Already Heard Recommends: Alburn
For Scottish quartet Alburn, their latest EP ('Mouthful of Glass') has been a longtime coming. Having undergone a slight line-up since their formation in 2007, 'Mouthful of Glass' marks the bands first release since 2012’s 'Engines'. The four-track release showcases a significant amount of growth and maturity with tracks such as 'The Nurses Can’t Help Me' and the title track displaying the bands versatility.
The band, made up of original members Pete Duthie and Gee MacPhee and recent recruits Danny Kelly and Christopher Hunter, are certainly fans of American emo-infused alt rock bands like Brand New, Balance and Composure, and Thrice yet 'Mouthful of Glass' also displays the bands passion with the end result being a captivating release that leaves a strong impression and plenty of promise for the future.
We spoke to Pete Duthie to query him about the bands background, that inevitable Brand New comparison, working with Neil Kennedy at The Ranch in Southampton, the burgeoning Scottish music scene and more.
Already Heard: For starters can I get your name and role in Alburn?
Pete: My name is Pete and I play guitar and share vocals with Gee.
AH: I know the band has been together for a number of years. Can you bring up to date with the history of Alburn?
Pete: Alburn started off as a name I’d use to post up tunes on Punkdisasters.com (RIP) that I’d recorded in my flat in Edinburgh. That was around 2007 and just after myself and Gee’s childhood band had ceased. We started playing shows on and off for a few years with our old drummer and got to experience some pretty awesome things. In 2012 Gee and I got a bit restless, so we recorded and released the ‘Engines EP’ with our friend Tom Mitchell, in our hometown of Perth. Sean Campbell (Thin Privilege, In Wrecks) was kind enough to fill in on drums. After recruiting Danny and Chris on Drums and Bass at the start of 2013 we then started taking things a bit more seriously - we played a fair number of shows in 2013 including a couple of local festivals, then began writing for the new EP. We researched a few different studios but after hearing the Departures record and some other stuff he’d done, we settled on Neil Kennedy at The Ranch. It also happened to be the other side of the country… so we did our thing there and that pretty much brings us up to where we are now! Released ‘Mouthful Of Glass’ at the end of August, played a sell out show at King Tut’s with our pals wecamefromwolves and then embarked on a Scottish tour!
AH: You’ve recently released your second EP ('Mouthful of Glass') From reading the track-by-track it seems you pushed yourself this time round?
Pete: We definitely pushed ourselves this time. Our older stuff was quite progressive and built up from a quiet intro into a heavy ending - we still love that kind of thing, but felt like we needed to refine our sound a bit on this EP and I’m sure we’ll continue to work on creating our own unique sound. We experimented more with timings and dynamics in Golden. Different drumming and vocal styles in MOG and less complicated stuff on Nurses.
AH: This is the first time you’ve wrote together with this line-up. How did you adapt to this change compared to previous writing sessions?
Pete: The writing of this EP all happened in our rehearsal room. It brings up it’s challenges when you’re set on an idea for a song but then the other guys have something different in mind, but in the end it makes for a better song when it’s more than just one person involved. Danny, our drummer, actually wrote a guitar part for Nurses! We’d all come to rehearsal with the bare bones of a song and we’d work on it relentlessly. If someone didn’t like a part, they’d speak up. It makes it more enjoyable to play the songs live as well, knowing that everyone had a part in it and they aren’t just playing someone else’s songs.
annaxmalina
gummygunk
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
jbbartram-illu
discoholicmusic
dailybridgerton
titsay