Album Review: Future Echoes by The Pictish Trail

We’re told that Johnny Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail, worked on this album as something of a sonic hermit, spending much of his time ensconced in a caravan on the Isle Of Eigg in the Scottish Inner Hebredies, only emerging to record the end results in London and releasing them on his own imprint (see Label Of Love, page 137). His music utilises that sense of isolation most effectively – pop music which has hooks but doesn’t pander to them, that has an echoing sense of space about it, as though the horizon stretches out wide and far and he’s calling to it in hope and expectation. His lyrics are worldly wise and vivid, eloquent even, his guitar angular and sharp, and though it’s not immediately accessible, his album grows play by play.

Full Review >>

When Johnny Lynch announced his departure from Fence Records in 2013 after a decade at the helm, the immediate launch of his new label Lost Map was the next logical step. It was no surprise that this charismatic character wouldn't be sitting still – taking the artists he had nurtured with him, he embarked on a new journey. Lynch has been making music in his Pictish Trail guise since the early noughties, whilst heavily involved in the iconic Fence Collective and running its associated label.

Full Review >>