LOST Map, the record label run by Johnny Lynch, aka Pictish Trail, will turn five this year. In celebration, the Eigg-based label will host a series of events, including an all-dayer set for September 8 at St Peter’s Hall in Edinburgh. There, Lost Map acts will play alongside special guests, with the precise line-up will be announced over the coming weeks.
Before that, there’s a birthday party at Glasgow’s Mono on July 20, headlined by Pictish Trail’s full band, with DJs into the night. A week later at the city’s Rum Shack there will be a set from Kid Canaveral, a band who left venerable Fife label Fence Records at the same time ex-Fencer Lynch (right) departed to set up the Lost Map stable. The double-header also features Randolph’s Leap, a charming sprawl of eight musicians whose recent album Worryingly Okay reaffirms their talents for melodic indie that’s dependably daft and playful.
True to their joy in the somewhat eccentric and contrary, the album was released on CD, a format which, the latest Lost Map newsletter explains, “enjoyed a big boom in the 1990s, partly because they made an excellent flat surface for doing cheap drugs off of, before alas going out of fashion around the same time as paying for music”.
Supporting Pictish Trail at Mono will be Lost Map new signings Firestations, a London-based band who say they “write songs and then mess them up”. Given the crisp guitars, oddball tunes and bittersweet wit of recent album The Year Dot, that seems an inspired method of working.
Headed by Manuela Gernedel and her husband, former Franz Ferdinand guitarist Nick McCarthy, Manuela are another Lost Map band based in London.
Continuing a musical collaboration Gernedel and McCarthy first began in the late 1990s at a youth club summer party in Bavaria, where they grew up, the duo also feature alongside Firestations and Randolph’s Leap on Lost Map’s latest series of PostMap Postcard Single releases – artful snailmail postcards with a unique download code.
The last in a series of 12, the singles – Manuela’s Silent Dome, Randolph’s Leap’s Television and Make Your Own Mind Up by Firestations – can be bought individually for £1, or all 12 for £9 from the website.
Lost Map head navigator Lynch told The National: “The circumstances around Lost Map coming into being were pretty hectic, but it meant we had a roster of artists and releases ready to go, and I think we managed to land on our feet pretty quick.
“Since 2013, we’ve put out so much music! More than 40 different titles on vinyl, CD and cassette, almost another 40 releases as postcard singles, and so many unique events, too.”
Lynch, whose Pictish Trail album Future Echoes was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year award last year, says he’s “astonished and proud of the variety of it all, and the reputation we’ve built, collectively”.
He said: “We’ve just started a residency programme on Eigg, and an accompanying podcast series, so the plan is to develop those alongside releases and events from the current roster.
“Lost Map has managed to remain sustainable primarily through our dedication to keeping events intimate, our releases limited, and everything a bit unpolished. Keeping it weird!”
Pictish Trail plays James Yorkston’s Tae Sup Wi’ A Fifer event with Carl Stone and Thomas Mccarthy on July 14, Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, 8pm, £16. Tel: 01592 583302. Tickets: bit.ly/TaeSupJul18. www.taesup.co.uk
Pictish Trail’s full band headline the Lost Map Glasgow Birthday Party with support from Firestations, July 20, Mono, Glasgow, 8pm, £12, £15. Tickets: bit.ly/PictishBirthday. pictishtrail.co.uk, www.firestationsband.com
Kid Canaveral and Randolph’s Leap: July 27, The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 8pm, £10, £12. Tickets: bit.ly/CanaveralBirthday. www.kidcanaveral.co.uk, www.randolphsleap.co.uk
Lost Map 5th Birthday All-Dayer: September 8, St Peter’s Hall, Edinburgh, 1pm to 11pm, £20. Tickets: bit.ly/StrangeBirthday. www.lostmap.com
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