We’re all about the grassroots when it comes to Singles In Your Area, but it’s still exciting when big hitters crawl out from the woodwork. As well as Bobby Gillespie lending his vocals to a Yttling Jazz tune, the unlikely return of Boards Of Canada has given this month’s round-up a spot of star power. 

If you’ve got a song you’d like to see featured in Singles In Your Area, share it with us at [email protected]. 

Kohla 
‘Starlight’ 

The latest single from Kohla’s forthcoming album, due in autumn, is an inordinately pleasant genre mash-up which vacillates between harps, violins, a doo-wop bass and the kind of DIY hand claps that Stuart Murdoch would be proud of. Apparently inspired by hymns from her youth, it’s a swooning track worthy of an old-fashioned end-of-night slow dance.

Yttling Jazz & Bobby Gillespie 
‘Strange’ 

Primal Scream’s mumbler-in-chief lends his sprechgesang enunciations to Swedish producer Yttling Jazz’s latest track, a laid-back lounge piece with Doors-ish LA-psych vibes. ‘Strange’, repeats Gillespie, seemingly recalling a surrealist night of great sex, while a harmonica and vibraphone bounce off each other. If you want Bobby in full beat poet mode, this chilled-out track is for you. 

Pinlight 
‘Salt’ 

A slinky groove lies at the centre of this pop smasher, which starts with a blast of funk and veers unexpectedly into a full-blast organ. There’s more than a hint of Lorde in her delivery, but really this is a pure mainline hit that’s unafraid of an earworm chorus. 

Orla Noble 
‘Hold Me’ 

Pure headphone music abounds from this folk track which places Noble’s rich, smooth voice front-and-centre. The song, Noble told us, is about settling for less: ‘Many of us are so desperate to be seen and loved that we’ll take it with a large helping of pain alongside.’ It’s taken from her upcoming album Unfurl, set for release on Friday 15 May. Catch a launch gig at The Caves in Edinburgh on Sunday 17 May.

Sulka
‘All Bets Off’ 

Few break-up anthems are quite as sunny as ‘All Bets Are Off’, a creaky lo-fi indie jangler with sparking ingenuity. Lukas Clasen, who fronts the band, claims the lyrics are inspired by an episode of The Sopranos: ‘It’s written from the perspective of a racehorse that Tony Soprano buys and develops a genuine love for. It’s about how a seemingly loving relationship can have a toxic undercurrent, coming from an imbalance of power.’ Let’s be happy that Lukas’s version of the horse doesn’t run into Ralph Cifaretto. 

Gurry Wurry 
‘Have You’ 

Perhaps in response to social media sheen of other genres, lo-fi indie-pop is coming back in a big way this year. Gurry Wurry, the solo project of self-professed ‘avant-pop oddball’ Dave King, is an exemplar of the field, channelling the outside energy of his forebears R Stevie Moore or Super Furry Animals. ‘Have You’ is oozing the unique charm of a tinkerer who’s too weird to be mainstream, but is exactly what pop needs. 

Acolyte 
‘Moon Disaster’ 

Acolyte are an irresistible combination of poetry, space rock and ambient, led by spoken word don Iona Lee. Here, Lee breathes in apocalyptic anxiety while a looping psych bassline holds down a sprawling soundscape. Apparently CAN is a big influence on this one, taking inspiration from the prog legends' 70s grooves as it toys with different textures. Invigorating stuff. 

Anoraq 
‘Graft’ 

A gentle ode to overwork with a lilting folk tinge, this plaintive mixture of spoken word and light melody comes from Tim Martin Cubitaru and Patrick Romero McCafferty. It’s already being championed by poetry luminaries Iona Zajac and Michael Pedersen.

Sonedo
‘Tailor Made’ (feat. Kyi Synclair)

Scotland’s continuing embrace of rap and new wave jazz continues as Sonedo collaborates with grime wunderkind Kyi Sinclair for a state of the nation reflection on growing up around violence and drugs. Sinclair’s relentlessly grim lyricism is almost countered by Sonedo’s sumptuous arrangements; there’s an unmistakable romance to his low, sonorous saxes. 

Faith Eliott
‘There’s A Cargo Ship Full Of Luxury Cars On Fire In The Atlantic Ocean’

Originally intended for their previous album dryas, anger propels this ripped-from-the-headlines howl into the capitalist void. ‘Who needs significance when you’ve got the internet?’ is one of many withering putdowns on modern living, which spirals into anxiety-laden screeds against the fallacy of infinite growth. ‘It was written about five years ago,’ Eliott explains, 'and captured a lot of exasperation and post-covid internet fatigue.’ Despite the barbed sentiments of the lyrics, Eliott's music isn't spitting invective; a lilting beauty comparable to fellow Edinburghers Meursault is around every corner. 

Saint Sappho 
‘Between The Lines’ 

Oozing a 90s swagger, this is the title track of the queer Glasgow duo’s debut album. Breathing the air of Britpop, there’s a cinematic sweep of orchestras, Verve-like reverb on the guitars, and a piano melody that seems to be a variation on The Beta Band’s ‘Dr Baker’, held together by Tammy Young’s honey-drip of a voice. In an era when Richard Ashcroft can headline TRNSMT and Oasis sell out the entire world, this is the kind of female-fronted revision of Britpop the world has been asking for.  

Adam Ross
‘I Never Thought You Couldn't Not’

Our country’s Randy Newman returns with a perky indie-folk fancy hiding his usual biting wit. ‘You lack the charisma to be a cult leader but you’re knocking it out the park with your bad ideas,’ is his opening gambit on a self-diss track that’ll nonetheless leave you with a spring in your step. It’s the lead single for his latest album, Bring On The Apathy, out on Friday 15 May. 

Snout 
‘The Forays Of Men Into Time Magnetic And the Mysteries Untold Therein’

Revelling in lo-fi production, the bookish side of psych is channelled as singer Kieran Thomas reflects on a childhood living a stone’s throw away from the Antonine Wall. Woozy though it is, a lithe precision underpins this sly, witty work. 

Boards Of Canada
‘Tape 05’ 

That’s right, the godfathers of modern electronica have returned with a spacey, enchanting ambient piece that soon gives way to enveloping swells of orchestral overwhelm. It's good to have them back. 

Picture: Molly Thomson. 

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