practice to share political messages. Somebody from a campaign group she was in shared one of her cartoons with Private Eye, which she discovered on a warm day in June.

“I remember, it was my birthday – I was watching Wimbledon with my ice cream, and I got this call going ‘Hi, this is Tim from Private Eye.’ And

Words: Phoebe Willison

I really shit myself. I just was like, ‘Oh my God.’ And he says, ‘Yeah, we’ve got your cartoon here. We’d like to run it.’ And I just thought, ‘No way.’”

This publication led to a monthly cartoon slot, which was the first time the magazine had created a recurring cartoon position specifically for someone. It was also a major breakthrough to have such a position made for a female political cartoonist in a very male-dominated field.

Alongside this, Miller worked for The Morning Star, “the only newspaper that was open to regularly publishing women political cartoonists.”

While this reads like a shimmering career, slipping with ease from job to job, this hasn’t always been the case: “I’ve been through so many periods of debilitation and recovery and had to resurrect myself so many times.” For example, working for The Guardian, which had been a life-time goal, came after years of persistent pitching and was largely ad hoc, covering rota

“I view being an artist as a state of being, not a job title”

Lorna Miller

gaps when regular cartoonists were unavailable. While it provided her with the best-paid editorial work she had done, she describes the pace as intense and unsustainable, and her time there ultimately remained short-lived and contingent on changing editorial structures. “I had to have three ideas by ten in the morning, finished artwork by four pm, and a nervous breakdown by four-thirty,” she laughs.

She received an autism diagnosis at age 51. While this has brought challenges, being a neurodivergent person has also brought some answers, and on reflection perhaps helped her into jobs and positions she might not have been brave enough to ask for: “It kind of just didn’t occur to me that I would be prevented from doing anything.” However, Miller also suffers from chronic illness, and recently lost her flat to a tragic fire, meaning she is currently living in temporary accommodation.

This recent period of her career has been challenging; “I hadn’t been able to work in the past six months since the fire due to health issues and CPTSD.” However, Miller refuses to give up. “Everything that’s happened with the fire and losing everything has somehow kind of reset me and cleared a lot of kind of crap out of my brain.” This renewed burst of energy has led to a new piece of work for the Springburn Winter Gardens campaign, with profits going to the restoration efforts of the building.

Just like the flowers of spring, Miller returns every year “I’ve had to learn new skills, reinvent myself and diversify throughout my career just to keep on being an artist.” And despite the difficulties, she maintains a positive outlook on her practice, and is grateful for it. “Creative expression is such a wonderful gift... it’s so important to have that in the world.”

Find Miller @mistressofline on Instagram, where you can find links to her Ko-fi page and shop to support the Springburn Winter Gardens campaign

Dancing to Remember

Letting inhibitions loose in adolescence, navigating the inescapability of politics, and founding a club night rooted in female friendship: this month’s writer shares a personal history of dancing

As a 15-year-old girl growing up in India, I remember an afternoon when some well-meaning, overworked teacher gave me control over the music that was being played on the speakers inside the assembly hall. Ten seconds later, Kurt Cobain was singing about his libido, and I was whipping my limbs around and thrashing my way through this improvised dancefloor which had, until that point, heard only the dulcet tones of Hindustani music and hymns. Was I dancing? I hesitate to call it that. It was more like a feral fog had descended over me, and the awkward, hyper-scrutinised teenage-ness of my body felt suddenly and inescapably mine. I wanted to do something with all this self-possession before they took it from me again.

At 21, I moved to Leith. Whatever society had tried to take from me had clung on inside the hidden folds of my soul, smuggled out of the country by the virtue of excellent grades and overplayed ambition. I go back to that assembly hall in my dreams a lot. For all our ‘freedom’ in the ‘West’, can you dance like that here, without a stimulant in sight, with wild abandon, fuelled entirely by desire and fear?

Polite Indian society frowned at me for my ‘spoiled’ behaviour, yes. But western society does something worse – it studies me.

At 25, my ragtag wonderful army of found family threw me a birthday party in the basement of the student co-op. There were two cakes, both homemade. Deck fever had regrettably not caught on to us yet, but the beginnings of it were there – in the music being queued, the rhythms being matched, the cultures being blended into this Frankenstein cohesion. What a day to be alive, I remember thinking. I didn’t know everyone in the room. I loved that about this party. Strangers wished me a happy birthday, and I faced them in a

circle that had formed organically. All of us facing each other, all of us suddenly slammed back into bodies that we are alienated from in this post-modern nightmare – surveilled and shrunk. There is a truth, I thought, and it is my body.

I looked at Nara and Hajar (who would later become DJ Shahrazadi, our beloved residents) and said, let’s do this all the time. And that was how it was born – the skeletal architecture of Brown Gals Dance Club. Brown. Gals. Dance. Club. In the end, we have been true to none of these four words and therein lies the magic of it.

Words: Himani Tripathi

‘The beginnings of it were there – in the music being queued, the rhythms being matched, the cultures being blended into this Frankenstein cohesion’

Putting together four events has been work, but what wonderful work! Like the work of living, I would never think to outsource it. Azia and I had planned the first one, and that is how we met Lana, who completed our trio and fuelled us. Lana, who recalls dancing to Nancy Ajram in her living room growing up. Lana, who grew up with the Lebanese spirit of dancing the night away. Azia, being the cross-disciplinary genius that she is, is an exceptionally gifted photographer. We had a photoshoot, dressed up in outfits and jewellery that made us feel like ourselves, a visual representation of our odd, very individual identities, that are nonetheless inseparable from our cultures.

I am the daughter of a land that does not know what to do with me. There is tragedy in this, as there is opportunity.

Bogomir Doringer’s work on dance as a potentially political thing explains it better than I can. Doringer

explains “dances of collective crises” simultaneously as escape, politics, reclamation and response. We cannot dance political tragedy away, and I am not naïve enough to believe that dancing is itself an inherently political act. Yet, I also know that it is a form to release what burdens us. It becomes an urgent and frenzied thing. By the end of it, you feel like you have almost touched a terrifying divinity. That first club night, I learnt in a room full of people who are all carrying the tragedies of our lands – ravaged by colonialism, violence, neoimperialism and capitalism. I learnt that your culture does not need to be carried like a secret, or an apology, or a shield. In this room, with this music, you can carry it like grace. You can balance it on the rhythmic slither of a partner’s waist. You can hear it in the tinkering laugh of someone laughing at a joke which is in a language you do not understand. I learnt that joy need not always be understood to be shared.

We aren’t champions or representatives of our cultures, and we haven’t ever claimed to be. We are three brown girls, who have cooked a dream, sweetened it with friendship and we would like to invite you to a feast.

War Stories

We speak to Syrian journalist Samar Yazbek about her latest book, a collection of testimonials from Gazans living under genocide

In her latest work, Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices From Gaza, Syrian journalist Samar Yazbek collects the testimonies of 26 Gazans who describe their accounts of genocide. The title comes directly from the evacuation leaflets dropped over Gaza, by the Israeli army, telling everyone to leave or die.

Yazbek has repeatedly collected testimonies of war and revolution, but not like this. Today, she says, “the killers are robots and the victims are human beings.” The infiltration of new technologies into Israel’s war machine has severely shifted what was already a dire situation: “An Israeli can simply press a button while sitting in his elegant office to kill hundreds of Palestinians or destroy an entire tower in Gaza,” she explains. Your Presence Is a Danger To Your Life is an attempt to counter this dehumanisation, foregrounding the human cost of this faceless massacre.

Yazbek describes this book as her “first, most difficult, interaction with the massacre,” despite her long-time support of the Palestinian cause. She met the survivors as they received medical treatment in Doha. Limbless but indeed not hopeless, their resilience, their “indomitable will” to live and resist loss, their sumud, struck Samar with awe. “They stood up to death, and despite the horrors, they still have hope for the continuation of their lives, and many of them want to return to Gaza,” she says. Even so, these individuals have borne the brunt of evil at its most despicable, and continue to live in relocation and physical, mental, and medical reconstruction. But they should not have to.

What is survival when a genocidal project continues to operate? How do we confront and address the facilitators of hell on earth? How do we begin to approach those whose rage and grief is inconceivable and beyond measure, even when we have those emotions so deeply within us?

As a child of war and exile, Yazbek struggles with the word ‘survivor.’ When forced into exile because your home has become a deadly habitat of unlivable conditions, is it survival? “Their homes were destroyed,” Yazbek says. “Their families were killed, and parts of their bodies disappeared… Those who survive find their lives transformed, becoming another reflection of the death of those around them. The war lives within them, and they

“They stood up to death, and despite the horrors, they still have hope for the continuation of their lives” Samar Yazbek

carry it with them until their last breath, until death. Some have lost the right to walk, some the right to see, some the right to speak.” But Yazbek strives to render a space wherein these individuals do have “the right to speak, to see, and to talk about the suffering of others,” and the testimonies do so in aching and poignant ways.

In two particular testimonies, the individuals repeat that same line: “We [are] living between life and death.” Each experience is distinctly indescribable and unique, yet horribly shared by Gazans on a collective level. Whether evacuated or trapped within the confines of mass concentration camps, Gazans feel no more alive than those martyred. If to “survive” is to live in this limbo of trauma and grief that penetrates the testimonies, then maybe “those who die in war are the true survivors,” Samar says.

Words:

Maria Farsoon

Yazbek’s own first-hand experience of war and oppression adds a complex combination of grief and difficult nostalgia to the book, which made it challenging to approach. The most memorable interaction in the process of making this book, she explains, was “Abdullah’s testimony, who was 13 years old when I met him.” After they met, she found she “couldn’t sleep all night.” Left with facial disfiguration, and the traumatic memory of witnessing his mother burn before his eyes, he nevertheless “survived,” or at least lived to tell the story and make such an impression that “he’s the only one I allowed myself to take a picture with, and I kept it.”

It is common, she adds, that children in Gaza often speak, behave, and feel like adults. Yazbek isn’t interested in romanticising them as children wise beyond their years; instead, she stresses,

they are traumatised witnesses of an impossible reality. “Abdullah said something terrible to me,” Yazbek says. “[He said]: ‘Do you think there are children in Gaza? There are no children in Gaza! We are born grown-ups!’” It is an idea Yazbek implicitly understands. Yazbek hopes that this book of testimonials “will be a cry against the brutal barbarity that the Palestinians are enduring,” pulling together people across age, gender, and geography to present a complete as possible picture of the ongoing genocide. Together, the testimonies speak to a constant flux between life and death. The ongoing wounding and scarring of those who have endured death twice over is inexplicable; their voices and traumas bleed and burn through its pages, and yet, they constantly emphasise that they cannot even narrate the entire story. Even beyond the unbearable smells of death, the phosphorous killings, and lost lineages, there is that dark and unspeakable rest of the story.

Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices From Gaza is out with Fitzcarraldo Editions on 21 May

Lost Generation

Spanish director Carla Simón is once again mining her own painful upbringing with Romería. She discusses recreating memories, embracing magic realism, and explains why now is the perfect time to look back at her parents’ radical generation

“If you need to heal something, you’d better go to a psychologist because it’s cheaper than making a film,” Carla Simón says with a laugh, after I ask if she views making a work of autofiction as a way of healing. Three features into her career, the Spanish writer-director has established herself as one of modern cinema’s most gifted storytellers when it comes to textured tales of childhood. Each centres on non-professional performers, takes place in warm, scenic backdrops evoking a fully inhabited sense of place, and features young main characters grappling with life-changing developments they can’t yet fully comprehend. These stories are fictionalised rather than fully autobiographical, but they are inspired by Simón’s own life.

Her debut feature Summer 1993 (2017) follows a six-year-old girl moving to the Catalan countryside with her aunt and uncle, after the

“I have cinema to create the memories I’m lacking”

Carla Simón

death of her mother; when Simón was six, her own mother died from an AIDS-related illness, as did her father. Simón’s Golden Bear-winning agricultural drama Alcarràs (2022), meanwhile, is set in a rural village in Catalonia, the same place where the family she grew up with has maintained a peach farm across multiple generations.

Her new feature, Romería, is set in 2004, when Simón would have turned 18, the same age as the film’s orphan protagonist. It’s perhaps her most (semi-)autobiographical work to date, though with some key embellishments. For one thing, it concerns a wealthier class of estranged, extended family members than is apparently true of her own situation. But most importantly, the film’s second half takes Simón away from her now well-established naturalistic style and into the fantastical, whereby the director’s onscreen avatar, Marina (engaging newcomer Llúcia Garcia), has an encounter with her long-deceased parents. We won’t delve into specifics, but the results are properly spellbinding.

“When I [determined] that I really wanted to talk about memory, that’s when this idea came,” Simón says of the film’s bold, magical realist move. “I spent all my promotion of Summer 1993 saying that you cannot [re]create your own memories if you

Words: Josh Slater-Williams

don’t have them. But at some point, I realised that you cannot trust the other family members’ memories and that memory works in a very interesting way. You don’t remember what really happened; you remember the last time you remember what happened. So, it keeps changing in your mind. And I thought, look, if my parents were alive, maybe they would tell me their story and I wouldn’t know if it was exactly like that. So, I came to the conclusion that I have cinema to create the memories I’m lacking. [Marina’s] way of getting liberated from this frustration of not being able to reconstruct [her parents’] story is that it can be through fantasy.”

One such fantastical flourish includes a tender nude embrace between characters as they lie draped in seaweed. Simón, art director Mónica Bernuy and cinematographer Hélène Louvart (La Chimera) drew inspiration from a photo of Galician artist Maruja Mallo, in which she’s similarly almost entirely covered in kelp, albeit not while passionately kissing someone. “When we were thinking about a love scene between the parents,” Simón says, “this idea came because my dad loved the sea and my mom has lots of references to this landscape in her letters that I [used] for the film.”

In Romería, Marina visits the Galician city of Vigo, meeting aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents for the first time, hoping to learn more about her biological father. She also needs a legal document written up confirming that she is his daughter in order for her to obtain a scholarship to study film. Marina has letters that her mother wrote about her parents’ free-spirited ways before they had her, but this administrative adventure flags up inconsistencies with what she thought she knew about them – alongside buried secrets about how Marina’s father’s family treated him when he contracted AIDS.

“They embraced freedom,” Simón says of her parents’ “really important” generation. “They broke with all the old values, conservatism and Catholicism of Spanish society in ‘75. What they did, bringing more progressive ideas, is very [relevant] to where we are now, especially with the threat of the rising right wing. They took drugs as an experiment and didn’t know anything about heroin or AIDS until later. They were really unlucky. There are words like ‘shame’, ‘punishment’ and ‘blame’ that put them in a situation as though they chose their [fates]. But they didn’t choose.

“In Spain, we had what was called the heroin crisis, and then the highest rate of AIDS in Europe. Heroin and AIDS are related to so much taboo and stigma, and it was very painful for most families to accept the losses because of that. There were some films made at the time about this, but then we kind of stopped talking about it. Now, I feel that enough time has passed for us to recover [that lost generation], somehow.”

Romería is released 8 May by Curzon

Food For Thought

We catch up with chef Peter McKenna to talk through his newly-revamped Finnieston restaurant, and his role in curating a group of Glasgow’s best chefs for Queen’s Park Food Festival

Peter McKenna closed the doors at his trailblazing Finnieston restaurant The Gannet last year, after a 12-year run showered with more accolades and acclaim than you can shake a fancy fork at. Its replacement – Eleven Fifty Five – takes some of the fine dining elements from The Gannet and transplants them into a more laidback mode that feels more suited to the moment.

It certainly feels more suited to McKenna's current moment. “People were talking about us as an institution,” he tells us, “which I find kind of difficult if I’m honest, but I suppose that’s a middle-aged thing. But yeah, around that time, I was kind of… recalibrating.

“Personally, me and my wife weren’t gravitating towards fine dining restaurants all that often. There were a few exceptions, of course, but generally it wasn’t really what we were doing. We’ve got a young daughter and we were looking to go to places that were more accommodating, I suppose, and the food that I wanted to cook was starting to change.

“I didn’t like the fact that, you know, being a fine dining restaurant, people only wanted or only were able to dine with you maybe twice a year or three times a year… I always thought it was a beautiful space. I wanted it to be used more.”

By all accounts, it’s been a roaring success, with the team all fully on board and good reviews starting to fly in. For McKenna, it’s been an opportunity to revamp a space he clearly loves, and a way to keep himself on his toes. “Most people are changing jobs maybe every five or six years,” he says. “I pretty much kept doing the same job, going to the same place for 13 years. Sometimes you need to do something different and you need to challenge yourself in a different manner as well.”

Another new challenge for McKenna is his latest gig hosting the Cookery Theatre at the new Queen’s Park Food Festival in Glasgow’s southside next month. “It was out of the blue that the Queen’s Park people approached me to do this,” he tells us, “and I must say I was taken aback and a bit like, ‘Why are you asking me to do it?’

“But then I thought about it and I thought, why not? It’s something a bit different; it gets me out of the kitchen, but you know, it gives me the opportunity to hang out with some of my friends and to see what they’re doing as well. Maybe I’ll pick up something too.”

McKenna has drafted in a crew of some of the city’s best chefs to share a few tricks. But much like the Gannet-to-Eleven Fifty Five switch, McKenna is keen to balance flair with accessibility. “You’ve got to know your audience,” he says. “There’s no point going in there and doing an elaborate dish that you can only do in a professional kitchen. When I was thinking about who to get to come and to do demos, that was very much in my consideration. I wanted a really good blend of what’s happening in and around the city with things that are more accessible and definitely some things that could be recreated at home.”

Words: Peter Simpson

“Sometimes you need to do something different and you need to challenge yourself in a different manner”

Peter McKenna

The cookery demo lineup is certainly full of chefs whose food we’d like to be able to recreate in our kitchens. On the Queen’s Park bill are Graham Cheevers from the Michelin-starred Unalome in Finnieston, Stephen Crawford from Kelvingrove Cafe, and Finn Steele-Perkins from the excellent Corner Shop bar and restaurant on Old Dumbarton Road. There’s also Ajay Kumar from Swadish, the Indian fine dining restaurant in Merchant City, and Great British Menu and MasterChef: The Professionals alumnus Rohan Wadke amongst others.

One name that stands out on the demo list is Sonya Walos, the food stylist and photographer behind The Scotland Edit on Instagram and TikTok. McKenna is excited to put Walos’ work “front and centre” and offer some tips on how to get your at-home plating up to speed in recognition of the fact that, in these trying times, we really do eat with our eyes.

“People aren’t going to do it [every day] when they’re coming back from work,” McKenna says, “but you know, Saturday night, if they don’t want to go out to a restaurant, but they want to do something a little bit special at home, they can put that little bit of extra time into it.” Sometimes in life, it’s about taking a pause and having a think – that’s true if you’re running a hugely-regarded restaurant, and it’s also true when you’re putting your dinner on the plate this evening.

Peter McKenna hosts the Cookery Theatre at the Queen’s Park Food Festival, 6-7 Jun

queensparkfoodfestival.com

Eleven Fifty Five, 1155 Argyle St, Finnieston, Glasgow; open Tue from 5pm, Wed-Sat 12-2.30pm and from 5pm bistroelevenfiftyfive.com

Lived Experience

Pop maverick Lauren Auder talks influences, AI and rejecting introspection ahead of a set at Edinburgh’s Hidden Door Festival

“N

ot to be too polemic, but I find it quite amusing that a lot of experimental music these days is actually extremely predictable,” says Lauren Auder.

Predictable is perhaps the last adjective you’d use to describe Lauren Auder, a pop maverick signed to the same label as deathcrash, Jerskin Fendrix, and Famous, who routinely blurs genre lines in the process of conjuring up a sonic world all her own. Her first album, 2023’s The Infinite Spine, was an electronic pop odyssey that distilled the musical wanderings of the EPs that preceded

“As an artist, it’s important for me to put across the things that I love and care about”

Lauren Auder

it into something stately, atmospheric, but ultimately catchy, with as many killer hooks and massive choruses as it had eccentricities. Now, with Whole World As Vigil, she’s produced something else entirely; this is what she considers her rock record, one that was born out of collaboration, a rejection of introspection, and keeping an open mind from start to finish.

“I do think ‘experimental’ is a fair tag for this album,” Auder says over Zoom, a couple of weeks after the record’s release. “I mean, I threw a lot of ideas at the wall to see what stuck. That can literally just look like me messing around with one little thing for hours on end; I spent so long on the outro to pier, just trying to make something feel fat and distorted and sort of… sunburnt. Even the less obvious songs in that respect felt experimental to me; no outline is about a breakup, so it’s as classic as songwriting gets, but I was still approaching it from a viewpoint of, ‘What can I do with this format? Can I fit myself within it?’”

Whole World As Vigil is a wildly ambitious ride, but such is the thought and care that goes into

Words: Joe Goggins

Auder’s crafting of the songs, it never feels likely to veer off the rails. The album works as a cohesive statement, even when it’s doing things as diffuse as employing a dozen-strong backing choir made up of her contemporaries, referencing Rainer Maria Rilke and sampling Ghostface Killah – all in the same song. “As an artist, it’s important for me to put across the things that I love and care about,” she explains. The blend of Rilke and Ghostface was inspired by her feeling that the lines by the former that she quotes and the latter that she samples ultimately express the same sentiment.

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot, because of the rise of AI in music," say Auder. “People need to realise that it’s going to be able to make music that sounds like it could’ve been made by a human, but what you can’t replace are the really singular things about a specific musician that obviously reflect their lived experience and taste. That’s why I want to bring as many unique reference points to my own music as possible. I love that idea; like a branching family tree of the things I love, represented in my music.”

Ironically, a major part of making Whole World As Vigil in her own image involved a conscious move away from the introspection that The Infinite Spine was scored through with. Aware of how easily self-examination can lead to unhelpful wallowing, Auder instead sought to make a more outward-facing album this time around. “I knew that I wanted to go that way immediately. I looked at The Infinite Spine and thought, OK, I’ve formed this persona within my own music, so surely the interesting thing to do is figure out how that now interacts with the outside world. It felt like the right move, because I was in a place where I felt more a part of the world than I’d ever been; much less in my own head than I ever had been before; marrow was the first song I wrote, and I think you can tell I was looking to give more of myself to the big wide world.”

The album is also, as Auder contends, a rock record at its core; the motivation for that diversion was in part to make the songs easily translatable to the live arena, with a slot at Edinburgh’s Hidden Door Festival in the diary for June and further headline dates to come in the autumn. “I’ll be playing the album in full, from front to back,” she says. “I put the tracks in that order for a reason. I want these gigs to feel like rock shows. I love performing, and I feel like I didn’t get to do enough of it on the last record, because it was a difficult one to make work live. This time, I wanted to get out there and play and have people sing along; I’m very much hoping that wish comes true.”

Whole World As Vigil is out now via untitled (recs); Lauren Auder plays Hidden Door Festival, Edinburgh, 7 Jun; Hidden Door runs from 3 Jun

instagram.com/laurenauder

Living Archive

As she gears up to release her fifth solo album, I Think That I Might Love You, we talk the past, present and future with Carla J. Easton

Carla J. Easton has a lot going on. She is babysitting guinea pigs – Pancake and Waffle – and they can be a handful. There’s also the small matter of her fifth studio album, a PhD, an upcoming UK tour, and the continuing reverberations from her groundbreaking documentary about Scottish girl groups, Since Yesterday

The new album, I Think That I Might Love You, sees Easton swap keyboards for guitars. It’s also perhaps her most personal work to date, with its roots in a spontaneous trip Stateside, as Easton explains. “In 2023 I went to Nashville – what my pals called a ‘fuck it flight’ – don’t worry about the cost, just go. And I hung out with Kim Richey, a songwriter I’d met five years earlier, going to Third Man Records and The Bluebird Cafe. So, we’d get up in the morning, make a pot of coffee, pick up a guitar, and you start writing, and all of a sudden I’ve got 48 demos. All of this stuff that had just been bubbling under the surface.

“When I picked up the guitar, it was almost like falling in love with songwriting all over again. And it was almost an accidental album. I was so busy doing the documentary, and focused on platforming other people’s stories, that I kind of forgot about my own creativity.”

There’s a mythology about the guitar as a kind of armour for performers, a wall that can shield them from the audience. Yet on this record, the opposite seems to have happened. “When you don’t know the rules, you don’t care about breaking the rules,” Easton says. “I only knew a handful of chords on the guitar. But if you know three chords you can write a song. There’s an innocence in a lot of the songs because I don’t know as much as I would with the keyboards. I couldn’t dress it up. I couldn’t make it sound cleverer than it was. And of course, all the bands in Since Yesterday –they were learning as they went along.”

The new album was recorded at the legendary Chem19 studios in Glasgow, under the watchful eye of Grammy Award-winning engineer Howard Bilerman. “We set up camp there for a week, and we’d do three or four takes and that was it. It was an old school approach to recording a record. You were never sure if you were going to end up with something or just have a week-long whitey in the studio! The record has really ended

“You were never sure if you were going to end up with something or just have a week-long whitey in the studio”

Carla J. Easton

Words: Andrew Williams

up as a diary entry. It sounds exactly how it sounded at that moment: the musicians, in that environment, with those songs.”

Throughout her career, from early forays with Futuristic Retro Champions and TeenCanteen, her solo work to her band Poster Paints, and her involvement with the Hen Hoose collective, Easton has moved from being influenced by older generations, to finding herself cited as an inspiration by up-and-coming acts. And it feels like there’s a new generation of artists coming through in Scotland at the moment. Perhaps not quite developed enough to be called a ‘scene’ yet, but there is definitely something there.

Easton agrees: “If you take the likes of The Cords, Radhika, Supersun, Fatale and Angel Face, it does feel like something is happening. And it reminds me of when I started Futuristic Retro Champions. We weren’t waiting for an invitation; we made our own scene. Our first ever gig was in my flat! Why would you wait? I like being independent, and I like not having to stick to one formula.”

It’s an attitude to life that has seen Easton moving from recording studio to the halls of academia as she works on her PhD. “There was so much that was uncovered as part of making Since

Yesterday, 40 hours of material. So, there’s a lot of history there. There has to be a way of preserving this for future generations of artists and musicians, which is what the PhD is all about. So, it’s an archive, but it’s a living archive. It’s not so much about the past; I’ve done that with Since Yesterday. But what about the future?”

Back in the present, it’s time to focus on the new album. “I’m really excited because it’s my first UK tour since 2019. But it’s balancing the tour, the PhD, the costs… this is 20 years of me making music! So, it feels quite significant. And a lot of people have said they think this is my best album yet. And that’s interesting, because I’m thinking about the living archive idea, and maybe pulling out some of my own shoeboxes of old lyrics and setlists. And nothing is in isolation, everything leads up to a point. And you don’t know what happens next, right? So, you just have to enjoy it.”

I Think That I Might Love You is released on 8 May via Ernest Jennings Recording Co. and Fika Recordings; Carla J. Easton plays The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 29 May; Beat Generator Live!, Dundee, 2 Oct; Indie Pop All-Dayer, Edinburgh, 3 Oct

carlajennifereaston.com

CONCERTS FOR A SUMMER’S NIGHT

Vibrant strings, dancing rhythms, radiant venues.

16–20

JUNE 2026

Strathpeffer Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow

Step into the glow of Concerts for a Summer’s Night – a celebration of light, rhythm and connection from Scottish Ensemble. From the shimmering beauty of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Max Bruch to the bold voices of Isobel Waller-Bridge, Bryce Dessner and Oliver Leith, this vibrant programme moves effortlessly between centuries and continents.

Strings pulse, melodies sing, and every note shimmers with the warmth of summer in light- lled venues across Scotland.

Join Scottish Ensemble for an evening of radiant sound and playful contrasts with music to stir the senses and lift the spirit.

Tuesday 16 June: 8:00pm Strathpeffer, Strathpeffer Pavilion Free shuttle bus from Inverness available to book when purchasing your tickets.

Wednesday 17 June: 8:00pm Aberdeen, Aberdeen Art Gallery

Thursday 18 June: 8:00pm Dundee, V&A Dundee

Friday 19 June: 8:00pm Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland

Saturday 20 June: 8:00 pm Glasgow, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Tickets from: £25 / £13

Concessions available for those in receipt of disability or unemployment bene ts, students and under 30’s. Free Tickets for under 16’s (accompanied by an adult) and carer / companions.

Book tickets online at scottishensemble.co.uk or scan the QR code below.

Figaro, Reheard

Scottish Opera’s Susannah Wapshott on accessibility, Mozart’s nearperfect score and why The Marriage of Figaro still resonates now

Few things compare to the escapism of opera. An art form that transcends time, its combination of music, storytelling and theatre creates an all-consuming experience that remains urgent. We sit down with Susannah Wapshott, co-conductor and chorus director of Scottish Opera’s upcoming tour of The Marriage of Figaro, to chat about everything from accessibility and young people to standout moments in the score, and why this wedding is not one to miss.

Just a couple of weeks till the curtain opens on The Marriage of Figaro – how is it feeling? It’s really exciting, rehearsals are in full swing!

This year marks 16 years since Scottish Opera first performed Figaro and ten since its last revival. The world feels very different now. What aspects of the show feel important to share with audiences today?

I’m glad you ask that, because you’re right – it is a different world. We’ve been having discussions in rehearsals about the themes of the show, particularly around misogyny, and how you can’t just brush that under the carpet. It’s been important to acknowledge that, especially given how many women we have in the room. Our associate director has made a real point of checking in with everyone and making sure people feel okay. Having become so used to the material, I hadn’t really thought about it, but performing it in English and approaching it afresh has made those elements much more apparent.

I’m really glad that space has been made for that. Absolutely. We’ve come a long way – we wouldn’t have had those conversations ten years ago.

And performing in English feels like part of that shift too. It really speaks to Scottish Opera’s commitment to accessibility – especially with a comedy like Figaro, where the humour can land more directly.

It’s made such a difference. We’ve done it with a few productions now and it’s had nothing but a positive impact.

The last time the show was staged, you were chorus master and repetiteur. How does it feel to return now as conductor and chorus director?

It’s been great – I feel like I couldn’t know the score any better! This time we have three repetiteurs playing: Toby Hession, our staff repetiteur, alongside emerging artists Toby Stanford and Meghan Rhoades. I know exactly where they’re coming from, so I feel well placed not just as a conductor, but because I’ve done what they’re doing. It’s always nice returning to a piece you’ve worked on before.

When Figaro was last staged, it marked Scottish Opera’s first dementia-friendly performance. I

Words: Kirsty-Ann Thomson

understand those adapted performances are continuing this time?

Yes. It’s part of our Marriage of Figaro Access. It’s an abridged version of the production – which is quite tricky with Figaro – but we’ve created a condensed version of the plot with a longer break in the middle. We have our cover cast and understudies performing, me conducting, and this time we also have a narrator to help fill in the gaps. The idea is to make it easier to navigate, both in terms of the storytelling and the audience experience. The house lights stay up, people can move around as they need to, and it’s more relaxed – if you want to clap, you can. It keeps all the best bits of the show, but in a more informal setting.

It’s great to see that level of thought going into accessibility. Alongside that, there’s also the children’s chorus.

Yes. We started a chorus of 35 children and young people last August. They’re learning stagecraft and singing, but also creating their own show. They’re working with Daniel Barrett, one of our emerging artists, and director Iona Boyd. It’s been wonderful to see.

It’s so important that young people are being brought into opera. They’re our future audience. It’s such an amazing art form, and children should get to experience it.

For first-time viewers, what makes Figaro a good introduction to opera?

Where to begin! There are lots of well-known tunes people will recognise, and hopefully leave the theatre singing. It’s a comedy, the characters

are colourful, and at the end of the day it’s a good story. And the music is fantastic – Tom Allen has done a sensational job.

Do you have a favourite moment in the score?

The Act 2 Finale – it’s a joy. And the Sextet in Act 3. Having worked on it again, that’s become a favourite.

I imagine that might change as the run goes on. Definitely. There’s so much detail in the score. Every note has its place and needs to be played consciously – dynamics, phrasing, everything is deliberate. It’s almost perfect. Even the chorus parts, which are intentionally more straightforward, are still great music.

The characters balance comedy with emotional vulnerability, and for all the chaos, it’s a story about love and relationships. What do you hope audiences take away?

I hope audiences feel enriched in every sense. There’s the visual beauty of the set and costumes, the sound of the live orchestra, and the love story at the heart of it. If those three things come through, I’ll be happy.

As complicated as the plot can be, it seems to be about people finding their way back to each other. And no one dies!

Scottish Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro tours throughout May and June in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. Access performances are available in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with audio-assisted performances and touch tours available across all venues

Rise and Rise

Fatiha El-Ghorri will knock you out, if you don’t come to her debut tour Cockney Stacking Doll

“I’m not violent, I’ll speak to an old lady on the bus, but if you cuss me I WILL knock you out!”

The assertive, no nonsense approach isn’t a new one in comedy, harking back to the likes of Jo Brand or Kathy Burke, but unlike those comics, there’s a real chance Fatiha El-Ghorri means it.

That fierce confidence is palpable in everything the stand-up touches. “It had to be that way,” El-Ghorri admits. “I’d walk on stage with a hijab on in North East London. I knew people hated me before I opened my mouth.

“These aren’t places where the crowd wanted a visibly Muslim woman taking the mic, I had to own that shit from the off. Even other Muslims didn’t like me on stage, being dirty. You figure out that if you let shit slide, it escalates. I’d say to people, let me bang out this set, then meet me outside and I’ll bang you out.”

“I’d walk on stage with a hijab on in North East London. I knew people hated me before I opened my mouth”

Fatiha

El-Ghorri

In her own words, Fatiha El-Ghorri has many layers, much like the title of her debut tour, Cockney Stacking Doll. Be it capturing hearts on Taskmaster, scouting new talent as head judge of the 2025 BBC New Comedy Awards, acting on Mr Bigstuff, or penning her upcoming novel The Perks of My Hijab, Fatiha has made a phenomenal impact, all before her first tour.

The tour show sees El-Ghorri unpack some of these layers on stage, from Hackney roots, to her Islamic faith, these facets “form the skeleton“ of the inimitable performer.

The comic’s style is an interesting one. Fans of Taskmaster saw a sweetness to her which she assures us was purely incidental, contrasting drastically with her combative onstage persona.

In many ways, up until a spontaneous visit to a stand-up workshop, comedy wasn’t on the agenda. “I enjoyed Only Fools & Horses, French and Saunders are great, I just never properly watched any of it. I never thought I’d do it, so I never studied it. It took two divorces before I figured I’d give it a try!

“I got compliments pretty quickly in the early workshops. I never took compliments well, so it wasn’t that which hooked me, it was the community.” It was the buzz of the dressing room, the gossip between acts, the giddiness as someone

comes off stage detailing the crowd, who’s laughing and who can be picked on.

No matter where fame takes her, you get the sense that El-Ghorri will always be a club comic at heart; at her happiest when on the back foot, taking charge of a room. She sparkles when reminiscing about the early days, learning the ropes in Manchester when someone brought a dog to the comedy club, which she inevitably referred to as a hate crime. It’s evident just how besotted she is with being a comedian, warts and all.

But just when she was on her way to being a household name, El-Ghorri was dealt a real blow. Having undergone surgery for endometrial cancer in the past year, El-Ghorri admits to feeling lost and scattered, both personally and within her comedy.

It wasn’t until a conversation with fellow standup Richard Herring, with whom she initially shared her diagnosis, that she got the courage to open up. “It was Richard who encouraged me to talk about it, not necessarily on stage, but personally. I have such an issue with vulnerability, my entire act is tough and combative, so learning how to open up on stage has been a new challenge.

“It’s strange, I know the techniques to make it funny, I know how you make it work on stage,

none of that’s the issue. But saying those words, ‘I HAD CANCER’, or even ‘I WAS HOMELESS’, that’s the struggle, but it’s necessary.”

Whether she’s earnestly reflecting on her journey, or threatening to “punch out” everyone in Glasgow and Edinburgh for not selling out her shows, there’s many layers to El-Ghorri. The bravado on stage is a slither of her entirety, the nervous and excitable comic gearing up for her debut Fringe is another. But one constant throughout is her steadfast professionalism, her love for her job, and making people happy through comedy. “Ultimately, it’s about the audience, ensuring that everyone who walks in, walks out feeling better. Be funny, make them laugh, that’s what I intend to do, even if I have to knock someone out to do it!”

Fatiha El-Ghorri: Cockney Stacking Doll, The Stand, Glasgow, 27 May and The Stand, Edinburgh, 28 May, both 8pm, £16

Also at the Edinburgh Fringe, Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB4), 17-30 Aug, 3.35pm (60 mins), £13-15

@fatiha.elghorri on Instagram and Tiktok

May Highlights

10th Hindley Street Country Club

13th 100 Years Celebration of Laurel and Hardy - with Neil Brand

18th GoGo Penguin

28th An Evening with Hen Hoose Collective

29th I’m Grand Mam

30th SHHE

31st Macy Gray

June Highlights

3rd Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox - The Future Is Vintage

8th Ibrahim Maalouf

9th Mario Biondi - This Is What You Are (20th Anniversary)

17th & 18th Sleeping At Last - SOLD OUT

20th John McCusker Trio

25th Tim Kliphuis TrioRhapsody in Blue

28th Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy

Album of the Month

Lykke Li — The Afterparty

It’s swift, at just 24 minutes across nine songs, but The Afterparty is Lykke Li at her very, very best, which makes her recent claim at an LA listening party that it could be her last, devastating. It might only be May, but it’s already a serious contender for album of the year. For those of you who had a Brat Summer, The Afterparty comes next.

Lykke Li has thrown the kitchen sink at this album. It includes a 17-piece string section, what she calls “apocalyptic bongos” and more flute than old prog-rock outfit Jethro Tull. The first three songs are a sucker punch of hedonistic glee; opener Not Gon Cry grabs your toes and sets out what’s ahead – a heady mix of electro, soul and disco, it’s an instant rush with heart-exploding rhythms, an addictive cowbell and a flute that helps you soar as she sings: ‘I’m not gon cry, it’s the rain’.

Happy Now is Li’s version of an ABBA song. Harmony-drenched, she likens it to Dancing Queen, but it has the beat-driven fusion of The Weeknd or Bruno Mars as she compares destroyed love to a drug: ‘I’m still a fiend, it’s killing me / I’ll

chase the high anywhere’. Album standout Lucky Again follows, with its hand-wringing lyrics – ‘Baby hold on tight, til the bitter end’ – but outward disco joy.

It’s not all four to the floor. Future Fear is Li at her experimental best; warped vocals, reverb, bleeps and whirrs float into a soft acoustic ballad. So Happy I Could Die is another soft swirl, a long breath before Sick Of Love’s comedown as she howls, ‘All my tears are on this dancefloor’. But Lykke Li never leaves you sad. Penultimate track Knife In the Heart sees her getting stronger, taking control once again to a maxi-percussive beat.

Then there’s album closer, Euphoria, which she likens to the scene in Titanic, “where the boat is sinking and we all know they’re going to die, but the string quartet still plays one last song”. It’s a raw ending of vocals, guitar, cello and flute as she sings softly: ‘Baby I will take your sorrow on my shoulder’. Lykke Li describes The Afterparty as “an album dealing with your lower self: your need for revenge, your shame, despair” but the angst is done on the dancefloor. [Rick Fulton]

Hekt Forever Numbers, 1 May rrrrr

Listen to: Someday (feat. Valeria Litvakov), Baby, Big Things

If 2026 is the year of the yearn, then Hekt’s debut album on Glasgow label Numbers is the soundtrack to longing in the club. Forever flits from excitable hyperpop, to thumping club-fillers, to moments of polished 2010s EDM (with all the soaring emotions left intact). A carousel of artists from the Scandi school of cool-girl dreampop join, including Fine, Valeria Litvakov and both members of Smerz. On Someday, Litvakov breathily delivers the refrain ‘Someday you’re going to love me / Someday you’re going to hug me’, encapsulating the lovesick introspection at the album’s heart.

The 13 tracks build up and beat drop across a spectrum of electronic genre; from 303 squelches in the acid house-infused Beautiful, to the heady inclusion of growling dubstep in But I Can’t Really Show You. Despite the album’s numerous synth-heavy pop tracks, Forever still feels most fun when delivering something less expected; take Big Things with its choppy, two-step beat, layered with Hekt’s back catalogue of glitchy and shimmering sounds. Or Anytime Anywhere, which flips Smerz’s whisper of the word ‘eternity’ on the title track, distorting it to an androgynous, gremlin-like extreme, complemented with a tinkling metallic melody and a bassline crushed into oblivion. [Myrtle Boot]

J Easton

I Think That I Might Love You Ernest Jennings Recording Co. and Fika Recordings, 8 May rrrrr

Listen to: Let’s Make Plans For The Weekend, Moth To A Flame, If You Found A Thread

Carla J. Easton’s latest album plays like a paean to the effervescent pop of the likes of Strawberry Switchblade, His Latest Flame and The Twinsets, bands celebrated in Since Yesterday, the documentary she recently co-directed. There are more contemporary influences, too, with Alvvays hanging particularly heavy over this sparkling set of guitar-pop songs, made all the more impressive when you consider that Easton learned to play the guitar specifically for this record.

There is real depth and variety on I Think That I Might Love You, which runs the gamut from the glam-pop stomp of Let’s Make Plans For The Weekend to the breezy jangle-pop of Never Really Wanted to Stay and Lift Your Head Up Kid. A host of co-writers help her to spread her stylistic wings; the standout moment might be the gorgeous closing one-two of Moth To A Flame and If You Found a Thread, both tinged with Americana. Longtime listeners, meanwhile can be reassured that she returns to her synthpop roots on Really, Really, Really, Really Sad. This is an ambitious venture into new territory for Easton, and might be the best Scottish pop record of the year already.

[Joe Goggins]

4AD, 8 May rrrrr

Listen to: Venus in the Zinnia, I Ate the Most

Aldous Harding’s fifth album doesn’t deviate much from her winning formula, but there are small flourishes peppered throughout to keep it feeling fresh. The jaunty wurlitzer piano on Venus In the Zinnia gives the song a kaleidoscopic edge, accentuating the disassociative duet with H. Hawkline, like a modern-day Nancy and Lee. Harding’s vocal style changes from moment to moment, reaching upper registers on Riding That Symbol, staying measured and melodic on the most personal song, San Francisco, while One Stop runs the gamut from high warbles to low mumbles.

The lyrics are mostly cryptic images open to interpretation, but the arrangements that couch them are superb throughout. Hawkline provides a foundation of bass and organ, while harp, pedal steel and synths give a little flavour to Harding’s surreal musings. When she drops notes of personal reflection, like on standouts Venus in the Zinnia and I Ate the Most, it feels like we’re getting to know the real Harding. These intimate moments are where the album really shines, and though the layered, considered arrangements are nice, a pitter-patter of percussion, plodding piano chords and a strummed guitar are all you need when the songwriting is this good. [Lewis Wade]

Cine-Pop Glass Modern, 22 May rrrrr

Listen to: Starry Eyes, Feline Bandits, Nowhere Near

Opening with a theme for an imaginary David Lynch film, inspired by composer Lalo Schifrin, artistic vision is not lacking on the debut album by Scottish dream-pop artist Radhika, joined on record by her father Sushil K. Dade of the Soup Dragons and keyboardist Eric Macdonald. CinePop takes inspiration from film scores and the sparkling dreamscapes of Cocteau Twins. But Radhika avoids self-aggrandisement, keeping the album concise and anchoring each song with a strong melodic hook.

On Feline Bandits, Radhika’s voice flows effortlessly above a spongey bed of shimmering synths and guitars. Sleep is a woozy minorkey meditation with guitars fizzing over a choppy bassline. Cosmic lead single Starry Eyes features both The Pastels’ Mitch Mitchell and Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub. As well as revering the Scottish indie scene of yesteryear, Radhika pays tribute to her Indian heritage, with touches of tanpura and dulcimer across the album. Tasteful covers of Strawberry Switchblade’s Since Yesterday and Yo La Tengo’s Nowhere Near blend harmoniously with the tracklist, the latter featuring backing vocals from Love and Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell concludes the album in a sun-kissed haze.

[Zoë White]

The Bug Club

Every Single Muscle Sub Pop, 29 May rrrrr

Listen to: Full Range of Motion, Yours (If You Want Me), Third Best Friend

Not even a full year since releasing their last LP, The Bug Club have re-emerged with a set of shorter and snappier songs. Certainly the band has been doing more than sitting around plucking away on their guitars. Which is much more than they’d like you to believe on the track It’s Our Manager David. ‘He wants to know all the things we’ve been filling our days with / But we’ve been doing nothing at all’, Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris sing in unison as the drums speed up behind them. Akin to the Ramones ballad, Danny Says, about their own manager Danny Fields, The Bug Club rendition creates a bittersweet feeling tied to the annoyance of having to explain beyond, as they put it, ‘We’re just about technically proficient on our instruments / We’re just about happy with our lot’.

Embracing a diet closer to punk than their classic garage rock sound, Every Single Muscle comprises the same beautiful and raw poetry Willmett (vocals/guitar) and Harris (vocals/bass) are adored for writing; the duo have merely adjusted the tempo and kilter of their riffs to reflect their new project’s faster pace. [Billie Estrine]

One Little Independent, 15 May rrrrr

Listen to: Katávasi, Allásso, Peras

On Su Shaw’s self-titled debut as SHHE, the sea seemed to flood into her songwriting unbidden, imagined as it was by the water at her home in Dundee. When Shaw moved on to the ambient suite of DÝRA, set around the fjords in Iceland, she welcomed the water in. At the same time, Shaw picked up a somewhat nomadic existence as an artist, moving from place to place, capturing field recordings and establishing environmental installations that flowed with the very currents and tides of the water itself, finally ending up in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, where THALASSA took shape. Its six movements chart an ambient seascape that is heightened and alarmed. Processed voices mimic breathless gasps and sharp intakes, bookending the album’s personification of oceans that are boiled and dirtied by humanity more than they can batter shorelines. At THALASSA’s core is a custom-built synthesiser that seems, in its middle section, to embody a whirling torrent of waters at their most ferocious, tossing the modulating siren-like frequencies with a gorgeous uncontrolled chaos. As Shaw has continued to live by and document our bodies of water, she has honed her ear for ambient music that is urgent and foregrounded. [Tony Inglis]

From Here On Out Rebecca’s Records, 22 May rrrrr

Listen to: Tailor Made, Breakthrough, Fortified

Sonedo’s debut album From Here On Out is both playful in nature, and scientific in its editing. For Sonedo, his briefness is his superpower, highlighting exactly what he needs, and cutting the rest. Beautifully achieved by bridging the loose nature of jazz, and rigid bars of hip-hop, effortlessly. You can feel how these tracks grew from a natural jam session with collaborators, distilled into these lightning-in-a-bottle recordings. Sonedo is most effective at this on album highlight, Breakthrough. The swirling keys and rhythms create a psychedelic jazz rollercoaster. Or on the lead single Tailor Made, creating a back and forth duet with Kyi Sinclair, both playing lead just as much as the other. The outro I Get It, however, lacks the song structure to drive home the groove Sonedo created. While containing one of the best instrumentals on the project, here is where his loose structuring goes too far adrift, albeit with a heart-stopping instrumental to round off the album. This debut stands as a solid introduction to Sonedo’s world. You can feel him pulling you into his ambience, making you want to be part of his sessions. Do not miss a chance to see this in the flesh!

[Nicolas Coz]

Human Poultry DevilDuck Records, 8 May rrrrr

Listen to: Back On the Farm, Internet Support, New Sensation

The first half of Conscious Pilot’s debut record hurtles past in a swirl of thick, tireless basslines, angular riffs and staccato vocals. This sets up singer Joe Laycock to introduce us to characters who are often bored, bemused or full of pent up aggression. They bemoan parachutes made of iron, a greasy God sat soaking in soup and, on the title track, compare themselves to a tree that exists just to provide something for people to piss on.

In the three years of the band’s existence they have released two EPs and rollicked around the UK’s live circuit with a string of sweaty, riotous live shows. If the first half of Human Poultry is an amped up call to prolong the party, the second half is where Conscious Pilot shows off their versatility. The melodic gravel of Laycock’s voice comes to the fore on the surf-rock bounce of Back On the Farm while the sweetly understated New Sensation slots into the Belle & Sebastian and Sacred Paws lineage of Glasgow indie. At times Conscious Pilot may choose eclecticism over coherence, but the appealingly wacky Ode to Ronnie encapsulates the spirit of the record: absurdist humour delivered through a danceable groove. [Adam Clarke]

Music Now

May is busy AF for Scottish releases, with albums and EPs from Saint Sappho, Acolyte, Bill Wells, Orla Noble, Dead Pony, and well, the list goes on, and on, and on...

Words: Tallah Brash

April was a bit of a blur, so naturally a few releases slipped through the cracks of last month’s column. We missed Third Window, a mini album from Dancer’s Gemma Fleet and Andrew Doig as THE CHOP, plus singles from Mairi Sutherland, Lucia & The Best Boys, Faith Eliott, Skies Up, mokusla & ROKI and Casual Drag

Looking to May, the number of releases we’re dealing with this month is verging on silly, so here we’ll attempt a somewhat potted version of as much of what’s coming as possible. But first, turn back a page and you’ll find full reviews of new albums from Conscious Pilot, Sonedo, SHHE, Radhika and Carla J. Easton, who we also speak to about ditching keyboards for guitars on p45.

On 1 May, three days before this magazine was even printed, Zoe Young and Tammy Dyson, aka Saint Sappho released Between the Lines. Championed by the late JD Twitch, of the record he said: “this album has the ability to change the world,” something he himself was always striving for. Across its 13 tracks, the pair have a knack for leaning into the nostalgia of 90s alt-rock, but through a modern lens as they question identity, love, grief and more with a taut but laid-back sheen. The same day also brings albums from the Rezillos’ Fay Fife (New Phone New Car New Man) and multihyphenate Adam Stafford (Prilitex); Ferguson, fka Wuh Oh, releases Fergusongs, vol. 1, Anoraq release mini-album An August Work Party and Ample House release Can’t Believe I’m Here

Listen out for Dreams ‘24 / ‘25 (8 May) from the ever prolific Bill Wells. An unusual offering, the album pieces together 24 musical vignettes inspired by Wells’ dreams, few longer than 90 seconds, some as short as 21. The first half features Norman Blake, the second Aby Vulliamy, making for a strange yet fascinating collection of songs that evoke the dreamstate that inspired their creation. On the same day, expect folk, alt-country and indie-rock with an introspective, vulnerable sheen from Still Life Painter (A Month of Longest Days), quirky angular indie-rock from Middle Class Guilt (Their King of Comedy), postmetal sludge from Electric Sun Defence (Estuary) and indie-rock with some ambient touches from Dundee alt-rock trio Red Vanilla (Where I Should Be).

On 15 May, Glasgow singersongwriter and multi-instrumentalist Orla Noble releases unfurl. Selfproduced, unfurl is a deeply personal collection of hazy, sun-kissed folk, perfect for the changing of the season as she explores “identity, pain, and love; from powerless despair to luminous hope.” On the same day, Randolph’s Leap fans should seek out Bring On the Apathy from Adam Ross. Recorded onto tape using traditional analogue techniques, there’s a warmth to its ten tracks, Ross’s lyrical charm further

aided by rich backing vocal arrangements from C Duncan, Amanda Nizich and Gillian Fleetwood.

For a dose of rock, screamo and nu-metal, step into a new era with Anna Shields-fronted Dead Pony Alongside Blair Crichton, Liam Adams and Euan Lyons, on Eat My Dust!, the four have drawn from early 2000s influences to create something that sounds massive and super polished. “We’re stepping into a whole new era of Dead Pony,” the band say, “one that feels bigger, bolder, and more unapologetically us than anything we’ve ever done before.” On the same day, Bottle Rockets release their debut EP and there’s an ambient offering from Yulyseus (Nothing Under Heaven).

On 20 May, singer-songwriter Holly Powers releases the gorgeously raw and vulnerable six-track EP, Sweetpea. While on the 22nd the genre-bending Acolyte release their debut EP, The Blue Dark, eight years after the band’s inception, and it’s more than worth the wait. Across six tracks, the four-piece take you on a hypnotic journey as hazy layered textures ebb and flow like a dream; when spoken-word artist Iona Lee and singer Gloria Black’s voices intertwine, it’s pure magic. Further remixes from Maniatrix, Ravelston and Eyes of Others show the limitless possibilities of their output as songs are twisted into shapes perfect for the dancefloor.

On the same day, Bikini Body release Weirdest Party, a trio of expert remixes of live faves Georgie Weaver, Chivas Dunhills Coke and Happy Painting. Cumbernauld DIY outfit Snout release Dog Says; seven years in the making, it’s a nostalgic hit of quirky, woozy slacker psych-rock, calling to mind the likes of Animal Collective, while simultaneously kind of sounding nothing like them. wojtek the bear also release i don’t think you want to hear this, their latest album of heartfelt, jangly indie.

On 27 May, Glasgow/Edinburgh duo KuleeAngee release Love & Affection, a sharp 15 minutes of thick bass grooves, acid house and unapologetic disco – perfect as we get closer to summer. And DOSS return with their brand new self-titled EP on the 29th; no less furious at the state of the world around them, there’s a maturity here as their sound gets as gutsy as their lyrics. Read our full chat with DOSS on p34.

As well as all of that, expect new albums from Mull Historical Society and Boards of Canada(!!) and a stack of singles from Scott C. Park, PINLIGHT, kitti, Fright Years, PLASTICINE, Karys, Doom Scroller, Nick Dow, Dara Dubh and Róisín McCarney. And breathe.

Scan the QR code to follow and like our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify, updated on Fridays

Film of the Month — Tuner

Director: Daniel Roher

Starring: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno

RRRR R

Released 29 May by Black Bear Certificate 15

theskinny.co.uk/film

Niki White (Leo Woodall), the protagonist of Tuner, has extraordinary hearing. It is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. Niki has perfect pitch, and if his life had played out differently, he may have fulfilled his potential as a virtuoso concert pianist, but Niki also suffers from hyperacusis. The everyday loud noises that most of us find mildly annoying cause debilitating pain to his ultra-sensitive eardrums, with Niki always keeping his ears plugged and often wearing noise-cancelling headphones just to get through the day in the auditory maelstrom of New York City, where he works as an apprentice to veteran piano tuner Harry (Dustin Hoffman).

The unique gifts that make Niki an expert piano tuner turn out to have other, less savoury applications, with his sharp hearing also making him an excellent safecracker. Tuner’s director Daniel Roher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Ramsey, takes pains to emphasise an altruistic bent to Niki’s safecracking escapades. He first develops this skill when Harry accidentally locks his hearing aids inside his home safe, and when Niki finds himself enlisted by a criminal gang and partaking in increasingly lucrative heists, his prime motivation is simply to cover his ailing mentor’s mounting hospital bills.

Daniel Roher won an Oscar in 2023 for Navalny, his documentary portrait of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident and political prisoner who was poisoned by Putin. His newest film couldn’t be a more surprising change of pace, but he takes to narrative filmmaking with consummate ease. His direction

has an appealing verve and he puts together some snappy sequences with the aid of Greg O’Bryant’s tight editing, but what really distinguishes Tuner is the way he grounds this story in character and displays a sure hand with his actors.

The film’s opening scenes immediately establish a sense of warmth between Niki and Harry. Despite his increasingly frail form, Harry still loves his work, which he sees as an art in itself.

“It’s not about hearing, it’s about feeling,” he tells Niki as they fine-tune pianos for rich customers who see them as little more than labourers; a running gag has them being asked to move furniture or fix plumbing issues after they’re finished with the piano. Hoffman’s garrulous, charismatic turn contrasts well with the more brooding Woodall. He initially gives Niki a withdrawn and tentative quality, displaying the effects of feeling disconnected from the world for so many years, and it’s touching to see him gradually open up as he begins a relationship with aspiring pianist Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu).

Tuner successfully makes you root for these characters, and as Niki gets deeper into trouble with the intimidating Uri (Lior Raz), Roher proves adept at ratcheting up the tension, often utilising some expert sound design to make us feel the impact a gunshot or blaring horn can have on Niki’s perception. Such neat directorial touches elevate the kind of screenplay that could be criticised for being too neatly assembled or adhering to a standard template. Roher may be playing familiar notes here, but he does it with enough energy and nuance to make his composition feel fresh. [Philip Concannon]

Scotland on Screen: Charlotte Regan

Charlotte Regan’s Mint is one of the best-looking, most visually inventive TV shows we’ve seen in ages. She discusses developing her style, playing with conventions and her love for shooting in Scotland

Words: Eleanor Capaldi

All eight episodes of Mint are available on BBC iPlayer now. The show also airs on BBC One on Mondays, with repeats on Sundays

Filmography (selected): Mint (2026, TV), The Responder (2024, TV), The Buccaneers (2023, TV), Bikes (2023, short), Scrapper (2023), No Ball Games (2020, short), My Boy (2019, short), Oats & Barley (2019, short), Standby (2026, short)

Star-crossed lovers soar in Mint, Charlotte Regan’s new Scottish crime series. A Romeo & Juliet setup provides a prism through which two kids from opposite sides of the tracks subvert expectations in the country’s gangster hinterlands. Over last summer, Regan, cast and crew filmed in uncharacteristic sunshine. “We got so lucky,” the filmmaker tells me ahead of Mint’s launch on iPlayer. “All of last year when shooting, there was one day that was rained off, and the rest of it was glorious sun.” This sunny spell was particularly useful for one of the key visuals of the series, where Shannon (Emma Laird) and Arran (Benjamin Coyle-Larner, aka musician Loyle Carner) are suspended from rigs high off the ground, with Grangemouth punctuating the skyline like grimy princess towers.

This is a world where love joyously sets you free. “I love watching stuff where I feel how the character feels,” says Regan, “to be telling a story from that character’s perspective. So I don’t need to see Shannon and Arran sleep together to know that they have this form of love with one another. To me, seeing them flying, that’s the feeling you get when you’re falling in love.”

Across her music videos, acclaimed shorts and debut feature film, the Sundance Jury Prize-winning Scrapper, Regan has shown a flair for confident visual choices, from monochrome palettes to horses appearing out of nowhere to talking spiders. Reflecting on the emergence of this style, Regan shares that “all my friends I grew up around, they make incredible rap music, and I was always so inspired by music videos that were just wild. They are such visual mediums, so many incredible people in that world taught me.”

In Mint, Shannon, her mum Cat (Laura Fraser), and her gran Ollie (Lindsay Duncan), each have to battle between their relationships with men and their desire for freedom. “I love gangster stuff, and I had this time where I watched one, after having watched hundreds of them,” recalls Regan, “and suddenly realised I never see the women, or I do but very briefly, and they seem to be the backbone of the family.

“I got sick of seeing a damsel in distress. I wanted to start [Mint] as that kind of cliché, and I really wanted by the end of it to be totally against that.” Regan explains that the initial idea for the show all began with Shannon’s gran, Ollie, a gun-toting erotica fan. “I just felt like I hadn’t seen any Ollies on screen,” meaning older women who are sex-daft. “And I know there are Ollies because my nan was mad on the bingo, and I spent every weekend with her; the bingo halls were popping off.”

Tackling stereotypes of genre and gender, Mint shows us how these limits create closets of varying kinds, and not just for women. Speaking about the head of the household, Dylan (Sam Riley), Regan says: “Growing up in a working-class world, Dylan is very much taught what to be and how to exist. He’s got such a small space to manoeuvre around. Similar to Arran, they are the vulnerable ones, characters I know who are out there, who are struggling, living an existence that they don’t quite agree with.” Shannon’s brother, Luke (Lewis Gribben), hints at how things could be different, escaping into university. This train of thought grew from Regan thinking about her nan, who grew up at a time when “a woman had to marry a man, that was your chance for survival. Like, what kind of life would she have had if she were born when I was born?”

Charlotte’s connection to Scotland goes back to childhood. “My nan and grandad were Scottish. I loved coming here for the summer holidays, my favourite six weeks in the world.” It was a job directing episodes of the 2023 drama The Buccaneers, which filmed across Glasgow and Edinburgh, that cemented her love for Scotland and introduced her to a crew, many of whom were brought on to make Mint. “[The Buccaneers] was one of the best filming experiences of my life, entirely because of the incredible crew. Couldn’t make it without them.”

A great time was had on Mint, too. There were games of padel and three to four games of football a week – “my knees are actually suffering now,” she says of that gruelling five-a-side schedule – as well as crew hangouts at Haylynn Canteen near Glasgow’s Victoria Park. “My friend Robbie owns and is the chef there,” says Regan. “It’s the most delicious food ever. You have to try it out.” Production meetings, meanwhile, took place in Kelvingrove, and plenty of generous grannies gave all their treats to Regan’s dog, Eddie, who appears in the show. With Mint now out in the world, there are clear skies ahead. “I’ve not had much time off in the past two years,” says Regan, “so I’m gonna spend time with my dog, help him on his weight loss journey, and play lots of football. Oh, and sleep. Can’t wait to nap.”

That said, Charlotte is also working on two films and is going to see which one emerges as her next shoot. There is also the tantalising concept of a Mint spin-off. Ollie and Luke do Ibiza? “I’m pitching it!”

Romería

Director: Carla Simón

Starring: Llúcia Garcia, Mitch Martín, Tristán Ulloa, Celine Tyll rrrrr

No one is doing languor quite like Carla Simón at the moment. Her previous two films (Summer 1993 and Alcarràs) dealt in a kind of leisurely naturalism; they seemed to be pushed forward by the breeze as opposed to plot or tension. What this gentle aesthetic masks, though, is a filmmaker with a steely eye for the difficulties and intricacies of family and history, and in Romería this eye is keener than ever.

A fictionalised retelling of a story from the director’s own youth, the film follows a young woman (Llúcia Garcia) as she comes to Vigo, a port town in Galicia, searching for answers about the parents she never knew. She stays with her father’s family, and revelations begin to emerge about his and her mother’s time together in the 80s.

Kokuho

Director: Lee Sang-il

Starring: Ryo Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama, Ken Watanabe, Mitsuki Takahata, Shinobu Terajima rrrrr

Kabuki theatre, as we’re told at the beginning of Kokuho, is an art form dating back to the 17th century that features only male performers, including in female roles. These actors, known as onnagata (literally ‘female role’), persist to this day, and we’re taken through the decades in an epic chronicle of the life of one in particular: the orphaned yakuza outsider Kikuo Tachibana. His flawless performances attract the envy of Shunsuke Ogaki, a less diligent onnagata with kabuki in his blood, and thus begins a three-hour journey into betrayal, brotherhood, and sacrifice.

For all the beauty of the many performances on offer in Kokuho, director Lee Sang-il doesn’t do the finest job of framing them. Frequent

Romería is a deeply personal film, but its gaze is far from narrow. The uniformly strong cast is fantastic at articulating the hypocrisies and varying shames of characters across three different generations (although the script does dip, occasionally, into cliché). Garcia, in particular, carries the film with a supremely well-judged central performance.

It’s all beautifully done: Simón’s trademark ambling momentum and sun-soaked vistas are a brilliantly distracting balm that’s increasingly rocked by moments of quiet devastation. It creates this cumulative ball of restrained tension that pays off in a final act that is maybe the boldest gambit of Simón’s career thus far, one that blows wide open what could come next for this immensely talented filmmaker. [Joe Creely]

cuts and a heavy reliance on close-ups and awkwardly angled wide shots leave you feeling like you’re either stuck in the cheap seats or not far from getting Kikuo’s makeup smeared on your shirt. This style isn’t conducive to a form of theatre famed for grand gestures and elaborately flowing body movements. Lee isn’t much less clumsy when it comes to narrative either, with a bloated story that seems to disregard some of its most exciting potential avenues, particularly where gender and performance are concerned.

This is salvaged somewhat by the film’s standout performances, particularly Ryo Yoshizawa and Sōya Kurokawa, who in their turns as Kikuo make both the naturalistic real-world scenes and the bombastic kabuki sequences compelling throughout. Kokuho also boasts some of the finest hairstyles, makeup and costuming you’ll see onscreen this year. [Zoe Crombie]

Released 8 May by Vue

Hen

Director: György Pálfi

Starring: The Hens (Feri, Anett, Nóra, Eti, Szandi, Enci, Eszter and Enikö), Yannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanayotou, Argyris Pandazaras rrrrr

Like 2023’s EO (about a donkey) or 2021’s Gunda (about a pig), Hen – directed by György Pálfi – follows a humble barnyard animal’s journey through a life marked from earliest existence by humanity’s machinery and machinations. These whims and structures feel exceptionally cruel when up against an existence as small as a chicken’s, and the beautiful jet-black bird – marked as a stranger among her white counterparts at the factory farm – sees seemingly random violences and mercies with little agency over her fate. But little agency doesn’t mean no agency; crucially, this charming protagonist wants to survive and raise her own brood, following her call of nature in an unnatural world.

Normal

Director: Ben Wheatley Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Billy MacLellan, Ryan Allen, Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher, Jess McLeod, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey rrrrr

It’s been interesting to observe the trajectories of Bob Odenkirk and Ben Wheatley’s careers. The former has reinvented himself as a hangdog action hero (think Charles Bronson but more soulful) with his Nobody franchise, while Wheatley has settled into the journeyman role, although he still gets to tinker in his eldritch sandbox (see the self-produced BULK) between director-for-hire gigs like Meg 2: The Trench and this lean little comedy thriller.

Normal is written by Derek Kolstad, who’s also behind the John Wick and Nobody films, and his setup is pure western: a troubled lawman (Odenkirk) is shipped in to a sleepy town (the fictional Normal, Minnesota) to be its temporary

While Hen has moments of levity, there are heartstopping chases with a fox, human-wrought destruction of homes (for reasons beyond the chicken’s comprehension, but wryly clear to viewers), and the ever-present peril of crossing the road. Pálfi is not interested in misery porn or easy moralising, showing instead the sometimes contradictory, sometimes tragic, and often very funny way humans and animals follow their easiest urges. If lifeforms lower down the food chain pay the price, that is life. But nihilism is equally absent; the black hen has just as much a right to health and happiness, and her petty successes give Hen its verve. With excellent sound design, inventive chicken-eyelevel camera angles, and an entirely real cast of animals (there’s no CGI or AI, and none were harmed in making), Hen is a mini marvel.

[Carmen Paddock]

Released 22 May by CONIC; certificate TBC

sheriff. The breezy first half of the film sees him meeting the quirky townsfolk (a sleazy mayor, a flirty barmaid, a little old lady who runs a haberdashery), and the frenetic second half sees those same townsfolk trying to murder the sheriff when he uncovers that, you guessed it, the town isn’t as run-of-the-mill as its name suggests.

I’d be lying if I said my lizard brain wasn’t juiced by some of Wheatley’s brutal setpieces, like a nasty brawl in a hardware store, and Odenkirk makes for a convincing bruiser. But too often Kolstad’s script, a derivative salad of Hot Fuzz, Fargo and Assault on Precinct 13, is left wanting. The townsfolk are as generic as they come (including those played by blink-and-you’llmiss-em stars like Henry Winkler and Lena Headey), and even Arnie would baulk at laboured one-liners like “physics, bitch!” [Jamie Dunn]

Released 15 May by Vertigo; certificate 15

GOOD TASTE DESERVES GOOD PIZZA

DINE-IN ONLY VALID UNTIL 31 MAY 2026

GORSE, EDINBURGH

The Northern Irish bakery in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat offers both chic calm and a truly wild sense of invention

207 Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8

9RU; Wed-Fri 8am-3pm, Sat 9am-4pm

@gorseedinburgh on Instagram

The haar is a quirk of regional geography and climate, a sudden dense sea fog that rolls in off the east coast to change your springtime plans quicker than you can say ‘I knew I should have brought a jumper’. But approach it from the other side, arrive in the haar and watch it clear, and it’s like watching a city or a coastline come back into focus, emerging from the mist into the spring light. Arthur’s Seat has not vanished forever, we will have a barbecue as soon as all this stuff dries out.

We’re heading across the Meadows to Gorse, a new bakery that takes its inspiration from the culinary localisms of Northern Ireland, and at 9am on a Friday morning it’s buzzing in a way that only a hyped new bakery can be. Inside, it’s a lovely mix of pared-back speciality coffee chic and some cottagecore touches to soften it up. We’re talking concrete banquette seats round the edges with a half-height linen curtain on the window; a single tone colourwash

with tile detail, but it’s custard yellow for the paint and jammy red for the tiles. The space is pleasingly, surprisingly spacious with loads of light pouring in, and a genuine, actual view of the Crags out the window.

The coffee is from the excellent Established Coffee in Belfast – our flat white (£3.90) comes in a white handleless mug that looks a bit like a very fancy egg – and the counter is loaded with bakes, pastries and cakes that take influence from Northern Irish food culture and move them into some unexpected areas.

First up, something fairly straightforward – a cinnamon cruffin (£4.50) which is absolutely enormous. This thing comes in hard with the cinnamon sugar, but also with a lovely, almost caramelised outer crust. As something to get you out of bed in the morning, it’s very impressive, while the next item might make you think you haven’t fully woken up yet.

The Tayto Cheese & Onion pastry (£4.95) is quite something. On first glance this is a puffy, light, delicate pasty dome topped with extremely fine shavings of cheese and some delicately cut green herbs. Bite into it and it’s a bit like stuffing a scone, a croissant and half a bag of crisps in your mouth all at once. This, to be clear, is unambiguously positive – it’s one of the best things we’ve eaten in months. Extremely savoury, gloriously cheesy, absolutely delicious, and a tiny little bit ridiculous. It’s dreamlike both in the sense of being good, and in being slightly untethered from your usual expectations of reality. ‘You can’t put crisps in a pastry’, well not with that attitude you can’t. Also where did you find those particular crisps?

The Fifteen Danish (£5.50) is another pastry taking a Northern Irish cult classic and applying it to a pastry situation. A Fifteen is a traybake made up of digestive biscuits, glacé cherries, marshmallows, coconut and various other bits and bobs; here, it’s deconstructed and then reconstructed almost immediately with more elements. It’s a Danish pastry filled with a cherry jam, and sprinkled with desiccated coconut. That’s topped with a digestive-type situation, and then on top of that sits some light, fluffy

Swiss meringue. Oh, and some freshly foraged edible flowers.

In truth, it’s a bit overengineered, the kind of treat that looks incredible but becomes something of a challenge when it comes to actually eating it. Each individual component is great: there’s a lovely flake to the pastry, the meringue and cherry balance each other perfectly, and if overambition is the worst thing you’re accused of, you’re doing a lot of things right.

And Gorse is doing a lot of things right. The ambience is great, the coffee is lovely, the bakes are exciting and interesting. Scotland’s relationship with Northern Ireland is, I would argue, too complicated to précis in the final paragraph of a bakery review, but one thing I do know as a part-Irish, part-Scottish person is this: Scottish people, by and large, don’t know a huge amount about the island of Ireland. One of the joys of food is the way it can make you think about culture, about history, and about the ways that we all interact (or don’t) with one another. If any Tayto crisp-inflected pieces of viennoiserie can nudge folk through the fog into thinking more about some of their closest neighbours, Gorse is where you’ll find them.

Paloma Proudfoot: Glass Delusion @ Collective, Edinburgh

Paloma Proudfoot symbolically avenges Jean-Martin Charcot’s ‘hysteric’ patients in a sprawling multimedia exhibition

At first glance, the works read like soft, textured hand-tufted cut-outs pinned to the wall. It was only on closer inspection that their surfaces hardened into glossy, three-dimensional ceramic forms, composed of interlocked, contoured planes that delicately constructed each figure. For a moment, I felt briefly misled, my own short-sightedness playing tricks. But this small perceptual slip became a way into Glass Delusion, Londonbased artist Paloma Proudfoot’s first solo exhibition in Scotland, presented at Collective, Edinburgh.

Moving around the circular Dome Gallery, the exhibition unfolds as a narrative composition. Set against an orange backdrop, sculptural sash windows are positioned in dialogue with the gallery’s own windows, creating an illusory playfulness in the use of space and architecture. Independent sculptural pieces lead into a longer central frieze, where figures engaged in ambiguous activities begin to gather, suggesting a moment mid-action. But something more sinister begins to emerge as the eye moves toward the body of a fainted figure, which comes to feel central to the entire scene.

While a sculptural stand-fan connected to an almost plausible socket further illustrates the moment, I found myself narrowing my eyes at the pile of feathered fingers arranged on the table and wall-mounted bulbs set into shallow, dish-like reflectors, reminiscent of the clinical glare of antiquated examination lamps, making the space feel increasingly charged, melancholic and uncanny.

Was it a scene from a classroom: a painting lesson, a singing session? Was there a disagreement, an accident: perhaps it was a court room? Was it a theatrical performance? Or a lecture in biology, a hospital scene? Presumably, an experiment. Indeed, the entire composition on the frieze references André Brouillet’s 1887 painting A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière

The exhibition title alludes to a medieval psychiatric condition of the same name, said to have been prevalent around the time when glass was in circulation and highly prized. The condition affected individuals who lived in constant fear of shattering, with King Charles VI of France often cited as the earliest example. In this latest series, Proudfoot delves into histories of psychiatry, particularly the work of 19thcentury French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his hypnotic experiments on women diagnosed with ‘hysteria’. As part of her ongoing research into his ill-famed experiments, Proudfoot reworks Brouillet’s composition on the frieze, responding to the painting in three parts by replacing the male-dominated scene of Charcot’s demonstration of the experiment to his students, with contemporary female and non-binary figures.

On the frieze, Glass Delusion (Dissection) shows a figure positioned against an easel painting an image of a lily in response to the

'The exhibition title alludes to a medieval psychiatric condition of the same name, said to have been prevalent around the time when glass was in circulation and highly prized'

anatomical sketch of a woman in Charcot’s painting. In Glass Delusion (Lament), this extends into a group of three choir-like singers who appear to be singing with passion. Then, Glass Delusion (A Clinical Lesson) depicts the limp body of the collapsed woman – that of Marie Wittman, the female patient who Charcot hypnotised and experimented on. Grief and death become an underlying concern, particularly through the recurring symbol of the lily and its association with purity, innocence, and death. Coupled with this, Proudfoot explores gendered bodies and the voice through two freestanding sculptures of lily stems held between hands, passing through mouths and blooming outward like trumpets in Keener II & III. These works reference the ancient practice of ‘keening’ in Gaelic traditions, a form of collective lament practised amongst women, asserting agency in spite of suppression.  These moments of collective agency are interrupted by scenes of

isolation. On the opposite wall, Doublespeak shows a solitary seated woman, wearing a female marionettemannequin torso like a bodice that gently holds her, as she faces another torso of a disembodied marionette-mannequin hanging listlessly nearby in Lay Figure II. Both bodies exhibit half-open zips and exposed hollow interiors, suggesting dissection and repair of staged bodies: patients handled and treated like puppets who are caught between agency and control, and the subsequent friction between medicine, technology and the self.

Mirroring the circular space, history here comes full circle.

Collective, Edinburgh, until 24 May

Fri 22 May, 6pm

collective-edinburgh.art

Offseason

By Avigayl Sharp rrrrr

In Avigayl Sharp’s debut novel, an unnamed narrator embarks on a self-imposed exile to an all-girls boarding school to reckon with her traumatic past.

Offseason delves into the trickle-down effect of intergenerational trauma on the American Jewish diaspora and the millennial propensity to both self-diagnose and medicate. Aptly named for its exploration of both suspended time and location, Offseason captures the stagnation and confusion of one’s late twenties in excruciating detail. Sharp’s twentyeight-year-old protagonist glances up and down at the students in her care and at her parents’ generation with the confusion and insecurity of one who sits in neither camp. “I did not want to write about New York,” Sharp says when reflecting on her novel. “I wanted to write about a surreal, nonexistent place.”

Heavily influenced by Jewish tragicomedy, Sharp’s writing delves into uncomfortable bodily observations and intrusive thoughts as her narrator creates a vivid and unreliable version of her own reality, all while sifting through familial and personal trauma. In doing so, Sharp’s narrator falls headfirst into the literary ditch of unlikable female protagonists: her morbid fascination with sexual assault, Bleak House by Charles Dickins and inappropriate passion for Stalin is delivered through the vector of abrasive and at times performative humour. Sharp’s narrator will talk to anyone who will listen, agonising over her family dynamics and the fraught relationship with a mother submerged in layers of an unhealed past, labouring the line between both victim and aggressor. [Josephine Jay]

Waiting On A Friend

By Natalie Adler rrrrr

Renata sees dead people, and in New York’s AIDS-stricken East Village in 1984 their numbers are increasing exponentially. When her flatmate and best friend Mark dies and his ghost fails to appear, Renata’s distress becomes unbearable. His is the only apparition she desires, and the fact he doesn’t show negates any form of closure. When a group called Manhattan Remediation move into the area with the promise to rid homes of anything ‘unsettling’ or ‘uncomfortable’ (deliberately nebulous terms) she is at first intrigued, then appalled – the prospect of never seeing Mark is too much to bear. Her investigations into the company lead her to the realisation that, while we must mourn, life is about the living, and, while never letting go of her pain, she channels it into helping others in the neighbourhood who are being taking advantage of, and who are also suffering.

Vividly and wittily capturing the sights and sounds (and other sensations) of such a specific time and place, Waiting On A Friend uses this backdrop to examine grief and loss, but also friendship, compassion and community. It’s a novel written with humour, humanity and heart, while never avoiding the reality of how individuals and communities were devastated by this most terrible disease. It’s as much a righteous celebration as it is a lament, and to carry off such a balancing act in this manner shows Natalie Adler to be a writer of some finesse. [Alistair Braidwood]

By Sufiyaan Salam rrrrr

Lena is a photographer who, fresh off the back of a toxic breakup, follows a friend to a commune on a remote Scottish island. Here, Lena meditates, sits for a painting, and, increasingly, is tasked with counting the birds which have begun dying all around her. Gulls washing up on the island’s shores, increasingly intense and erratic spiritual teachings from the group’s leader, and shifting relationships with friends on the island slowly build tension as Lena begins to question her desire to surrender.

Weaving deftly through time, the book traces Lena’s reflections and movements on the island. It simultaneously interrogates individual trauma and submissiveness, while also making wry feminist observations. Although the book unravels in a hauntingly atmospheric Scottish setting, it mostly finds us in Lena’s interiority. Sometimes, this steers us away from those around her, and it is hard not to want more texture from the interactions with the different characters that Lena meets, particularly those who have had such a bearing on her psychology. Picking at the scabs of Lena’s past, The Colony is a slow-burning book that reveals what it means to survive. This is a novel for readers who revel in an uneasy journey through the mind, who are interested in how the ghosts of our past can both reside in, and drive, our present. [Parisa Hashempour]

Wimmy Road Boyz is a cinematic story revolving around three friends in Manchester: Immy, Khan and Haris. Sufiyaan Salam is quick to set up the story: by the end, someone is going to die. What takes place is a tumultuous final night when each young man must come face to face with his greatest traumas and deepest secrets.

Salam is unflinching in his portrayal of modern masculinity and its intersection with religion, class and sexuality. His prose is lyrical and refreshing with striking turns of phrase, like when Haris opens up TikTok to find somewhere for the boys to eat. “my g. can’t be letting random conglomerates make all your big-man decisions,” advise his friends who take the piss out of Haris’s earnestness. The novel is peppered with similar moments of humorous poetry.

Ultimately, this ambitious novel gets caught up in its filmic storytelling, bringing in too many secondary and tertiary characters. Rather than focusing on the pain at the heart of Immy, Khan and Haris, Salam expands his frame to include long lost family members, one-night stands, and a Take Back the Night march that just so happens to be staged as the boys are hurtling down the Curry Mile. These side quests offer counterpoints to his three main characters, but they also distract from the heart of Salam’s audacious examination of what it is to be a man.

[Andrés Ordorica]

Glasgow Music

Mon 4 May

SMASH INTO PIECES

THE GARAGE Rock from Sweden.

FLORRY

KING TUT'S Americana from Philadelphia.

BLEECH 9:3 SWG3 Alt rock from Ireland.

Tue 5 May

ESME EMERSON

KING TUT'S Indie from Ipswich.

STEPHEN SANCHEZ O2 ACADEMY Pop rock from the US.

THE TWILIGHT SAD BARROWLANDS Post-punk from Scotland.

MATT PRYOR THE HUG AND PINT Emo from Kansas.

GABRIELLE APLIN ST LUKE'S Indie from the UK.

BALU BRIGADA QMU Indie rock from New Zealand.

MELANIE C SWG3 Pop from the UK.

ROBERT FINLEY STEREO Reggae from Jamaica.

BOO HEWERDINE & YVONNE LYON THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Wed 6 May

JOSHUA BURNSIDE ORAN MOR Folk from Ireland.

CLOVER COUNTY & JACK VAN CLEAF KING TUT'S Indie. THE TWILIGHT SAD BARROWLANDS Post-punk from Scotland. PISS THE HUG AND PINT Punk from Vancouver.

HYUNHYE SEO (ELLIE FORD) THE GLAD CAFE Experimental.

Listings

Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Find listings below for the month ahead across Music, Clubs, Theatre, Comedy and Art in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings

Thu 7 May

DIVERGENCE: CARNAC & MEMORY CAIRN + FAR LANE + KING SOFTLY + NUEEN THE FLYING DUCK Ambient lineup. GREEK TRAGEDY (MT. RAIN + LOCKERROOM + DIVE CASINO)

KING TUT'S Alt indie from Glasgow. BABY BERSERK THE HUG AND PINT Dance from Amsterdam. LUCRECIA DALT ST LUKE'S Experimental from Colombia.

JACK CULLEN SWG3 Singer-songwriter from the UK.

AUCHIES SPIKKIN' AUCHIE: GRACE STEWART-SKINNER THE GLAD CAFE Folk from Scotland. FRIENDSHIP STEREO Indie folk from Philadelphia.

Fri 8 May

LULU VAN TRAPP THE FLYING DUCK Punk from France.

NATE BERGMAN THE GARAGE Singer-songwriter from the US.

THE ROOKS (VILLANELLE + FRIGHT YEARS + FOOL NELSON) KING TUT'S Indie rock from Glasgow. SUPER FURRY ANIMALS BARROWLANDS Rock from Wales. NEW YEAR'S PRAYER THE HUG AND PINT Alt rock from Glasgow. EURO HERC (COMPETITION + POOLE) THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Electronica.

ADZII BOII SWG3 Hip-hop from Scotland. QUAD90 STEREO Funk from Glasgow. CREATIVES OF COLOUR FESTIVAL (R.AGGS + MIWA NAGATO-APTHORP + SIMONE SEALES + SALAM KITTY DJ) THE GLAD CAFE Eclectic lineup.

Sat 9 May

LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE THE FLYING DUCK Psych rock from Mexico.

JESSICA BAIO THE GARAGE Pop from California. TANZANA (COWBOY HUNTERS + LITTLE GRANDAD + THEATRE + CLOTHESLINE FROM HELL)

KING TUT'S Rock from Glasgow. SUPER FURRY ANIMALS BARROWLANDS Rock from Wales. THE ITCH (VLURE) THE HUG AND PINT Alt pop from London.

SUBTOPIAN PLANNING BOARD

SWG3 Alt rock from Scotland. THE FAST CAMELS STEREO Psych rock from Glasgow. CHRIS BRAIN (JOE HARVEY-WHYTE) THE GLAD CAFE Folk from Yorkshire.

Sun 10 May

LOLO THE GARAGE Pop from Canada. GRESLEY THE GARAGE Brass. CONAN GRAY (ESHA TEWARI) THE OVO HYDRO Pop from the US. PAT HAMILTON KING TUT'S Singer-songwriter from Scotland. BBNO$ O2 ACADEMY Rap from Canada.

JOEY VALENCE & BRAE BARROWLANDS Hip-hop from the US. PHARMAKON THE HUG AND PINT Ambient from New York. ADAM HOLMES ST LUKE'S Americana from Scotland.

MIDNIGHT TIL MORNING

SWG3 Pop from the US and Australia. THISTLE.

SWG3 Alt rock from Northampton. TOM SMITH THE OLD FRUITMARKET Rock from the UK.

JACK CALUM

RICHARDSON THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Mon 11 May

ARTIFICIAL GO (RADIO BANTER + GALS AGAINST LAWNMOWERS)

THE GLAD CAFE Post-punk from Cincinatti. BASEMENT MONO Rock from Suffolk.

TAME IMPALA

THE OVO HYDRO Psych from Perth. TOM HINGLEY

KING TUT'S Rock from the UK. MITSKI

BARROWLANDS Indie from the US. YELLOW DAYS (BRIAN NASTY)

THE HUG AND PINT Indie pop from Manchester.

Tue 12 May

LIGHTS

KING TUT'S Pop from Canada. EXAMPLE

O2 ACADEMY Rap from the UK. ALLMAN BROWN THE HUG AND PINT Indie from London. STYROFOAM WINOS (YOUTH OF AMERICA + CURTIS MILES)

THE GLAD CAFE Folk rock from Nashville.

Wed 13 May

MATTEO MANCUSO ORAN MOR Rock from Sicily. SUBURBAN LEGENDS

KING TUT'S Ska punk from the US. EWY THE HUG AND PINT Punk from London. THE LONGEST JOHNS ST LUKE'S Folk from Bristol. SELKIE + MARINA YOZORA

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Pop and shoegaze. FLORENCE ROAD

QMU Rock from County Wicklow. MADDOX BATSON SWG3 Country from the US. SMITH & LIDDLE SWG3 Indie from the UK.

THE LONGEST JOHNS THE OLD FRUITMARKET Folk from Bristol.

SGO THE GLAD CAFE Chamber folk from Scotland.

Thu 14 May

PERMANENT (JOY)

KING TUT'S Indie rock from Liverpool. MACHINE HEAD

O2 ACADEMY Heavy metal from the US.

DEAF CLUB THE HUG AND PINT Hardcore.

BELLE CHEN QMU Composer from Australia. CHANCE PEÑA SWG3 Pop from Texas. ERIN LECOUNT SWG3 Pop from the UK.

Fri 15 May

SINK PRESENTS HALYCON VEIL THE FLYING DUCK Eclectic record label lineup.

PROUD MARY

ORAN MOR Blues rock from Manchester.

MAGIK BOYS (DELTAMANIC)

KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow.

SIENNA SPIRO

O2 ACADEMY Pop from the UK.

HAGGARD CAT THE HUG AND PINT Punk from Nottingham. TALISK

ST LUKE'S Trad from Scotland.

M.O.P.

QMU Hip-hop from the US. BROKEN CHANTER THE RUM SHACK Indie from Scotland.

LEAP

STEREO Alt rock from London. CHRIS STAMEY THE GLAD CAFE Indie pop.

Sat 16 May

HANNAH ANDERS THE GARAGE Country from Nashville.

ZAYN THE OVO HYDRO Pop from the UK.

THE HILLBILLY MOON EXPLOSION

ORAN MOR Rock from Zurich.

FINN FORSTER (CALLUM STEWART)

KING TUT'S Indie from the UK. THE LEISURE SOCIETY THE HUG AND PINT Indie rock from the US. IAIN MORRISON THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Folk from Isle of Lewis. TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS

QMU Reggae from Jamaica. THE BUTTONS (DIRTY BOOTS)

THE RUM SHACK Rock from Scotland. KIEFER SUTHERLAND THE OLD FRUITMARKET Rock from the US. THE BUG CLUB THE GLAD CAFE Indie rock from Wales.

Sun 17 May

MICHAEL MCGOVERN ORAN MOR Folk from Glasgow. DODGY KING TUT'S Rock from Hounslow. OFFICE DOG THE HUG AND PINT Indie rock from New Zealand.

COLIN BLUNSTONE ST LUKE'S Rock from the UK. GIRL SCOUT ROOM 2 Indie from Sweden.

MARK SHARP & THE BICYCLE THIEVES SWG3 Indie rock from Scotland. OVER THE MOON THE GLAD CAFE Country.

DYLAN HENNER (NEIL QUIGLEY) THE GLAD CAFE Electronica.

Mon 18 May

MAQUINA THE FLYING DUCK Punk rock from Portugal. COLM MCGUINNESS THE GARAGE Composer from Ireland. LEAH KATE ST LUKE'S Pop from the US. CHARLI LUCAS SWG3 Indie pop from the UK.

Tue 19 May

GIRL IN THE YEAR ABOVE THE GARAGE Indie folk from Ireland. KAITLIN BUTTS ORAN MOR Country from Tulsa. LAUNDRY DAY

KING TUT'S Pop rock from the US. LABYRINTHINE OCEANS (HALF TIME) THE HUG AND PINT Grunge. THE HANDSOME FAMILY (DANNY GEORGE WILSON) ST LUKE'S Folk from Chicago. BLÜ EYES SWG3 Pop from California.

JAZZ AT THE GLAD: ASPYRIAN THE GLAD CAFE Contemporary jazz.

Wed 20 May

IMOGEN AND THE KNIFE KING TUT'S Alt indie from Australia.

JON PARDI O2 ACADEMY Country from Nashville. GLEN HANSARD BARROWLANDS Rock from Ireland.

SMAG PÅ DIG SELV THE HUG AND PINT Jazz from Denmark. FCUKERS SWG3 Electronica from New York. ELIZA MCLAMB SWG3 Indie from New York. OTIS GIBBS THE GLAD CAFE Singer-songwriter from Nashville.

Thu 21 May

DOJA CAT THE OVO HYDRO Pop rap from the US. RUBY ROBERTS

KING TUT'S Alt pop from Brighton.

FLOODING THE HUG AND PINT Rock from Kansas.

ELIAS ALEXANDER ROOM 2 Trad from Scotland.

BLAIR DAVIE SWG3 Singer-songwriter from Scotland.

Fri 22 May

THE EX (THE CHOP) THE FLYING DUCK Punk from the Netherlands. SARAH KINSLEY THE GARAGE Alt pop from California. JOHN VINCENT III KING TUT'S Folk from the US. CHARLIE HOUSTON THE HUG AND PINT Pop from Toronto. CHRIS ACKER + RACHEL BAIMAN + NORTHCOTE THE RUM SHACK Eclectic lineup. JOHNNY DRILLE SWG3 Indie from Nigeria. CALUM MACPHAIL THE OLD FRUITMARKET Folk from Scotland. CONSCIOUS PILOT STEREO Post-punk from Glasgow. Sat 23 May SIX YEAR SILENCE CATHOUSE Hard rock from Scotland. SKERRYVORE BARROWLANDS Rock from Scotland. SNOUT (THE RAEBURN BROTHERS + HOMEWORK) THE HUG AND PINT Indie from Glasgow. PHILIP SAYCE (TOM MORIARTY) ST LUKE'S Rock from Canada. CANAAN COX STEREO Country from the US. THE COUNTESS OF FIFE THE GLAD CAFE Alt country.

Sun 24 May

ALT BLK ERA THE GARAGE Rock from Nottingham. BIIRD KING TUT'S Folk from Ireland. KINGFISHR O2 ACADEMY Indie folk from Ireland. IRKED (DRAGGED UP) THE HUG AND PINT Punk from the UK. SIR CHLOE ST LUKE'S Indie rock from New York. THE YUMMY FUR (BUFFET LUNCH) THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS Indie rock from Scotland.

JOE CARNALL JNR

SWG3

Rock from the UK. FAKEMINK SWG3 Rap from the UK.

GERARD LOVE (SUPERSUN)

THE GLAD CAFE Indie pop.

DANIEL O’SULLIVAN + RICHARD YOUNGS

THE GLAD CAFE

Experimental psych folk.

Mon 25 May

RINGLETS

THE HUG AND PINT

Post-punk from the UK. SATSANG THE RUM SHACK Blues.

SOL BAND

STEREO Palestinian band from the Gaza Strip.

Tue 26 May

BENJAMIN STEER (DOLDER)

KING TUT'S

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

QUICKLY, QUICKLY

THE HUG AND PINT Psych pop from Portland.

HANNAH ALDRIDGE + LACHLAN BRYAN THE RUM SHACK Country.

BLIND YEO (R.AGGS)

THE GLAD CAFE Indie pop.

Wed 27 May

BARNS COURTNEY

THE GARAGE Alt rock from the UK. THE LAST VINCI (TERMINALS)

THE HUG AND PINT Alt rock from Cork.

REINHARDT BUHR STEREO

Experimental from South Africa.

Thu 28 May

RATBOYS MONO Country pop from Chicago. FAEDA THE GARAGE Indie rock from Thurso.

RUTS DC KING TUT'S Punk rock from the UK.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

O2 ACADEMY

Heavy metal from the US.

JESSE GOLD

SWG3 Indie from Toronto.

CHALI 2NA SWG3 Rap from the US.

Fri 29 May

GUERRILLA LISTENING PARTY

CATHOUSE Eclectic lineup.

ARKAYLA

THE GARAGE Indie from Manchester.

DERMOT KENNEDY

THE OVO HYDRO Pop from Ireland. YES AND MAYBE

KING TUT'S Indie from Glasgow.

GERARD LOVE (TOM CROSSLEY + ALEX REX)

THE HUG AND PINT Indie from Glasgow. THE LEMON TWIGS QMU Rock from the US.

OMAR LYEFOOK DRYGATE BREWING CO. Soul from the UK.

CARLA J EASTON THE RUM SHACK Rock from Scotland.

KITTY CRAFT ROOM 2

Hip-hop from the US.

MARSH SWG3 House from the UK.

ONDARA STEREO Folk from Kenya.

NEEV THE GLAD CAFE Indie folk from Glasgow. Sat 30 May THE RANTS THE GARAGE Blues rock.

BOTTLE ROCKETS KING TUT'S Alt indie from Glasgow. BIG THIEF BARROWLANDS Indie from the US.

BOBBY RUSH ST LUKE'S Blues from the US.

ORKAWAVE (REX HOOPER + PARALLEL SENSES) ROOM 2 Rock from Glasgow. OPEN MIKE EAGLE STEREO Hip-hop from LA. WOULD-BE-GOODS THE GLAD CAFE Indie pop.

Sun 31 May

IVRI KING TUT'S Indie from New York. RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE O2 ACADEMY Indie rock from the US. BIG THIEF BARROWLANDS Indie from the US. KEELEY (THE MARTIAL ARTS)

THE HUG AND PINT Indie rock from Dublin. JON SPENCER ROOM 2 Garage rock.

DORIAN ELECTRA STEREO Pop from the US. GLASS CHEQUES THE GLAD CAFE Indie from Glasgow.

Edinburgh Music

Mon 4 May

LAURA COX THE VOODOO ROOMS Punk rock from France. RODNEY CROWELL THE QUEEN'S HALL Americana from the US.

Tue 5 May

BRIANA CORRIGAN THE VOODOO ROOMS Pop from Belfast. TAJ FARRANT THE CAVES Indie from Australia. CALIGO (DEAVENU + KATHEDRAL) SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

Wed 6 May THE CHARLATANS (THE CORDS)

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Rock from the UK. HEAVYSKINT SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

SONIC SHOWDOWN LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Glasgow. I'LL BE YOUR WEBCAM (ABOLISH GOLF + SKINNY IMPS) THE WEE RED BAR Post-punk.

Thu 7 May

THE BARON NONESUTCH BAND (Y.I.A.T.O + EGG LORD) THE BONGO CLUB Indie from Edinburgh. THE FORCEFIELDS THE VOODOO ROOMS Experimental from the US. MIND ENTERPRISES THE LIQUID ROOM Electro from Italy. THE 113 (NATIONAL PLAYBOYS)

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk.

Fri 8 May

SEAN TAYLOR (SHANNON PEARL)

THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues from the UK. THE ROYSTON CLUB

EDINBURGH CORN EXCHANGE Indie rock from Wales.

ELLE COVES

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie pop.

POLICE DOG HOGAN

THE QUEEN'S HALL Americana from the UK. OF FIRE & BLOOD THE MASH HOUSE Black metal from Scotland.

Sat 9 May

JOHN ROBB (STUART BRAITHWAITE) THE VOODOO ROOMS Punk rock.

BOTH HANDS THE SAFARI LOUNGE Electro pop from Edinburgh. THE FROLIKS SNEAKY PETE'S Rock.

VAN MORRISON ALUMNI BAND THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock and pop from the UK.

Sun 10 May

CHRIS BRAIN (JOE HARVEY WHYTE)

THE VOODOO ROOMS Folk from Yorkshire.

JAMES MORRISON USHER HALL Singer-songwriter from the UK.

HINDLEY STREET COUNTRY CLUB

THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock and pop from Australia.

Mon 11 May

TOSCOT OPEN MIC PARTY

SNEAKY PETE'S Hip-hop.

Tue 12 May

JESCA HOOP (HOT SPRINGS)

THE CAVES Folk from California. WITHERED HAND (PHILLIP TAYLOR)

SNEAKY PETE'S Folk.

LILY, MARTHA, HOLLY

LA BELLE ANGELE Neo-soul and rock.

Wed 13 May

GUY DAVIS

THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues.

TIK THE LIQUID ROOM Rock from Ukraine.

BO STALOCH (EVE CHRISTINA + ABBY POWLEDGE)

SNEAKY PETE'S Alt country.

Thu 14 May

DEARY

THE VOODOO ROOMS Dream pop from London.

ROSE REY (SHEARS + KATHERINE ALY)

SNEAKY PETE'S Pop rock.

SLIME CITY THE MASH HOUSE Rock from Glasgow.

JUNO LIVE THE MASH HOUSE Indie lineup.

Fri 15 May

JOEL SARAKULA THE VOODOO ROOMS Soft rock from Australia.

RIVAL CONSOLES THE LIQUID ROOM Electro from the UK.

JINX LENNON

SNEAKY PETE'S Folk punk.

Sat 16 May

JACK BROADBENT

THE VOODOO ROOMS Blues from the UK.

BETH HART

USHER HALL Blues from LA.

EL REY (FRANK DANGER)

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie. LETTERS FROM LOLA THE MASH HOUSE Indie from Scotland. KABUKI THE MASH HOUSE Hard rock.

TALISK

LA BELLE ANGELE Trad from Scotland.

HOWLING GIANT (FUZ CALDRIN + OBSIDIAN GIANT)

THE WEE RED BAR Psych.

Sun 17 May

ORLA NOBLE THE CAVES Folk from Glasgow. TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS FEAT LEBA HIBBERT REGGAE GOT SOUL TOUR THE QUEEN'S HALL Reggae and rocksteady from Jamaica.

Mon 18 May

DOPAMINE (RED VANILLA + FOREVER AUTUMN)

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

GOGO PENGUIN THE QUEEN'S HALL Jazz and blues from Manchester.

Tue 19 May

GLOIN

SNEAKY PETE'S Noise rock.

Wed 20 May

MAX COOPER

USHER HALL Electronica from Belfast. MISS MADISON (EYES OF HOME + LEWIS WILSON)

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

Thu 21 May

THE COUNTESS OF FIFE THE VOODOO ROOMS Punk from Scotland. TINARIWEN

ASSEMBLY ROOMS Tishoumaren from Algeria and Mali.

STEVE VINCENT

SNEAKY PETE'S Rock.

Fri 22 May

CANAAN COX

THE VOODOO ROOMS Country from the US. CHRISTOPHER CROSS USHER HALL Singer-songwriter from the US.

BEEFHEART & MCQUINN (RUBY MILNER)

SNEAKY PETE'S Soft rock.

TYRANNUS THE MASH HOUSE Black metal.

FROM THE JAM LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Scotland.

Sat 23 May

THE LOFT THE VOODOO ROOMS Rock from the UK.

SKIPINNISH USHER HALL Trad from Scotland.

LOOSE ARTICLES

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk.

AN EVENING WITH STEVE CRADOCK (OCEAN COLOUR SCENE)

THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock and pop from the UK.

MASTIFF THE MASH HOUSE Sludge. M2TM SCOTLAND 2026 LA BELLE ANGELE Metal showcase.

Sun 24 May

THE WASHBOARD UNION

THE VOODOO ROOMS Country from Canada.

MIDGE URE

USHER HALL New Wave from Scotland.

Mon 25 May

BLIND YEO

SNEAKY PETE'S Psych.

Tue 26 May

RINGLETS

THE VOODOO ROOMS Post-punk from New Zealand.

YUNGMORPHEOUS

SNEAKY PETE'S Hip-hop.

ANA CARLA MAZA

LA BELLE ANGELE Indie from Cuba.

Wed 27 May

COMMON GOLDFISH

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie pop.

THOMAS DOLBY THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock and pop from the UK.

DEAD PONY

LA BELLE ANGELE Hard rock from Glasgow.

Thu 28 May

REINHARDT BUHR THE VOODOO ROOMS Christian rock from South Africa.

RICHARD THOMPSON (HAMISH HAWK)

USHER HALL Folk rock from the US.

COMFORT GIRL

SNEAKY PETE'S Alt rock.

AN EVENING WITH HEN HOOSE

COLLECTIVE

THE QUEEN'S HALL Rock and pop from the UK.

THE VIRGINMARYS THE MASH HOUSE Rock from the UK.

Fri 29 May

BARBARA THE VOODOO ROOMS Chamber pop from Brighton.

PINS (CHROMA)

SNEAKY PETE'S Post-punk.

BEARS IN TREES

THE MASH HOUSE Indie rock from London.

AULD SPELLS THE WEE RED BAR Dream pop.

Sat 30 May

SMOOVE & TURRELL

THE VOODOO ROOMS Funk and soul.

ACOLYTE

LEITH CRICKET CLUB Experimental from Edinburgh.

SHHE

THE QUEEN'S HALL Electronica from Scotland.

RADIO-ACTIV GRA

BAJM

LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Poland.

Sun 31 May

DREW MCDOWALL (EKSTASIS)

THE BONGO CLUB Underground from New York.

DUKE SPECIAL THE VOODOO ROOMS Rock from Belfast.

RAY LAMONTAGNE

USHER HALL Indie rock from the US.

MELANIE BAKER

SNEAKY PETE'S Indie rock.

MACY GRAY

THE QUEEN'S HALL Jazz and blues from the US.

THE WILDHEARTS LA BELLE ANGELE Rock from Newcastle.

Dundee Music

Wed 6 May

BETH ORTON BEAT GENERATOR LIVE! Folktronica from the UK.

Sat 9 May

OPTIMO (ESPACIO) + BIKINI BODY

CANVAS Punk and electro. Fri 29 May

THE WILDHEARTS BEAT GENERATOR LIVE! Rock from Newcastle.

Glasgow Clubs

Thu 7 May

SOLUS PRESENTS: MAU P SUB CLUB House. VICE VERSA INVITES: THELMA THE BERKELEY SUITE Dub techno. NO SWEAT INVITES GES LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and garage. DUB CLUB: HOMETOWN & CRUCIAL ROOTS THE ART SCHOOL Dub and dancehall.

Fri 8 May

THE BERKELEY SUITE PRESENTS: EROL ALKAN TO THE RHYTHM THE BERKELEY SUITE House. A NIGHT OF ITALO DISCO LA CHEETAH CLUB Italo disco. VTSS: A/V TOUR SWG3 Techno. GRAVITY PLEASURE X SKINNY DIPPING: MAUDE VÔS + CLO + STRAWB.BBY + MAKAYA + AKIMAT + SNAEB SWG3 Bass and experimental. MEET ME ON THE DANCEFLOOR RETURNS THE ART SCHOOL Trance and techno.

LIVID3 X STEREO: YO TENGO SUEÑOS ELECTRICOS [FUNDRAISING FOR TRANS MUTUAL AID] STEREO Bass and club.

GLASTAR: BY POPULAR DEMAND THE FLYING DUCK House and hip-hop. FARMACIA THE FLYING DUCK House.

Sat 9 May

HAWD THAT 005: BAILE BAILE + WORK COACH + FERGUS MCNALLY + SHARPE LA CHEETAH CLUB Garage and electro. KSK PRESENTS: PRIMAL AGENCY SHOWCASE ROOM 2 Techno. 10 YEARS OF TANUM SOUND SYSTEM SWG3 Bass and experimental. JUSTIN ROBERTSON MCCHUILLS Acid. EUPHORIC GROOVES PRESENTS NINETREE THE ART SCHOOL Tech house.

WATERSHED 001 (LUCKYBABE, 4KITSAKE , CC:MC, EUROKELS, GAME OF FLATS) STEREO Techno and hyperpop.

NOISE COMPLAINT!: SPXO, SALAM KITTY, DANYO, MISS CABBAGE THE FLYING DUCK Trance and club.

Sun 10 May

FLY: GASKIN SUB CLUB House.

Thu 14 May

RARE CLUB: ROSS FROM FRIENDS B2B CAMEO BLUSH SUB CLUB House and electro. FLY: BELLAIRE THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno.

PEDESTRIANISM 13: ENTROPIC ENTERTAINERS LA CHEETAH CLUB Garage and jungle.

Fri 15 May

MAGIC CITY: DR DUBPLATE SUB CLUB Garage. POLKA DOT DISCO CLUB THE BERKELEY SUITE House and disco.

KSK PRESENTS: BLNK B2B JO3Y3T ROOM 2 Techno. TEEDEE SWG3 House.

DISTANT PLANET X EXIT SWG3

Hardcore and jungle. INK TANK 1ST

ANNIVERSARY: RAPTURE 4D FEAT. RED KING, PIINKLADY B2B CU-SITH, M DALINO & JOAB STEREO Grime and dubstep.

HASEEB IQBAL - FRED ALEXANDER - MARK QUINN THE FLYING DUCK Dub and jazz.

Sat 16 May

THE BERKELEY SUITE PRESENTS: JUAN MCLEAN + LYLA THE BERKELEY SUITE House.

WOODLAND WAKEUP FUNDRAVER #1 LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and house. LA CHEETAH CLUB PRESENTS: SKEE MASK LA CHEETAH CLUB House.

RIORDAN SWG3 Tech house. EXIT CLUB SWG3 Techno.

HOTWHEEL 01 (ORLA HALLIGAN, LOOSE E, BARE MAX, FRANK) STEREO Bass and club.

DILK LIVE THE FLYING DUCK Dub techno.

Thu 21 May

JUICY'S PALACE: FEMMEDM X PARADE THE BERKELEY SUITE Tech house.

Fri 22 May

FLY FESTIVAL AFTERS SUB CLUB Techno.

THUDLINE THE BERKELEY SUITE House and acid. COMMON ROOM WITH JAMES MASSIAH SWG3 Bass and club.

GINO: PRAY TO GOOD THE ART SCHOOL Bass and jungle.

FUSE IS 10 PT.2: RIZ LA TEEF, GROVE, MIXTRESS (KINZ LUIZ B2B ACIDO CIELO) STEREO Dubstep and dancehall.

Sat 23 May THROUGH THE ROOF LA CHEETAH CLUB House and minimal. SCANDAL.GLA X STEREO: DJ SARAH BONITO STEREO Pop and hardcore. DANSE MACABRE FEAT. MARK O'RONI THE FLYING DUCK Italo disco.

Sun 24 May FLY FESTIVAL AFTERS SUB CLUB Techno.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT PRESENTS BIG GAY NORTHERN SOUL MCCHUILLS Disco and soul.

Thu 28 May THROUGH THE ROOF: TOMMY PHILLIPS & ELLIS GARNER SUB CLUB House. DEEP PURPLE: G***** B*** LA CHEETAH CLUB Techno and electro.

Fri 29 May

CÉLESTE: WOLTERS + RUA DJ THE BERKELEY SUITE Techno. HAVOX PRESENTS LIEKS + FERB ROOM 2 Gabber.

A.D.S.R SWG3 Bass and dubstep. HOMETOWN SOUND SYSTEM X MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM THE ART SCHOOL Bass and dub. BARE

Sat

Edinburgh Clubs

Wed 6 May

Thu 7 May

TOTEM:

Fri 8 May

PULSE:

ONE MILLION PASSENGERS CANʼT BE WRONG!

Pavillion Festival / Bonfest /

Doune The Rabbit Hole / TRNSMT / Coloursfest / Party at the Palace / Doof in the Park / Summer End Festival at Brechin Castle

Helix Park, Falkirk

Faithless, The Kooks, Classical Events, JLS

Bon Jovi – Murrayfield

Luke Combs – Murrayfield

Calvin Harris – Hampden

Metallica – Hampden

Take That - Hampden

Teddy Swims / Pitbull / My Chemical Romance / Alanis Morissette / The Lumineers / The Proclaimers

Florence + The Machine / Deftones / Biffy Clyro / The Prodigy / Heather on the Hills / Lorde

TTF Riverside

PRTY Riverside

Cabaret Voltaire

TUESDAYS

MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00

Big basslines and small prices form the ethos behind this weekly Tuesday night, with drum’n’bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage aplenty.

FRIDAYS

FLY CLUB, 23:00

Edinburgh and Glasgowstraddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

SATURDAYS

PLEASURE, 23:00

Regular Saturday night at Cab Vol, with residents and occasional special guests.

Sneaky Pete’s

MONDAYS

RIDE N BOUNCE, 23:00

R‘n’B, pop, rap and hip-hop bangers every Monday.

TUESDAYS

RARE, 23:00

House, UKG and occasional techno from special guest DJs and rising locals.

FRIDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

HOT MESS, 23:00

A night for queer people and their friends.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

SOUL JAM, 23:00

Monthly no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty disco.

SUNDAYS

POSTAL, 23:00

Bass, breaks, grime and more from a selection of Cowgate all stars.

The Bongo Club

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)

FRIDAYS (MONTHLY, WEEK CHANGES)

SOUND SYSTEM LEGA-

CIES,23:00

Exploring the legacy of dub, reggae and roots music and sound system culture in the contemporary club landscape.

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

DISCO MAKOSSA, 23:00

Disco Makossa takes the dancefloor on a funk-filled trip through the sounds of African disco, boogie and house – strictly for the dancers.

FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

OVERGROUND, 23:00

A safe space to appreciate all things rave, jungle, breakbeat and techno.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)

MESSENGER, 23:00

Roots reggae rocking since 1987 – foundation tune, fresh dubs, vibes alive, rockers, steppers, rub-a-dub.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

CHROMATIC, 23:00

Championing all things UKG, grime, dubstep, bass and more, with disco, funk and soul from Mumbo Jumbo upstairs.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

PULSE, 23:00

Techno night started in 2009 hosting regular special guests from the international scene.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

HOBBES MUSIC X CLUB

NACHT, 23:00

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

REWIND, 22:30

Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and current bangers.

The Hive

MONDAYS POPTASTIC, 22:00

Pop, requests and throwbacks to get your week off to an energetic start.

TUESDAYS

TRASH TUESDAY, 22:00

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherry picked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

WEDNESDAYS COOKIE WEDNESDAY, 22:00 90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.

THURSDAYS HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY, 22:00 Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS

FLIP FRIDAY, 22:00

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM, 22:00 Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SUNDAYS

SECRET SUNDAY, 22:00

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Subway Cowgate

MONDAYS

TRACKS, 21:00

Blow the cobwebs off the week with a weekly Monday night party with some of Scotland’s biggest and best drag queens.

TUESDAYS

TAMAGOTCHI, 22:00

Throwback Tuesdays with non-stop 80s, 90s, 00s tunes.

WEDNESDAYS

TWISTA, 22:00

Banger after banger all night long.

THURSDAYS

FLIRTY, 22:00

Pop, cheese and chart.

FRIDAYS

FIT FRIDAYS, 22:00

Chart-topping tunes perfect for an irresistible sing and dance-along.

SATURDAYS

SLICE SATURDAY, 22:00

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS

SUNDAY SERVICE, 22:00

Atone for the week before and the week ahead with non-stop dancing.

The Mash House

MONDAYS

MASH MONDAYS, 23:00

Edinburgh’s new Monday night.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN, 23:00

Joyous global club sounds: think Afrobeat, Latin and Arabic dancehall on repeat.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

PULSE, 23:00

LIONOIL: MAN POWER, PERCY MAIN, CHRISSY G SNEAKY PETE'S House.

BOLLYNIGHTS

LA BELLE ANGELE Bollywood. Sat 23 May

DBT. PRESENTS

THOMAS MELCHIOR & MANY MORE CABARET VOLTAIRE Techno.

ATHENS OF THE NORTH SNEAKY PETE'S Disco. GOOD NIGHT CREW THE MASH HOUSE Jungle. DAFT DISKO LA BELLE ANGELE House and disco.

Sun 24 May

FEEL THE REAL: 6TH BOROUGH PROJECT + FREDERICK PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Deep house. TODD EDWARDS: FREE TIME X MORRISON STREET

SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Wed 27 May

SATSUMA SOUNDS SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Thu 28 May

YBZ: STONES TARO SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

Fri 29 May

TMPL MUSIC: METODI THE LIQUID ROOM Techno.

LA BEAT SOUL CLUB

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Disco.

HEYDAY: PROSUMER ALL NIGHT LONG

SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

The Stand

Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

Host Billy Kirkwood & guests act entirely on your suggestions.

TUESDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

The Glee Club

FRIDAYS FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

The perfect way to end the working week, with four superb stand-up comedians.

SATURDAYS SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

An evening of awardwinning comedy, with four superb stand-up comedians that will keep you laughing until Monday.

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

The Stand

Edinburgh

MONDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s make comedy cold from suggestions.

THURSDAYS THE THURSDAY SHOW, 20:00

Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW (THE EARLY SHOW), 17:00

A slightly earlier performance of the big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club

SECOND AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

The University of Edinburgh’s Comedy Society, who put on sketch and stand-up comedy shows every two weeks.

WEDNESDAYS TOP BANANA, 19:00

Catch the stars of tomorrow today in Monkey Barrel’s new act night every Wednesday.

THURSDAYS BEST OF THE FRINGE, 19:00 + 21:00 Four acts every Thursday take to the stage to try out new material.

FRIDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

SUNDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

The Gilded Saloon FRIDAYS (EXCEPT LAST) THE COMEDY SHOW, 20:00 Mixed bill comedy lineup. LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH STORY PLATFORM, 19:30 + 21:00 Comedy sketch show with local comedians. SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH ROBIN GRAINGER'S SPECIALIST SUBJECT, 20:00 Mixed-bill of stand-up comedy and live podcast. LAST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH GARETH MUTCH, 20:00 Mixed bill comedy lineup.

ELECTRIKAL, 23.00

The best techno DJs sit alongside The Mash House resident Darrell Pulse. Regular Edinburgh

Sound system and crew, part of a music and art collective specialising in BASS music.

A collaboration between longrunning club night and Edinburgh record label ft. house, techno, electro, UKG and bass.

Regular Glasgow club nights

The Rum Shack

SATURDAYS (LAST OF EVERY OTHER MONTH)

VOCAL OR VERSION, 21:00

Vintage Jamaican music on original vinyl by resident DJs and guests.

PALIDRONE: DANSA, RUDI SNEAKY PETE'S Techno. SATSUMA THE MASH HOUSE House. JUST LIKE HEAVEN LA BELLE ANGELE 80s pop.

SWIFTOGEDDON LA BELLE ANGELE Pop.

Sat 9 May

NSA DAY CULTURE:

JEN CARDINI + LOGAN

FISHER THE BONGO CLUB New Wave. FANGS & NSA AFTERPARTY

PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Dub techno.

EROL ALKAN ALL NIGHT LONG SNEAKY PETE'S Electro.

Sub Club

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) RETURN TO MONO SLAM’s monthly Subbie residency sees them joined by some of the biggest names in international techno.

SATURDAYS SUBCULTURE, 23:00 Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

CRT X NUTS PRESENTS LORCAN KELLY THE MASH HOUSE House, trance, techno, and bounce. BAD BUNNY PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE Pop. ASCENSION THE WEE RED BAR Goth.

Sun 10 May

EROL ALKAN 2ND DATE [5-10PM] SNEAKY PETE'S Electro.

Mon 11 May KONVERSION SNEAKY PETE'S Pop.

Wed 13 May

UPLANDS ROAST PRESENTS: TOM CAMPBELL TRIO + KYLE SCOTT THE BONGO CLUB Dubstep.

REDEMPTION SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Thu 14 May

CANDYFLIP: OKO THE BONGO CLUB Drum 'n' bass. REFRACTA & PALS: EMBER SNEAKY PETE'S Bass.

Fri 15 May

NONSTOPHYPERPOP THE BONGO CLUB Hyper pop. EPIKA SOFT: ONA:V PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB House and electro. HEADSET'S GAY GARAGE

SNEAKY PETE'S UK garage. INKOHERENTHARDCORE BIRTHDAY PART 3 THE MASH HOUSE Hardcore and gabber. CLUB EUPHORIA LA BELLE ANGELE Pop and club.

Sat 16 May

RARE CLUB: TEEDEE THE LIQUID ROOM House and tech house. LIKE THIS #024: JIMMY JAMMIN' + MARTITIME PEOPLE'S LEISURE CLUB Acid.

FRNZY PRESENTS: NGL THE MASH HOUSE Industrial techno. DECADE LA BELLE ANGELE Pop punk and emo. BUST A MOVE THE WEE RED BAR Funk, house and boogie.

Sun 17 May

JACQUES GREENE: FREE TIME X LUCKYME SNEAKY PETE'S House.

Wed 20 May

BORLEY ROOM: JENN GUNN, GAU7T, BORLEY, BAYCANTSPIN SNEAKY PETE'S House.

SATSUMA THE MASH HOUSE House.

Thu 21 May

MEMBRANE SNEAKY PETE'S Experimental.

Fri 22 May

DISORDER PRESENTS: DILLINJA + MRS MAGOO THE BONGO CLUB Dubstep.

PHARMACY THE MASH HOUSE Jersey and hardcore. CALL ME MAYBE

LA BELLE ANGELE 2010s pop.

HARDWARE

THE WEE RED BAR Industrial and post-punk.

Sat 30 May

HEADSET THE MASH HOUSE UK garage and techno.

DILF

LA BELLE ANGELE Queer club.

SHENANIGANS THE WEE RED BAR Hardcore and gabber.

Dundee Clubs

Fri 22 May

DISCO LOVE AFFAIR (UNOFFICIAL DEGREE SHOW PARTY) CANVAS House and disco.

Sat 30 May

DAY MOVES: THE RETURN OF GARETH SOMMERVILLE NOLA BAR Techno and house.

Glasgow Comedy

St Luke's

STUART MCPHERSON: CRISPS AND A LIE DOWN

THU 28 MAY

Join Scottish comedy powerhouse Stuart McPherson for his critically-acclaimed new show about settling down, growing up and how he’s being controlled by his step-dog.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

The Glee Club

ASHLEY GAVIN: BIG MOMMA

TUE 5 MAY

After a smash hit sellout debut UK tour in 2024, Ashley Gavin returns with her brand new show, Big Momma.

RUFUS RICE SAT 30 MAY

A rambunctious evening of comedy and music from TikTok's favourite lovable rogue.

The

Old

Hairdressers

HAROLD NIGHT

TUE 5 MAY

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold. Feat. Saved By The Beep and With Bits.

HAMISH NIGHT TUE 5 MAY

Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold. Featuring tubducky and Smoking Cat.

SPREAD: UNDER THE COVERS TUE 12 MAY

Improvised comedy inspired by print media.

BOUNCE HOUSE: SOLVES EVERYTHING TUE 12 MAY

Solving all of the petty squabbles they come across with improv comedy.

SATURDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

GLASGOW IMPROV MARATHON SAT 30 MAY 10 hours of improv, celebrating Glasgow Improv Comedy's 10 year anniversary.

Edinburgh

Comedy

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club

ANDRÉ DE FREITAS: PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION

TUE 5 MAY

André De Freitas is a critically acclaimed, award-winning comedian known for sharp, personal comedy shaped by a global perspective.

JORDAN BROOKES: WORK IN PROGRESS FRI 8 MAY

The longest reigning comedy award winner is back with a show in development, inspired by a shocking incident on a train.

CHRISTIAN BRIGHTY: OUTLORD (WIP) SAT 9 MAY Creator and star of BBC Radio 4’s The Many Wrongs of Lord Christian Brighty returns to Edinburgh to take on the biggest cause of inequality: himself.

SARA PASCOE: JAZZ (WIP)

SUN 10 MAY

Sara’s dad has made an 18 CD Jazz interpretation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and she would like to make some jokes about that.

SARA PASCOE: JAZZ (WIP)

MON 11 MAY

Sara’s dad has made an 18 CD Jazz interpretation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and she would like to make some jokes about that.

SARA BARRON: SLOP (WIP)

FRI 15 MAY

Sara has planned a series of high kicks, insults for your average-looking granny, and thoughts on Jeffrey Dahmer's Netflix special.

MC HAMMERSMITH AND FRIENDS

SUN 17 MAY

Multi-award winning freestyle rap comedian MC Hammersmith presents an evening of improvised comedy raps based entirely on audience suggestions.

LARRY DEAN: WORK IN PROGRESS TUE 19 MAY Twice nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show (2018, 2022) and previously for Best Newcomer (2015), Larry Dean comes back to Edinburgh to workshop new material.

WILL OWEN: LOOKING FAB AT FIFTY

FRI 22 MAY

Fresh from The Edinburgh Fringe 2025, Will is going on a UK wide tour, as he seeks to replace the empty gratifications of his forlorn life with the deep profundity of light entertainment.

AYOADE BAMGBOYE: SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS

SAT 23 MAY

The critically acclaimed debut show about suffering (and smiling) from Nigerian stand-up Ayoade Bamgboye, winner of Best Newcomer at the 2025 Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

KATHY MANIURA: THE CYCLING MAN

SAT 23 MAY

Goofy drag king show from award-winning British character comedian Kathy Maniura, BBC New Comedian shortlisted, 2023 and Sketch Off winner, 2020.

DAVID NIHILL: TAKING TANGENTS TOUR

THU 28 MAY

After a sold out world tour comedian and author David Nihill is back with his brand new show, Taking Tangents which promises to do exactly that.

BEN POPE: WORK IN PROGRESS

SAT 30 MAY

Ben Pope is back to square one. He is tired of his old jokes and he is scared of his new ones. This show will be roughly 60mins of the latter.

JAMALI MADDIX: WORK IN PROGRESS

SAT 30 MAY

Jamali Maddix brings his razor-sharp wit and raw energy to an intimate work-in-progress show, road-testing brand new material before it hits the big stage.

PIERRE NOVELLIE: YOU SIT THERE, I'LL STAND HERE

SUN 31 MAY

It's time for Pierre to do stand-up! It's time for you to watch! Why not just embrace that, for God's sake?

The Gilded Saloon THE LAUGHTERNOON SHOW WITH SOPHIE

SAT 9 MAY

A mixed bill of stand-up comedy perfect for the afternoon.

AMANDA HURSY: DEATH OF A SALESWOMAN (WIP)

SAT 9 MAY Amanda Hurst tries out new material. HOT COMEDY

SUN 10 MAY

A mixed bill of stand-up.

SO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY? COMPETITION

- REGIONAL

SHOWCASE 1

SAT 30 MAY

Gilded Balloon's annual competition has its regional heats.

SO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY? COMPETITION - REGIONAL

SHOWCASE 1

SAT 30 MAY

Gilded Balloon's annual competition has its regional heats.

The Queen's Hall

I'M GRAND MAM

FRI 29 MAY LGBTQ+ comedy from Ireland.

Glasgow Theatre Citizen's Theatre

SWEAT

SAT 2 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

Friendships are forged in a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town in this examination of America's working class.

NIGHT WAKING

WED 13 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

A young mother on the brink of breakdown discovers an unsettling mystery in her garden in this adaptation of the Sarah Moss novel.

REVOLUTION DAYS

WED 20 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

Blazing drama based on real life experiences of humanitarian aid work during the Arab Spring.

Oran Mor

ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS

TUE 5 MAY-SAT 9 MAY

Acclaimed National Theatre production based on the classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: FUNERAL FOR MY BOOBS

MON 4 MAY-SAT 9 MAY

A hilarious autobiographical musical about one woman’s goodbye to her breasts before a lifechanging operation.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: KENMURE STREET

MON 11 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

A verbatim drama retelling the events of a local Glaswegian community coming together to stop a dawn raid.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: MEMBERS ONLY

MON 18 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

A laugh-out-loud Glaswegian comedy about a game of bingo that threatens to disrupt everything.

A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: BREATHTAKING ROADS

MON 25 MAY-SAT 30 MAY

A windswept comic-drama about a young islander’s coming of age and their life-changing friendship with two funny and fearless lesbian bikers.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

BA SCHOOL OF DANCE- ANNUAL PERFORMANCE

THU 14 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

RCS's annual showcase by students across their contemporary and classical dance programmes.

The King's

Theatre

THE HIGH LIFE: THE MUSICAL, STILL LIVING IT!

TUE 12 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

Based on the beloved BBC Scotland television series, this new musical spectacular reunites all four original cast members.

THE BODYGUARD

MON 25 MAY-SAT 30 MAY

The romantic Whitney Houston film gets the musical treatment in this tale of a bodyguard hired to protect a celebrated singer.

Theatre Royal SCOTTISH OPERA: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

SAT 9 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

It’s Figaro’s wedding day, and to add to the usual worries, Figaro learns that his philandering master, the Count, is out to tempt away his bride-to-be Susanna.

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

TUE 26 MAY-SAT 30 MAY

For the first time ever, John le Carré's seminal spy novel gets the stage adaptation.

Tramway

A FESTIVAL OF KOREAN DANCE 2026:

RYU AND FRIENDSGRAVITY

WED 13 MAY

Mesmerising choreography tracking relationships of push and pull, chaos and harmony.

BREAKIN’ CONVENTION

FESTIVAL OF HIP HOP

THEATRE

SAT 23 MAY

Sadler Wells' acclaimed festival of hip-hop dance visits Glasgow.

Tron Theatre

STAND & DELIVER: THE LEE JEANS SIT-IN

FRI 24 APR-SAT 9 MAY

Dramatising the events of the 1981 Lee Jeans factory strike, developed in conversation with some of the key women involved.

BABY MASH-UP, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?

THU 14 MAY-FRI 15 MAY

Eerie reality-bending events take over Baby Mash-up's life in this Troubles-era drama.

Edinburgh

Theatre

Assembly Roxy

ISLAND TOWN

SAT 9 MAY-SUN 10 MAY

First produced by Plaines Plough, this blackly comic play looks at coming-of-age in neglected communities.

Festival

Theatre

SCOTTISH BALLET: STARSTRUCK

THU 7 MAY-SAT 9 MAY

A new staging of an original work created in 1960 for the Paris Opera Ballet by legendary actor and choreographer Gene Kelly.

GUYS AND DOLLS

WED 13 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

Expect sequins, New Yawkers and sit-down-you'rerocking-the-boat galore in this new production of Guys and Dolls.

SCOTTISH OPERA: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

FRI 29 MAY-SAT 6 JUN

It’s Figaro’s wedding day, and to add to the usual worries, Figaro learns that his philandering master, the Count, is out to tempt away his bride-to-be Susanna.

Royal Lyceum

Theatre

BLACK DIAMONDS AND THE BLUE BRAZIL

FRI 8 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

A moving and funny story of family, football, and finding your way home.

SWEAT

WED 27 MAY-SAT 13 JUN

Friendships are forged in a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town in this examination of America's working class.

Studio Theatre

LAFAYETTE: A NEW

MUSICAL

SAT 9 MAY

Exactly 115 years after iconic illusionist The Great Lafayette died in a fire in Festival Theatre, a new musical looks at his life and work.

Summerhall

DEAR WENDY

SUN 3 MAY-MON 4 MAY

A new autobiographical piece written and performed by Cat Johnston about breathing, making sense of yourself, and looking for answers in a world that often doesn’t feel like it’s listening.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

SUNNY AFTERNOON

TUE 5 MAY-SAT 9 MAY

Bright and poppy musical telling the electrifying true story of The Kinks, as told through their own music.

MACBETH

THU 7 MAY

Two award-winning actors play over 20 roles in this high-octane Shakespearean adaptation.

WAITRESS

TUE 12 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

With music by Sara Bareilles, this tale of a piemaker and waitress trying to escape difficult circumstances is as sweet as, well, pie.

THE BODYGUARD

MON 18 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

The romantic Whitney Houston film gets the musical treatment in this tale of a bodyguard hired to protect a celebrated singer.

2:22 A GHOST STORY

MON 25 MAY-SAT 30 MAY

A supernatural thriller that took the West End by storm.

Traverse Theatre

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

WED 13 MAY-THU 14 MAY

Six quirky misfits compete at a spelling bee in this Tony Award-winning hit.

THE FRESHWATER

FIVE

FRI 15 MAY-SAT 16 MAY

A dramatic retelling of the case of the Freshwater Five, five Isle of Wight fisherman sentenced for allegedly smuggling cocaine.

LEILA NAVABI: RELAY

SAT 16 MAY

A joyous one-person show about finding your queer family by acclaimed comedian Leila Navabi.

STAND & DELIVER: THE LEE JEANS SIT-IN

TUE 19 MAY-WED 20 MAY

Dramatising the events of the 1981 Lee Jeans factory strike, developed in conversation with some of the key women involved.

BABY MASH-UP, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?

FRI 22 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

Eerie reality-bending events take over Baby Mash-up's life in this Troubles-era drama.

Dundee

Theatre

Dundee Rep

THE HIGH LIFE: THE MUSICAL, STILL LIVING IT!

FRI 27 MAR-SAT 9 MAY

Based on the beloved BBC Scotland television series, this new musical spectacular reunites all four original cast members.

EDUCATING RITA

SAT 23 MAY-SAT 13 JUN

Tender revival of one of the UK's most heartwarming plays, about an unexpected friendship that forms between a hairdresser and a university lecturer.

Glasgow Art artpistol

Gallery ELEANOR

CARLINGFORD: CHARIOTS

FRI 1 MAY-SUN 31 MAY

Expressive figurative artist Eleanor Carlingford opens her first show of 2026, featuring ten new oils on canvas.

CALLUM YOUDE: CONTEMPORARY

ABSTRACT PAINTING

FRI 8 MAY-SUN 31 MAY

A long awaited follow up to Callum Youde's sell out 2022 show- he's a fast rising Glasgow based talent to have on your radar.

David Dale

Gallery

HEEYOUNG NOH: IN HER BEDROOM

SAT 28 MAR-SAT 9 MAY

Exploring the complexities of diasporic identity and how intergenerational trauma manifests in both public and private spaces.

GoMA

STILL GLASGOW

SAT 29 NOV-SUN 13 JUN

An extensive exhibition using photography to look at Glasgow's past and present.

Patricia

Fleming

AUGUST KROGAN-

ROLEY: IN [OUT]

SAT 4 APR-SAT 9 MAY

Vivid contemporary paintings of domestic homes interrogate changing boundaries between public and private.

Street Level

Photoworks

SIMON PHIPPS: BRUTAL SCOTLAND

SAT 21 FEB-SAT 16 MAY

An extensive survery of Scotland's post-war modernist architecture, in which buildings become witnesses to social and cultural history.

The Modern Institute

ELISABETH KLEY: THE INVISIBLE HANDS OF BIRDS

FRI 13 MAR-SAT 16 MAY

Ceramic sculptures and fabric paintings exploring intersections between langauge and architecture.

SUE TOMPKINS: LOVE

AHEAD

FRI 13 MAR-SAT 16 MAY

Paintings formed around typewritten words considering the use of speech and voice in the service of personal expression.

Tramway

LEAP THEN LOOK: PLAY INTERACT

EXPLORE

SAT 27 SEP-MON 11 MAY

An exhibition of interactive artworks created by artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie.

RAE-YEN SONG

WED 15 OCT-MON 24 AUG

Glasgow artist transforms Tramway’s vast gallery space into a sub-aquatic world, which serves simultaneously as a spectacle, a memorial and a refuge.

Edinburgh

Art

&Gallery

JAMES LUMSDEN:

SOLUS BHO THUATH | NORTH LIGHT

SAT 2 MAY-SAT 30 MAY

Translucent layers of colour and paint evoke senses of light and feeling.

City Art Centre

JEAN F. WATSON: AN ARTISTIC LEGACY

SAT 16 MAY-SUN 4 OCT

Works acquired through the Jean F. Watson Bequest Fund, including pieces by Arthur Melville, Joan Eardley and Eduardo Paolozzi.

Collective

Gallery

PALOMA PROUDFOOT:

GLASS DELUSION

FRI 6 MAR-SUN 24 MAY

Presenting large scale ceramic friezes, depicting contemporary puppet-like figures often in uncanny medical poses where skin and organs are revealed, examined and stitched together.

Dovecot

Studios

THE BIBA STORY: 1964–1975

FRI 6 FEB-SAT 27 JUN

Journey into 60s and 70s fashion through the world of Biba, a fashion phenomenon who became the world's first lifestyle label.

DAVID REMFRY: IN RESIDENCE

SAT 21 FEB-SAT 13 JUN

Paintings and drawings of neighbours and friends by Royal Academician.

Edinburgh Printmakers

SUSAN ALDWORTH: BELONGINGS

FRI 3 APR-SUN 28 JUN

An immersive installation challenging anti-immigration narratives by imagining the contents of a suitcase containing displaced belongings.

SUSAN ALDWORTH: MODERN ALCHEMY FRI 3 APR-SUN 28 JUN

Print works created in collaboration with scientists at the University of Edinburgh exploring how to use greener methods of chemical synthesis.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

DAVID LEMM: INITIATED DESIRING UNIVERSE SAT 21 MAR-SUN 7 JUN

Examining the tensions between the life cycles of manmade beach objects and organic matter.

Ingleby Gallery

CALLUM INNES: FOUR SAT 11 APR-SAT 6 JUN

Exploring the physicality of colour and paint in the architectural space of the gallery.

Jupiter Artland

TAI SHANI: THE SPELL OR THE DREAM

SAT 11 OCT-TUE 1 SEP

A new sculpture by Turner-prize winning artist, in which a luminous giant figures lies and breathes gently in Jupiter Artland's orchard space.

EXTRACTION SAT 11 APR-SUN 26 JUL

An examination of how energy systems shape culture, land and belief, through work by artists Carol Rhodes, john gerrard, Marguerite Humeau, Siobhan McLaughlin and John Latham, informed by the gallery's own landscape.

Leith Makers

SILVER THREADS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

WED 13 MAY-SUN 17 MAY

Local photographers explore light, reflection, rebirth and the changing seasons through a range of techniques and subjects – from the streets and landscapes on our doorstep to Edinburgh and beyond.

National Portrait

Gallery

WENDY MCMURDO: THE DIGITAL MIRROR

SAT 30 MAY-SUN 25 OCT

Reflections on childhood, the digital world and imagination by pioneering photographer.

Open Eye

Gallery

BRENDAN STUART BURNS: THE SPACE

BETWEEN

SAT 2 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

An exhibition of recent work by internationally acclaimed painter Brendan Stuart Burns.

CAROLINE ANN MORDUE: THROUGH A GLASS

SAT 2 MAY-SAT 23 MAY

Interiors and light meet the outside world in abstracted reflection in this exhibition of new works.

RSA: Royal Scottish

Academy

200TH RSA ANNUAL EXHIBITION

SAT 9 MAY-SUN 14 JUN

The bicenntenial annual exhibition from the RSA platforming contemporary art from Scotland and further afield.

Stills

ÅSA JOHANNESSON: THE QUEERING OF PHOTOGRAPHY FRI 1 MAY-SAT 27 JUN

Part of a career-long project exploring how to develop a queer vocabulary in portrait photography.

Studies in Photography ANDY WIENER: A PHOTOGRAPHIC MASQUERADE FRI 1 MAY-SAT 20 JUN

Staged photographic works from A Rake’s Progress (1986-2019) which explore individual identity in relation to mass commercialisation and media influence.

Summerhall

GROUP SHOW 2026

SAT 18 APR-SUN 24 MAY

Featuring work from ovr 70 artists in Summerhall's annual exhibition of cutting edge art.

Talbot Rice

Gallery THE DEAD DON'T GO UNTIL WE DO

SAT 7 MAR-SAT 30 MAY

Four exhibitions by artists and collectives Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Amol K Patil, Kang Seung Lee and MADEYOULOOK examining how to memorialise.

Whitespace

Gallery

LEZANNE SCOTT: LÖYLY

SAT 9 MAY-THU 14 MAY

Works made in and around a Finnish sauna and surrounding forest, exploring the body, stillness, and the experience of being fully present, some sketched in the darkness of the sauna, some from memory, some in the forest.

Dundee

Art

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

FRANCIS DOSOO: PORTRAIT OF DOROTHY GALE SAT 16 MAY-SUN 2 AUG

Installation inspired by the 1978 film The Wiz, a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz, as a way to explore the way we look at historic moving images.

Generator Projects

THEY HAD 4 YEARS '26 SAT 30 MAY-SUN 12 JUL

Annual group show featuring newly commisioned work from five recent art graduates from Scottish art schools.

V&A Dundee

CATWALK: THE ART OF THE FASHION SHOW FRI 3 APR-SUN 17 JAN

Charting the evolution of catwalk art and culture, from 19th-century salons to contemporary immersive runways.

The Skinny On... Stuart McPherson

This spring, Stuart McPherson takes Crisps and a Lie Down, his celebrated Fringe show from last year, on tour. Ahead of the tour’s conclusion in Glasgow, we subject him to our monthly Q&A

What’s your favourite place to visit and why?

My family home in Fife. There’s always roast chicken and we watch quiz shows round the clock. My sister has a Jedi-like control of the Sky remote, which means we never have to listen to the contestants bore on about where they’re from or what they’ll spend the prize money on. It’s just pure quizzing.

Favourite food and why?

Chips make me feel glad to be alive.

Favourite colour and why?

Green. It feels tight to me that green’s not a primary colour; it should be in there. It’s grass, it’s trees, and yet it’s in the second tier with orange and purple? That doesn’t sit right with me.

Who was your hero growing up?

Tiger Woods, who seemed supernaturally cool and talented. Sadly, he disappeared from public life with a quiet dignity after winning the US Open in 2008 and hasn’t been seen since.

Whose work inspires you now? Nurses.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party, and what are you cooking?

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Instagram’s ‘Big John’. I’d cook the Beatles boys a nice lentil dahl, and me and Big John can get a Chinese.

What’s your all-time favourite album? Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

What book would you take to a desert island?

Well it’d have to be something I’ve not read before, but that obviously opens up the possibility that I pick a shanner. And it’d have to be a novel – I’m not exactly firing into Atomic Habits on a desert island. I guess I’d finally have no excuse to not read Infinite Jest

Who’s the worst?

The six or so tech oligarch freaks who are ruining the planet and making the human experience worse for profit. On a smaller level, inconsiderate people.

When did you last cry?

To my shame, I’m not a big crier. Twice recently I’ve been on the verge at the end of watching something great – the film I Swear and Roger O’Sullivan’s Fringe show Fekken

What are you most scared of?

Being found out.

'It feels tight to me that green’s not a primary colour; it should be in there. It’s grass, it’s trees, and yet it’s in the second tier with orange and purple? That doesn’t sit right with me'

Stuart McPherson

When did you last vomit and why?

Last year I ended up going to the RTS Scotland awards as I appeared in my friend Stephen’s short film for three seconds. I celebrated those three seconds by getting as drunk as I have been in years. The next day, I had a work-in-progress show in Manchester, which made for an extremely challenging train journey. I ended up spewing around Penrith. I then checked the details for the gig and learned it started at 5pm and not 8.30pm and that my train got in at 4.58 pm. The show was actually really good, probably because I’ve never felt more alive.

Tell us a secret?

I am, but in a chill way. Me and Stephen Buchanan are doing a split bill for the first eight days at noon in Monkey Barrel. We’ll be doing new jokes and fannying around. There was talk of maybe trying to figure out some double-act elements, but, realistically, it’s unlikely we’ll be organised enough for that. So far we’re yet to fill out the registration form.

I think enough time has passed now that I can say I didn’t like Bo Burnham’s Inside. Seems like a smart and interesting guy, though.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight? It’d have to be one of the more timid ones. Richard Ayoade?

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would you be?

A posh person’s dog.

What’s your favourite plant? There’s something satisfying about an aloe vera.

You’re currently on tour with your 2025 Fringe show Crisps and a Lie Down, but the question is, will we see you back at the Fringe in August, and if so, what can you share so far about the new show?

It’s the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May. If you were standing, what would be the first three pledges on your manifesto?

I think you’d be in with a shout if you said you’d fix the potholes, have much tighter restrictions on vape shops and do something about all the fly-tipping. I just realised I was supposed to do a joke answer there, like, “make it illegal to put your bag on the seat next to you on public transport” etc, but it does feel great to have reached an age where you start to moan about the council in a genuine way.

Stuart McPherson is currently on tour with Crisps and a Lie Down with stops in Brighton, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol before closing the tour at St Luke’s in Glasgow on 28 May. Full details at stuartmcpherson.co.uk

You can also hear McPherson on the Some Laugh podcast alongside fellow comedians Marc Jennings and Stephen Buchanan instagram.com/somelaughpod

Speakers include:

JOSIE LONG

Comedian and Writer

GARY GILDAY

AQSA ARIF

Artist and Filmmaker

Artist and Returning PechaKucha King

RACHEL GOGEL

SAM BROWN

Independent Design Executive AND Educator

Director AND Co-Founder, O’Donnell Brown

MILITSA MILENKOVA

Artist, Designer and Maker

LEWIS JUST

Collaborative Designer, DIRECTOR Studio AndThen

MEDEIA COHAN-PETROLINO

Founder Director, Good Authority Consultancy