IT'S safe to say that the last week has been an emotional rollercoaster for our much-loved nation.

However, the peaks and pits are a lot more durable when you have the pleasure of ending your working week with some uplifting and easy-listening new releases.

Escape the blues of the football world and fall right into the loving arms of our musical national treasures this Friday.
 

Wrest — Second Wind

Championing as the Scottish Indie kings in newspapers such as The Sun and the Border Telegraph, Wrest are not just promising on paper but a notably promising band in person. The Edinburgh-based quartet were the first-ever sold-out show at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January 2020 and also toured with sell-out shows in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Hamburg.

One-line review: "It's emotionally climactic: liberating and perfectly hair-raising in the most Scottish Snow Patrolesque way possible."

FFO: Twin Atlantic, Travis, The Snuts, Skerryvore, The National, Frightened Rabbit, Snow Patrol
 

swim school — anyway

Musical talent paired with atomic edginess and bolstering originality is only part of why this band has truly earned its reputation with an ever-growing fan base. This Edinburgh-based quartet are an almost unstoppable force with a talent that really speaks for itself.

One-line review: "'anyway' really is a defining track on the firmly established sound and energy that swim school exude and they'll never not be up there with the best for exactly that."

FFO: Slowdive, Wolf Alice, My Bloody Valentine, St Clements, Lucia & The Best Boys, Pale Waves
 

The Zebecks — Violet

Four-piece Elgin-based indie rock band, The Zebecks, are the perfect example of musical triumph, rising like a phoenix from the ashes after the 'big c' threw the entire industry off its feet. The band had the aim to make a name for themselves through gigging but after being knocked down and locked down, they didn't just get back up again— they ran with it. Today they've released their first original song and their second single, the impeccable 'Violet'.

One-line review: "Not many bands can make three simple chords sound like the first track from the opening scene of a coming-of-age indie film like The Zebecks do — and you have to love it."

FFO: Weezer, Pixies, Cameo Habitat, Buffet Lunch, Jonah Eli, The Rah's, Declan McKenna
 

Layaway — A Minute in this World

Headlining the Barrowlands, King Tuts and playing a BBC Live Session are just a few of the outrageously encouraging achievements from this four-piece alt-rock group hailing from Glasgow. For a band described as 'moody and epic', they sure have a lot of energy.

One-line review: "Really late 90s and early 2000s alt-rock nostalgic, brimming with heavy rhythm, a bulky riff and powerful vocals and it's safe to say that those decades are making a welcomed resurgence with Layaway only adding to that."

FFO: Linkin Park, Greenday, Angels and Airwaves, Queens of the Stone Age

 

Starry Skies — Do It With Love

This indie folk-pop combo are just the musical embodiment of uplifting spirits that we need after an exhausting year of persistent chaos. They are the rainbow after the storm and listeners from all around the world agree with this. From LA, New York and Chicago to Scotland, England and Paris. Starry Skies are loved everywhere.

One-line review: "World peace, soul warmth and wholesome summer vibes all radiating in one place."

FFO: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Carole King, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell
 

Colin Clyne — Within Hindsight

After spending an impressive and successful 10 years in California and as a two-time winner of The Best Acoustic Act at the San Diego Music Awards, Clyne has returned to Scotland. Here he is no less of a 'rising star' in the words of STV and becoming admired deeply internationally.

One-line review: "'There's a beauty within hindsight' has to be one of the most resonating lines from the Scottish Music Scene within the last year."

FFO: Steve Grozier, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, James Grant, Skerryvore, Wrest
 

Book Klub — Life of Me

There's always something so exhilarating when noisy guitars meet deep, confessional lyrics and angsty, passion-ridden vocals in the Scottish Music Scene. Nobody quite does it like Book Klub. This four-piece Edinburgh-based band have ticked all the boxes for a heavily influenced late 80s/90s alternative rock sound.

One-line review: "If Samuel Barber performed his Adagio for Strings from 1936 in a shoegaze, post-punk and noise-rock band — this is exactly what it'd sound like and I don't think he'd make any apologies for it."

FFO: Pixies, Sonic Youth, Baby Strange, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive
 

fin — breach repair (morning devotional)

fin is an exceptional Edinburgh-based producer, musician and engineer with arrangement and production skills like no other. If you're looking for some easy-listening lo-fi blood pressure-reducing music, then look no further.

One-line review: "The world would be a much better place if everybody chose to turn on fin's breach repair first thing in the morning and those are words I'll live by."

FFO: Aphex Twin, Glassmasterer, Josephine Sillars
 

Cathal Murphy — Frame

A lover of the blues yet incorporating a modern pop feel, Cathal Murphy who is just 20 years old and Belfast-based, is kicking up quite the storm in Scotland's beloved city of Glasgow where almost 10 per cent of his monthly Spotify listeners reside.

One-line review: "If the jangly guitar style of Johnny Marr met the melodic pop voice of Shawn Mendez, this is exactly what you'd get."

FFO: Shawn Mendez, Lewis Capaldi, Years and Years, Glassmasterer, Indoor Foxes, Kings Klub
 

Rory O'B — Hangover Sickness

A unique and original blend of a new emerging genre of Scottish indie-folk rap, it has to be said that Rory O'B is quite the pioneer — or at very least— icon, in this field. Mesmerisingly articulate in his delivery and certainly one worth watching.

One-line review: "Who knew Scottish hangovers could sound so beautifully poetic? Rory O'B will elude you to think that they are through his soft percussion, sweet singing/talking vocals and guitar. "

FFO: Gerry Cinnamon, DMA's, Cast, Jamie Pollock, Nick Drake

 

Brat Coven — 97

This riot punk trio are exactly the kind of empowering, inclusive and safety fighting music that we need in the Scottish Music Scene. They are the voices of a generation, voicing a generation.

One-line review: "This is hard-hitting, heavy and raw: delivered exactly the way a song exploring the safety of women (or the lack thereof) in society should be."

FFO: Indoor Foxes, Wolf Alice, Sunflower Bean, Weezer, Sonic Youth
 

DAYTIME TV — ugly

Formerly known as Hunter & The Bear, Daytime TV successfully hit the scene with their 2020 single "side effects" which has since accumulated over 25,000 plays. Things have never looked so bright for this continuously thriving quartet.

One-line review: "With every release of a new DAYTIME TV track, I understand why I love my speakers more and my neighbours like me less, but I'm just as content with both because…wow."

FFO: The Snuts, Glasvegas, Biffy Clyro, Arctic Monkeys, Vistas, Wrest, Layaway, Baby Strange