Tolbooth Attic
Throughout his career Pictish Trail has resolutely furrowed his own path, steadily creating a unique catalogue of recordings & performances, while eschewing the blueprint of the predictable singer-songwriter in favour of something untidily intriguing.
Island Family is the fifth album from Isle-of-Eigg dwelling electro-acoustic psych-pop artist Johnny Lynch aka Pictish Trail. A strange, unpredictable, sardonic and yet deeply personal record inspired by all from Fever Ray to The Flaming Lips, Liars, Mercury Rev and Beck, Island Family is Pictish Trail’s contrarian view of arcadia; a search for the euphoric in the bucolic.
Secret Soundz Vol.1 & 2, his critically acclaimed first pair of albums, were gloriously eclectic slices of lo-fi folk-pop later revived as a deluxe double-vinyl by Moshi Moshi. Future Echoes, was released to further acclaim in 2016, winning the public vote for Scottish Album of the Year (SAY Award) in 2017, and reissued as a deluxe edition on Record Store Day in 2018 by London-based taste-makers, Fire Records. In 2020 Johnny released his 4th LP, Thumb World, a voyage to the outer rings of Pictish Trail’s mind at its darkest, funniest & most inventive – described by Clash as “his most dazzling, most exceptional yet”.
Over summer and autumn 2024, Pictish Trail will be performing a select series of stripped-back shows, playing songs from across his 5 album back catalogue on acoustic guitar and sampler, accompanied by Semay Wu on cello, Gillian Fleetwood on harp, and Susan Bear on keys and bass guitar.
When not putting out his own music as Pictish Trail, Johnny Lynch is a fulcrum of the British independent music community. Through his label Lost Map, he champions a diverse and idiosyncratic array of extraordinary talent, helping to elevate the likes of Rozi Plain, Alabaster dePlume, Bas Jan, Callum Easter and Free Love.
Support from L.T Leif:
An adopted member of the Scottish DIY music scene whose life and art has been heavily shaped by northern landscapes and climes, L.T. Leif is rooted in the self-sufficient spirit of the Canadian prairies, and carries with them the indelible experience of spells spent living in Iceland, Finland and drawing inspiration from the Pacific Northwest. Leif has been involved in many bands and projects, first entering the scene with Calgary orchestral pop sweethearts The Consonant C. Since the group disbanded in 2011, Leif has explored many configurations and approaches, from experimental noise collaborations with the infamous Bug Incision crew to playing sold-out shows with the punk-hearted OK JAZZ, drumming with slacker-rock bands (Hex Ray and Hungry Freaks), playing synths with Matt Swann (of Astral Swanns), and singing in a witch choir (Hermitess). Leif’s admirers include K Records maestro Calvin Johnson (they toured together with The Believer Magazine).
Releases under the solo-with-friends moniker L.T. Leif have included the 2016 EP compilation Shadow on the Brim / Rough Beasts and Leif’s first release on Lost Map Records, the 2022 Lost Cat limited edition cassette compilation of live and unreleased tracks, improvisations and deep cuts Introducing L.T. Leif.
Leif’s debut album proper, Come Back To Me, But Lightly, was released on Lost Map in January 2023, in collaboration with fellow Scottish label, OK Pal.
Demoed in a room on Glasgow’s Great Western Road and built intercontinentally with contributions both remote and in-person from pals near and far including Clea Anaïs, Bill Wells, Matt Swann, eagleowl’s Clarissa Cheong and Bart Owl, Faith Eliott and Mark Hamilton (Woodpigeon), Come Back To Me, But Lightly is a magical collection of sensually sylvan songs about “the body, loss as a decision, and knowing your own desire as a radical act,” says Leif. “It has a lot of imagery and thought from the northern places I’ve been living, and takes inspiration from minimalist writers, painters, and thinkers. This album comes from a six-year long space of change, from a life I was living as someone afraid of my own brain and body, into someone a lot more openly unshiney. Painful and seeping. I think that distance and decisions and loss and conflict are all things that can birth you into a different kind of being.”
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READ MOREDon't miss Old Blind Dogs when they return to the Tolbooth Stirling on Friday 25th July!
READ MOREOne of the UK's best-loved songwriter/musicians, Martin Stephenson's live performances are a must see... catch him live at the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 31st July!
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READ MORECODA are the only proper four-piece Zep tribute band in Europe that looks and sounds as close to the real thing as possible. Catch them when they play the Tolbooth Stirling in August 2025!
READ MORESpend an evening with Tam Cassidy, the square peg, some songs, laughter and chat at the Tolbooth on Saturday 16th August!
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READ MOREChewin' The Fat star Karen Dunbar is back with her brand new 2025 Scottish Tour. Catch her at the Tolbooth Stirling on 30th August!
READ MOREDon't miss The John McCusker Trio with Sam Kelly & Toby Shaer at the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 4th September!
READ MORESaltfishforty present their exhilarating blend of traditional Orkney music and the result is a sound of equally thrilling raw attack and multi-dimensional richness.
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READ MOREJosie Long is back with a new show about discovery, wonder, extinction and how to walk through a landscape of monstrous disaster. Catch her at the Tolbooth Stirling on Saturday 13th September!
READ MORECatch Nadia Reid at the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 18th September in support of her new album 'Enter Now Brightness'!
READ MORETolbooth and Stirling Pride are delighted to announce She Drew The Gun as the first event to be part of Stirling Pride 2025, for a very special show at the Tolbooth on 20th September.
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READ MORECatch Scottish singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-MacLeod when she plays the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 2nd October!
READ MOREInteresting Things returns to the Tolbooth showcasing some of the best Scottish and international indie, alternative, electronic, pop, jazz and experimental music.
READ MORECritically acclaimed singer-songwriter, Nick Heyward, returns to Scotland this autumn for an intimate acoustic tour, and plays the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 30th October!
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READ MORERhoda Dakar, best known as the lead singer of The Bodysnatchers, has forged an impressive career and plays the Tolbooth Stirling on Thursday 20th November!
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READ MOREMark Simmons is back on tour in 2026 with Jest to Impress, a brand new show packed with even more expertly crafted one-liners. Catch him at the Tolbooth Stirling on 17th March!
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READ MORECraig Revel Horwood is also a remarkable singer, and to celebrate the release of his debut solo album, Revelations, he’ll reveal his own, hidden talent during this Fab-U-Lous night!
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