{"id":5467,"date":"2010-11-14T19:49:31","date_gmt":"2010-11-15T00:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.net\/?p=5467"},"modified":"2010-11-14T19:49:31","modified_gmt":"2010-11-15T00:49:31","slug":"on-the-scottish-enlightenments-st-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=5467","title":{"rendered":"On The Scottish Enlightenment’s “St. Thomas”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"St.A year and a half ago, I began listening to the BBC’s Scotland Introducing Podcast<\/a><\/i>, a fifteen minute survey of the latest and greatest from some of Scotland’s best unsigned bands. Every Friday morning, I look for the link in my RSS reader, and I’ve discovered some very good music this way, bands like Washington Irving<\/a>, Y’All Is Fantasy Island<\/a>, and The Seventeenth Century<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the spring, I want to say around April, Scotland Introducing<\/i> host Vic Galloway played a song by The Scottish Enlightenment<\/a> — “All Homemade Things<\/a>.” It was from the Pascal<\/i> EP<\/a>, then either immediately forthcoming or just released, a gentle song, guitars and drums, about the passing away of time. I loved the song immediately, listened to that particular episode of Scotland Introducing<\/i> a few times, then bought the CD direct from Scotland’s Armellodie Records<\/a>. The CD, when it arrived, truly was<\/i> a homemade thing, coming in a little booklet, tied off with a piece of twine to hold it closed. Pascal<\/i> was a collection of songs that didn’t make the cut for a forthcoming album, and if songs like “All Homemade Things” and “If You Would Just Try a Bit Harder” didn’t “make the cut” I could only imagine the forthcoming album.<\/p>\n

I did some research on the band. I was curious where they had come from. The band’s page on Armellodie’s website<\/a>, and I found some coverage on a music website that “clicked” with me<\/a>. I decided, on the strength of Pascal<\/i> and the things that I’d read, that The Scottish Enlightenment would be a band worth following.<\/p>\n

In September, The Scottish Enlightenment released another EP, the Little Sleep<\/i> EP<\/a>, again songs that didn’t fit on the forthcoming album St. Thomas<\/i>. Again, I bought the CD from Scotland. Again, it came as a homemade thing, in a booklet tied off with a piece of twine. Again, an album that couldn’t fit a true gem like “St. Germain Is Thick Tonight<\/a>” must be incredible.<\/p>\n

This week, the band’s full-length debut, St. Thomas<\/a><\/i>, arrives. Much like the album’s namesake, St. Thomas<\/i> is a pensive album, filled with deep thoughts, dark moments, emotional uncertainty, and catharsis. The songwriting is sharp, the musicianship is assured. The Scottish Enlightenment describe themselves as “ecclesiastical rock,” and there’s a touch of the heavenly to St. Thomas<\/i>; these songs feel as though the music echoes off the soaring limestone arches of an medieval abbey.<\/p>\n

St. Thomas<\/i>‘s subject matter reminds me of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung<\/i>, but in terms of style I think of The Leisure Society’s The Sleeper<\/i><\/a>. Just as The Sleeper<\/i> was the album discovery that, in many ways, defined 2009 for me, St. Thomas<\/i> and The Scottish Enlightment are certain to be my standard for 2010. Standout tracks for me are “Earth Angel\/With Sticks in Crypt,” “First Will Be Last,” “The Soft Place,” and the penultimate track “My Bible Is,” an unexpected track which builds to a justly deserved emotional catharsis.<\/p>\n

I’ve streamed the album enough times on the Bandcamp page for St. Thomas<\/i><\/a>, and I’ll place an order later this week for the CD. It’s an amazing album, and I cannot wait to own a copy for myself, put the CD in the Beetle’s stereo and be immersed in its cavernous, echoing, haunting music.<\/p>\n

Banish the doubts that St. Thomas himself had, sample some of the tracks online for yourself and prepare yourself to be impressed. The Scottish Enlightenment will be a band to watch, of that I have no doubt. :h2g2:<\/p>\n

Links:<\/b>
\n· The Scottish Enlightnment website<\/a>
\n· The Scottish Enlightnment on Facebook<\/a>
\n· The Scottish Enlightnment on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A year and a half ago, I began listening to the BBC’s Scotland Introducing Podcast, a fifteen minute survey of the latest and greatest from some of Scotland’s best unsigned bands. Every Friday morning, I look for the link in my RSS reader, and I’ve discovered some very good music this way, bands like WashingtonContinue reading “On The Scottish Enlightenment’s “St. Thomas””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4098,88],"class_list":["post-5467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-music","tag-scotland","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}