Future Sound: Curiosity Shop
Our column celebrating new music to watch continues with Curiosity Shop. The harmonising indie folksters chat to Fiona Shepherd about landscape inspiration, carrot confusion and being a bunch of weirdos
‘We’re a harmony group because we like harmonies.’ So says Ruairidh Wallace, one fifth of Curiosity Shop, a new indie folk combo set to reel you in like Edinburgh’s answer to Fleet Foxes. ‘Any time I hear a good harmony song I love it. It feels like you’re part of something, you know? You can feel the vibration, especially if you are all singing directly at each other in a small room.’ This is how Curiosity Shop rehearse but it was also how they were forced to perform at Brighton’s Alt Escape showcase for new bands earlier this year. When beset by technical difficulties, they saved the day with a fully unplugged performance, as Wallace recalls: ‘We just told the crowd, “if you want to hear us, you’re going to have to listen. This is how they used to do it in the old days”. And it went really well.’
It has become a band habit to capture the attention of audiences with the a cappella harmony intro to ‘Crows’, so much so that it is now the opening track of their debut EP. Bound For The Sky is a fully formed five-track treat for the ears, encompassing old-school folk-rock languor, carefree skiffly odes and soulful melancholic ballads. It’s the accomplished outpouring of a band founded on friendship, specifically of Campbeltown natives Wallace and Sonny Scott, who bonded at school over Nirvana, Pink Floyd and The Clash. Scott persuaded Wallace towards folk but he was already halfway there with a love of Nick Drake and John Martyn, and a repertoire of classical and traditional music: ‘songs I learned phonetically in Gaelic or Italian like “Ave Maria” or “Ombra Mai Fu”. I’m not entirely sure but I think that one is about a carrot…’ It’s actually about a tree and was written by one George Frideric Handel. As for Scott, ‘my mum sent me to nursery with a harmonica. She said she knew I was going to be a musician.’
Although they hightailed it to Edinburgh as soon as they left school, both are appreciative of their rural background. ‘You can’t deny the influence of the landscape,’ says Scott. ‘You’re right next to the sea, there are hills and forests behind you. And Paul McCartney’s just up the road, although we never bumped into him.’ At music college, they gravitated towards three other country boys: bassist Louis Taige from Wick, multi-instrumentalist Yann McAuley from Forres, and drummer Duncan Biggar from the Borders. ‘We’re not necessarily odd-ones-out but I think we stood out within our own crowds in each respective corner of Scotland, so we feel very at home with each other,’ says Scott.
‘We’re all weirdos,’ confirms Wallace.
‘Musically, things just stuck quite quickly,’ adds Scott. ‘Louis and Duncan have a grasp of music theory, I’m hanging on a little bit having studied music, and Ru and Yann are more ears. With each new member, the songs evolved and we’ve slowly cultivated the sound of Curiosity Shop. I think it’s very much tied to the five of us.’
Curiosity Shop play The Glad Café, Glasgow, Saturday 21 November; Bound For The Sky is out now on Fontana Records.