SNACK magazine: Issue 39 – May 2022

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Sit back and enjoy our exploration of Glasgow's rich music history by tuning into our music tour on channel 8 of our multilingual commentary!

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CONTENTS WHAT'S ON

P8

Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival – Aye Write – Southside Fringe Don Giovanni – Who Killed My Father – Wide Days

INTERVIEWS

P18

Warpaint – Kathryn Joseph – Album Club – Donna McLean Moses McKenzie – Halina Rifai (Moving Minds)

FOOD & DRINK P34 Food & Drink News – Vegan Spiced Pancakes Recipe

LGBT+

P38

Eurovision – The (Not) Gay Movie Club

REVIEW

P42

Just Mustard – Leila Mottley – Ocean Vuong – Book Klub Becca Star – Album Club – Nokomis – Bloc Party These Southern Lands – Glitch 41 – Drive My Car – The Novice

WORDS

P58

Dot Cotton Gasses Rabbits To Death In A Biscuit Tin

CREDITS Editor: Kenny Lavelle Sales: Philip Campbell Sub Editor: Leona Skene Food and Drink Editors: Emma Mykytyn and Mark Murphy LGBT+ Editor: Jonny Stone What's On Editor: Natalie Jayne Clark Design: Joanna Hughes Spine quote: Warpaint album title To advertise in SNACK hello@snackpublishing.com 0141 632 4641 SNACK is a supporter of the global Keychange movement.

Disclaimer: Snack Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reproduction of this magazine in part or in whole is forbidden without the explicit written consent of the publishers. Every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content of this magazine but we cannot guarantee it is complete and up to date. Snack Publishing Ltd. is not responsible for your use of the information contained herein.

Hello and welcome to issue 39 of SNACK, We’ve lots of ground to cover this month, so let’s dive straight in. We’re delighted to welcome the mighty Warpaint to our May front cover spot. It’s been six years since their last album, Heads Up, and with the recording of new long-player Radiate Like This interrupted by the pandemic, the band found both benefits and strains in being forced to take their time and work separately – much like most of us the past couple of years. They chatted with Andrew Reilly about their more meditative approach, touring, babies, feeling re-energised, and reclaiming your identity.

Elsewhere, Alistair Braidwood chats to Donna McLean about her memoir Small Town Girl and reclaiming her truth after ending up at the centre of one of the biggest anti-democratic scandals of our time. Dig in deeper and you’ll find our interview with the ever-brilliant Kathryn Joseph (if you haven’t checked out her new album, for you who are the wronged, I’d advise sticking it on this very second). Also, Keira Brown speaks to Moses McKenzie about his debut literary novel, An Olive Grove in Ends, a resonant coming-of-age story at times tender and lyrical but at others bleak and despairing, about a Black British community in Bristol.

As for the rest? I’m sure you’ll find your way around.

Stay safe and we’ll see you in June.

Kenny Lavelle Editor

ALL FILMS ALL DAY FROM £4.50

01786 466 666 macrobertartscentre.org Macrobert Arts Centre is a registered Scottish company and charity. Company no: SC337763 | Charity no: SC039546

WHAT’S ON GUIDE DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY ARTS FESTIVAL

Online and various locations Dumfries & Galloway 20th till 29th May For all: this festival encompasses everything and everyone and is ‘the largest rural performing arts festival in Scotland’, this year with 27 live performances! Opening night has Bogha-Frois (Gaelic for ‘rainbow’), a queer Scottish folk group founded in 2018 – this project has presented over 50 musicians, with five on show at the festival with Scandinavian and Scottish tunes. I don’t know about you, but we love a låtmandola. Before the evening’s event, they’re hosting a wonderful workshop too – you can bring a wee tune of your own and you’ll converse and collaborate together to create and perform on stage the opening song of that evening’s set.

Have you ever thought about how trees are the hair of the earth? Well, choreographer Pauline Torzuoli has – see her eerie, ethereal show, Thin H/as H/air, danced by Yosuke Kusano, and attend a Q&A with her on the 24th. This is just one of the events available as part of their online offering.

Another is Skookum Jim and The American Dream.

This is a film based on a narrative sequence from poet Chrys Salt and covers the racism, cultural snackmag.co.uk

imperialism, and environmental destruction within the Klondike gold rush – and Skookum Jim’s wonderful reinvestment in the area.

There’s tons for wains too, including a dinosaur adventure which uses storytelling, dance and music to portray a marvellous story of moments that connect families together. Not only that, but lots of these magical events include food! What a way to connect the senses. Check out Tale from the Drove Roads – you’ll be fed full to the brim of food, folktales, and fair songs.

For four Kafkaesque reimaginings of Kafka, look no further than The Metamorphosis: Unplugged – a cabaret caper into this weird tale. Their closing event has the last chance to see Egg live – it’s an aerial theatre production which will have your jaw dropping faster and further than the performers fly down their ropes. Check out their website for more events, and remember they also have a year-round offering! dgartsfestival.org.uk

AYE WRITE Various locations, Glasgow 6th till 22nd May You gotta love it even for its punny name!

Anything you have ever considered to be to do with words will be featured at this fest, held over three writerly weekends.

Particularly of interest are all the wonderful combos of writers and industry folk being smashed together to perform – the dynamics, the discussions, and the digressions will undoubtedly be enlightening, enriching, and entertaining.

There’s so much going on it is hard to highlight – check out the workshops, walks, and panels for yourself: glasgowlife.org.uk/arts-music-andcultural-venues/aye-write

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Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh 6th May A stunning reinterpretation of the seven deadly sins for the modern day (like Pride as gym bro and Sloth as all of us, glued to our phones but wishing somewhere inside us to change this messed-up world). Love The Sinner is a book of spoken word set in a Glasgowesque landscape and Imogen Stirling is presenting the book across Scotland, including at the Scottish Poetry Library.

She sings and she shouts and she swoops through people and themes that cross aeons. This book and show is also being reimagined as a fusion of poetry, theatre and electronic music next year, so catch the raw material and performer here first. Check out her website to see all her other upcoming dates.

Say you saw them first.

Live line-up includes:

Alex Amor / BEMZ / Calum Bowie Chef / Cyrano / Kapil Seshasayee Katherine Aly / Lizzie Reid Savage Mansion / Swiss Portrait The Jellyman’s Daughter & more Conference . Showcases . Networking

imogenstirling.com What’s on Page 9

KENMURE STREET FESTIVAL OF RESISTANCE - PROTEST Kenmure Street, Glasgow Saturday 14th May Part of the Southside Festival, this event will be chock full of pride and celebrations to commemorate the day of solidarity one year ago where the community came together to defy a dawn immigration raid. On 13th May 2021, hundreds crowded around the Home Office van and one man (aka Van Man) stayed under there for close to eight hours.

This moment of justice was down to the people, not the politicians. Due to the networks of people across this area, not only were there huge numbers of protesters but also resources and support, from a hydration pack for Van Man (who could barely roll over from his place of protest), to tuck shops, Eid cakes, and residents and local cafes opening their doors for people to use their toilets. Loads of organisations and individuals will have stalls for info, music, food, art, and more. This event is a coming together to remember and reconnect over this pivotal moment in Southside and Scottish society and history, and a protest in itself: ‘Let’s unite against racism and xenophobia, welcoming refugees and migrants to our communities and taking an unequivocal stand against Priti Patel’s barbaric and racist laws.

No one is illegal! We all belong! Refugees are Welcome Here.’ southsidefringe.org.uk

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SOUTHSIDE FRINGE Various locations, Glasgow Southside 14th till 22nd May Window shopping is pleasurable and free – but still definitely an individualistic, capitalist, consumerist pursuit. How about, instead of yet more materialistic stuff, you take a look at Everything Must Go? It’s a collaborative exhibition curated by artists Georgia Thornton Sparkes and Grace Higgins, comprising seven artists’ work in a dizzying array of mediums and themes. One has promised to be ‘a romantic declaration to a song and to clay’.

Phillies of Shawlands are hosting a vintage market (with Seamster Vintage) and record fair while Southside Fringe & Art Space G41 are hosting over 30 makers in the Shawlands Arcade space, plus there’s an evening market at Park Lane Market. The Cooperage, a gorgeous creative retail hub built in a renovated whisky barrel factory, will have a Fringe Fair with barrel-loads of fun in the form of live mural painting, kids art classes, stalls, and a scrummy vegan BBQ. These things are okay to covet and partake in, of course – supporting local artists and businesses and all that! Maybe art for your ears instead of your een is mair your thing – there’s music aplenty throughout the whole week, including Scaramanga’s ‘eclectic electronica’ and the award-winning Ventus Saxophone Quartet.

There’s also theatre (from Arts Enigma), poetry (from The Wee Retreat CIC), games (Southside Games Festival) and lots of wellbeing goodness (Southside Wellbeing Festival) to ensure you are fully restocked, refreshed, and reloaded in every possible way. southsidefringe.org.uk

DON GIOVANNI Theatre Royal, Glasgow 15th May till 25th June Sir Thomas Allen is renowned for his impressive productions of operas and this is no exception – especially as this was the role, as an opera singer, that he made his own. Giovanni’s decadent criminal story is sung in beautiful Italian – with English subtitles too – and underpinned

by Mozart’s magnetic music. It tells the tale of privilege, patriarchy, power, and deception, and the villain is absolutely set on fire in the end! And that’s not a spoiler – the show is over 200 years old.

Photo credit: Scottish Opera 2013

scottishopera.org.uk/shows/don-giovanni

rockaction.scot

What’s on Page 11

KNOCKENGORROCH

TRACY PATRICK

Galloway 19th till 22nd May

Paisley Central Library, Paisley 12th May

We’ve not had enough occasions for a fast-paced Dashing White Sergeant or gallant Gay Gordon’s in the last wee while, but the world ceilidh is back and bigger and better than ever. This family friendly festival contains within its devastatingly beautiful mountain riverside venue music, arts, workshops and just love, love, love, all around. It celebrates the Celtic diaspora, with folk and trad and modern music coming from all corners of the world, fusing and melting and connecting.

Free poetry, you say? Not only that, but free poetry that reminds you we are all going to perish someday and to adore every joyful moment life and living brings? Tracy Patrick presents her first full-length poetry collection and is accompanied by widely published and acclaimed Paisley poet Graham Fulton. At the age of 42, Tracy Patrick was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. The world looks different with a life-threatening illness, and her poetry similarly captures the world through a different lens. Paisley is such an underrated hub for poetry and writing – from long-standing writing groups that have produced some well-loved writers, to the regular poetry nights, to the Paisley Book Festival – and it’s only a 20-minute train ride from Glasgow Central. You’d be remiss not to check out the scene.

Some highlights of the line-up include: Afro Celt Sound System (both avian and human migration themes explored to enliven any person within earshot); Tinderbox (an awesome orchestra and rave collective); Blue Giant Orkestar (a tenacious trans-European instrumental ‘hydra’ beast of beats); and many, many more. Just remember to load up on your main festival goodies before you go – there will be caterers and things to buy at the festival but there’s nae shoaps or ATMS for 10 miles! Nice and secluded and a perfect place for a perty. Get the Knock bus from Glasgow or Edinburgh and you'll make pals on the way, and be more eco friendly than taking the car, too.

tracypatrick.org

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What’s on Page 13

WHO KILLED MY FATHER

WIDE DAYS

Tron Theatre, Glasgow 11th till 14th May Based on the book by Édouard Louis, one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Who Killed My Father is a startling example of autofiction and has been adapted to the stage by director Nora Wardell. Louis suffered at the hands of his alcoholic and homophobic father and struggled growing up gay in a small town. His chance comes to challenge his father’s views and actions when his father is left vulnerable after an accident at the factory. And yet Louis came away from the encounter with a deeper appreciation for the terrible influences on his father and sees him as ‘the product of years of social brutality’.

His work exposes the harm of political and social decisions and reflects on class, masculinity, and homophobia.

Various Locations, Edinburgh 19th till 21st May

tron.co.uk/shows/who-killed-my-father

Scotland’s music convention is back, hosted by Wide Events CIC, and is covering themes aplenty that actively involve people in the industry. Their round tables consist of brief case studies with workshop-like elements that support purposeful idea generation. The two themes of those sessions this year are regarding tourism and games, the former with a focus on collaboration and effects of the pandemic, and the latter exploring music beyond the soundtrack. They’re also showcasing lots of people in their '15 Minutes of Knowledge' sessions, which are exactly what they sound like, exploring pertinent topics like environmentally friendly music NFTs, copyright, and that TikTok hing. Music and parties are on every day to go along with all these learning and networking opps too! widedays.com

CHILDREN'S CLASSIC CONCERTS - WONDERLAND

Photo credit: Hanna Katrina Jedrosz

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling 22nd May: 2:30pm

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‘Tis a brillig and mimsy adaptation of Alice and Wonderland, with an orchestra as the centrepiece that everything else gyres and gimbels around.

Plus, they have added a version of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, which is sure to be a silly hit with the whiffling wains. Their musical ‘topsy turvy tea party’ is a celebration just for you on your most frabjous unbirthday! macrobertartscentre.org/event/childrensclassic-concerts

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What’s on Page 15

DAVID LIVINGSTONE BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM As we await the fate of the David Livingstone monument in Cathedral Square, Glasgow, the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum invites people to reevaluate and engage with his story. Livingstone worked at the Blantyre Cotton Works Mill from when he was ten years old to his early 20s, which produced thread made from cotton produced by enslaved people in the Americas and so the statue was included in a report by Glasgow Council as one of eight sites which have associations with the transatlantic slave trade, much to the dismay of campaign members, science editors, and historians alike.

When we think of Livingstone today, the famous (albeit only alleged) line ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ springs to mind. Whether you’ve picked it up from one of its many repurposed uses in film and TV dialogue, including the US The Office and even Silence of the Lambs, the iconic line has undoubtedly left its mark. But what about the rest of Livingstone’s legacy?

To the southeast of the statue in question sits the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, where the task of reinterpreting the life and legacy of the great explorer has been joyously undertaken. Located in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum can be found at the site where Livingstone grew up. Upon entering the grounds, which stretch along the bank of the River Clyde, the old tenement building that housed Livingstone’s family, along with up to 23 other families, can be visited after it reopened this year following a threeyear £9m redevelopment. snackmag.co.uk

The historical site in Shuttle Row, named after the shuttle within the machine used to create the Turkey Red thread that is laced through the interior of the building, aims to frame Livingstone’s legacy in a more honest and authentic light.

David Livingstone was a legendary Scottish explorer who was one of the first to map out the continent of Africa. Tales of his exploits made him a British celebrity across the country and beyond, and he publicly campaigned for the abolition of slavery. He grew up on a cotton mill working 12hour shifts and was a devoted student who would attend school in the evenings.

The museum recognises and challenges this image, highlighting the essential roles of the local translators, interpreters, intermediaries, porters, and cooks who facilitated and protected these expeditions across Africa, and tells their story as part of the wider tapestry.

Legacy Space David Livingstone Birthplace

Though he was far more captivated by science at a young age, his father pushed him to follow a religious path, which led him towards work as a missionary doctor. Livingstone went on to explore Southern and Central Africa .

Writing letters and records of all that he saw in Africa, he convinced many of the need to end the East African slave trade, which was eventually successful. As well as being a national hero in the UK, many African countries still celebrate him today.

Although often remembered glowingly, there are plenty of contradictions that lie within his story that the museum explores with balance. The statues don’t mention that in all of his expeditions, both successful and unsuccessful, there were failures which resulted in the loss of human lives. Having spent years accompanying and assisting Livingstone on his excursions, his own wife, Mary Moffat, who receives little acknowledgement compared to her husband, died during his ill-fated expedition to Zambezi. Back in Scotland, his children grew up without the presence of their father. Meanwhile, for all his ambitions as a Christian missionary, he himself acknowledged that his list of converts was limited to two people.

The phenomenal tale of Livingstone heroically fighting a lion is also framed closer to the truth, mentioning how the explorer only survived the gruelling encounter with the help of local people, who shot at the beast while Livingstone was pinned on the ground. Finally, despite his lifelong dedication to the abolition of slavery, we are also reminded that the loss of funding and support led him to access help and supplies from East African slave traders during his final, arduous expeditions.

For those who want to engage face to face with the complex and fascinating life of a Scottish icon, this immersive exhibition, full of evocative artefacts, quotes and windows into his world, provides the perfect gateway to this essential national story.

Although in the past, the story of the patriotic explorer who named Victoria Falls after his Queen has often been reduced to a white saviour cliché, the Birthplace Museum is at the forefront of the recontextualization of his amazing story. david-livingstone-birthplace.org

Trans African Gallery David Livingstone Birthplace

The story of Dr Livingstone has been told with an emphasis on him as a lone explorer, bravely fighting lions and traversing dangerous terrain.

Photo credits: Walnut Wasp

Sponsored Content by Aisha Fatunmbi-Randal Page 17

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WARPAINT Warpaint have quietly gone about their business for more than a decade, impressing and empowering all over the world. With the live music world gearing up for summer shows, the band are back in Europe and back with a new album.

SNACK caught up with Emily Kokal (vocals and guitar) and Theresa Wayman (vocals and guitar) to talk touring, babies, feeling re-energised, and reclaiming your identity.

You’re back on the road and new album Radiate Like This is coming out. How are you doing?

[EK] Great!

[TW] There’s some jetlag that took place last night! If you go to bed too late, and get some energy by moving on to your old schedule, that’s where I’m at right now. Other than the jetlag, it’s so good to be back. We’ve really missed the UK. The album recording occurred in two time frames: pre– and during the pandemic.

Did the album change much in this time?

[TW] In January 2020, the album wasn’t done, but most of the foundational tracking and a lot of the arrangements were ready. Some top-line stuff and vocals too, but most of that was yet to come. They weren’t ready to be presented to the world, and we were given two years to perfect them from then!

Were there lyrical or theme changes because of the change in the world?

[EK] I had a lot of change because my daughter was born in March 2020, and that changed the way I was working on music. It changed when I was pregnant, but then when she was born there were changes because of how motherhood felt, and literally having a baby sleeping next to me when I was recording changed my working! You had softer tones, in a circumstantial way and a metaphoric way: it’s just the nature of being a mother.

It's been interesting as we’ve been over here for two days, and we brought her. She tried to take her tiny suitcase, and go find Theresa to spend the night. She’s really excited and that has quelled some of my anxiety.

Photo credit: press

Music by Andrew Reilly Page 19

She’s really stimulated by all the change, and that makes sense, because we’ve all gravitated to this lifestyle. It's in our nature, and I believe it's in her nature. It's just ‘get on the bus, kid’.

The album sounds confident and at ease with itself. Is this a fair reflection on the group, or something you aimed for?

[TW] Having the time to get to know the songs in a way we’ve never been able to before, apart from Exquisite Corpse [the band’s debut EP] and some songs on The Fool [the band’s debut album], songs we were playing for a long time before recording, we haven’t had much time with our music.

In that way, knowing them better would make them feel more confident and comfortable.

[EK] That’s really interesting as someone said this album reminded them of Exquisite Corpse or that it felt like some sort of return. I didn’t really relate to that, but the thing it has most in common with that record is the consideration.

Do you think the way you recorded this album is something you’d do again?

[TW] I would like some elements of what happens now, but not have it take as long, and not be so far apart while we’re finishing it. It was nice to have personal and solo journeys with a song, but I think you have to take moments for that while still being together as a group.

[EK:] If we learn anything from this experience, it’s that I don’t think it's necessarily healthy for the band to be separated, even if some of the music benefitted from the consideration. It’s not the magic.

Did working on the album ensure you all remained connected even though you were far apart?

[EK] For me, my kid was born the day L.A. shut down, the exact moment everything shifted. It felt immediately introspective.

The whole experience took me to the bedrock of myself, and how I was capable of balancing it all: the blessing of not having to deal with the outside world, so I could focus on those two things.

snackmag.co.uk

How do you go about creating your set list for a new tour?

I started to come back to a relationship I had with music before I was in a band. I learned how to use Ableton better, be a better engineer, be able to reconsider vocals and not second guess myself or my projections on what people think. That was great, but the flip side is that a band can be really great in helping things move along and keeping perspective. There are plenty of things I erased that someone would have said were great!

While no one is looking for positives from the pandemic, did the break come at the right time for the band?

[TW] It was nice to be out of the album-making tour cycle we’ve been in for over ten years. It was nice to step away from that, be outside of the group, and feel my own impulses again and hear my own thoughts, know what matters to me the most, and reflect on what we’ve been doing mindlessly for the last 10 years. Maybe not mindlessly, but automatically…

I felt it when it was slowly coming back that this is me, not me tied to my band, just me. It was such a refreshing feeling. Now that we’re back together, I sense our individuality more, and I hope we can all retain that. That’s important.

Now that you’re back playing in the same room, have the songs evolved?

[EK] It felt like we were coming together to cover a record. The songs will continue to evolve while being road-tested. Now, we are prepared to play them with a certain degree of newness, reimagining and re-interpreting them for ease. We want to make it the live Warpaint experience that we’ve always done.

Photo credits: Press

[TW] We’re playing all our singles; we started there, in terms of new songs to learn. We had ambitions to learn the whole album.

[EK] Playing this album from start to finish would be an incredible experience. I’d love to do that [TW] One day! So, the singles: we have a version of ‘Melting' that has really changed for the live set.

It was easier for us to pull out this version, and it’s a gorgeous version. We all know which old songs of ours we still love to play, and those get on the list. We came to a consensus really nicely this time around – it was a peaceful experience.

Has it been heated in the past?

[TW] Yeah, setlist decisions can create intense arguments. It seems like nothing, but your setlist is your structure on stage, and when you’re on stage, it can be a vulnerable situation. So you’re fighting for your comfort and when that doesn’t work for someone else, and they want something that makes you feel on edge, it can feel threatening. The setlist conversation can be intense, but we’ve grown past that.

Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?

[EK] Find the things that you love that are just for yourself, that sculpt and shape and hone and tend to your inner desires.

[TW] Yeah! Amen. Also, we’re really excited to be here; it’s nice to connect with everyone. It’s only the beginning, and we’re ready to get going again.

Radiate Like This is released on May 6th on Virgin Records Warpaint play Glasgow SWG3 on May 13th Music by Andrew Reilly Page 21

KATHRYN JOSEPH Kathryn Joseph, after having difficulty writing music during the height of the pandemic, has astonished with a movement away from her typically high drama sound to a hushed, seething anger that threads each of the tracks on her new album for you who are the wronged. The album was recorded at musician and visual artist Lomond Campbell’s The Lengths, which gave the artist the opportunity to focus her entire attention on the project at this Highland haven. It’s an album that demands your full attention.

Kathryn spoke with SNACK about her motives for writing and recording her latest LP, as well as the hope she holds for the impact it may have.

The issues explored in the new LP to me feel raw, vulnerable, gritty. I mean, it’s in the title, but what would you advise new listeners of for you who are the wronged to expect?

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To me, it feels like it documents the toxic, abusive relationships that make us writhe and spit venom, and you are condemning it all. It feels like you are giving voice to so many that find it difficult to be heard. Would you agree?

Well, first of all, I think your way of describing it is absolutely beautiful. Thank you very much. And yeah, it's something that's just really important. To me, it's like, I've watched a lot of different types of abusive situations happening to those that I love.

I've been very lucky but I'm also very aware of how difficult it is to escape them: how close I've come to being trapped by the types of people who work like that, or who control people like that.

And it's just such a difficult thing, because there's no way of stopping it. And there's often no way of even proving it's happening or happened. The people it's happening to are usually the most beautiful of creatures, and it's just so upsetting to watch these beautiful people being damaged.

There isn't even any advice: a lot of the advice is just to be hands off about it because if you do in any way try and intercept it just makes the situation worse. So, it's that feeling of helplessness. I struggle with it when I can see it happening, but there's nothing I can do.

All I can do is write some strange, creepy, hopefully comforting little songs. I'm very aware that in the grand scheme of things, it means nothing. I'm also aware of how affected I am by other people's music and how it can make you make sense of situations that you're in or have been in. So, I'm hoping that we'll do that for someone.

We were reminded of your previous sound recently with the release of The Blood, The Weight, The Weary [a collaboration with Tinderbox Collective]. For this reason, for you who are the wronged sounds even sparser and quieter than we were perhaps ready for.

It does, however, give us room to breathe throughout the perhaps triggering lyrical content of the album. Was this intentional?

What are you listening to right now that's inspiring and influencing your music at the moment?

Okay, this is my worst question, because I'm really weird and my mind always goes blank. I mean, I was crying to Taylor Swift again. Does that count?

I was really obsessed with the long pond studio sessions [in which Taylor Swift performs each song consecutively on the album, folklore, and reveals the stories behind all 17 tracks]. I just think that record that she's made is really beautiful. I think there's some really beautiful moments in it. And Jill Lorean, her new record [This Rock], absolutely beautiful! So clever and strong and great. She's my hero. I love her.

I think it was. I knew that I wanted to make a record that was really close up. But I wanted it to be comforting. I want it to be the kind of thing that I would listen to the whole way through. And I think making a record like that is quite frightening because there's that feeling of ‘it's too much the same’ when it's not just me listening to it. I hope what I've written is something that makes people feel better.

That's my hope.

I noted you’d recently performed a few gigs in Glasgow and for Record Store Day, but will there be a whole spell of gigs alongside this release? When and where can we look forward to seeing you perform live?

for you who are the wronged is out from 22nd April via Rock Action Records

Yeah, so May is busy. I'm away for most of it.

But it's not all in a row; there's quite a lot of going up and down. But yeah, they start in May, the 4th and 5th in Dublin.

Photo credit: Press

Music by Keira Brown Page 23

ALBUM CLUB It is no surprise that musicians and creative people are consumed by music. Even those who work in the sector find their free time and social life based around gigs, listening to tunes, and dissecting songs.

I put the shout out, everyone said yes, and the album I got the ball rolling with was Green by R.E.M. It’s not my favourite R.E.M. album, but it’s one I really wanted to talk about. I like the album, but there are others that are stronger.

MJ McCarthy is immersed in music through bands and theatre work, but was also keen to discuss records, forming Album Club, a regular informal get together to share opinions and hang out with friends.

Of course, when you have musicians and writers, talking turns to doing. SNACK caught up with MJ to discuss albums, their album, collaborating with talented people, and community.

Any raucous discussions or albums which split opinion?

How did the actual Album Club begin?

It started in spring of 2019. I felt the need to have social time with pals. I work in the theatre, and make music, sometimes as a composer, sometimes as a sound designer. I was missing good music chat, and it had nothing to do with work, just the love of music. There were some friends I knew and hadn’t seen for years. Also, when you get into your thirties, it gets hard to meet new friends. So, it was a chance to catch up with some old friends, make some new ones, and above all else, talk about music.

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Astral Weeks by Van Morrison got a bit of a hammering from some members.

Good. That’s deserved.

And at one point, during lockdown, I felt we needed a burst of energy, so I picked True Blue by Madonna, to get a bit of pop. Controversially, some people couldn’t get beyond the production. I love the production, and there’s brilliant pop songs.

With the songs, were they just songs, or were they for this project specifically?

It’s a real combination of stuff. When lockdown started, all my work went away. Some members of the club had things which kept going. The journalists and writers kept going, but Paul Savage was the other member affected most.

I knew I needed to do something to keep from going crazy. Some people felt stuck, creatively, which I understand, but for me, I went the other way. I got some solace and respite by making things. I started tracking some songs, three or four songs on the record had been written in part before lockdown.

Delgados turning it into a Delgados song. Rhona was back in Oban for lockdown, and she had a copy of The Great Eastern, and her old CDs, on the windowsill. That was a surprising moment. One of my favourite things about the project is how surprising it has been at times.

So, I had a few things in the back pocket, and as often happens when you start tracking songs, other things start to emerge. After I recorded ‘Fragile & Frail’, the first song, I sent it out to the rest of the club.

I asked if anyone who had free time fancied adding some musical parts or if the writers would like to add a lyric or piece of story.

There’s so many talented people in the project, was that inspiring or terrifying?

Brilliantly, everyone found a way to contribute.

Rhona was a key collaborator; she sang on half the record. She layered her vocals on ‘Fragile & Frail’.

Eventually I sent her a microphone, but for this, she sang into the microphone on her laptop using a coathanger with a pair of tights over it to make a pop-shield! That was her studio! The lead vocal on ‘Different Hours’ and ‘Leave Me Singing’ were the same.

On first couple of listens, ‘Leave Me Singing’ really sticks with you.

That was a Paul Savage moment; Paul and Emma Pollock [The Delgados] were really on board.

Essentially, it was an acoustic guitar waltz, and we found the right key for Rhona. We were doing a bit of back and forth, and said I’d love it if she sang lead vocals. Basically, we had lead vocal, acoustic and electric guitar, and I sent it to Paul.

At this point, Paul’s getting excited about doing something with the songs, as he’s at a loose end.

One Sunday, he let himself and Emma into the studio, just the two of them, staying in the rules. They recorded drums, electric guitar, and bass.

It was a mad moment because Rhona and I are Delgados fans, and here we have half of The

If I stopped to think about it, I’d be like: what am I doing?! But I haven’t stopped. I’m so thankful – the musicians are great, but we’ve got fabulous writers too. Peter [Geoghegan, author, broadcaster and journalist] is tremendous, and he found the time to record a dream he had back in Longford, that makes that song. Same with Douglas Maxwell, he wrote the piece that is in ‘Transmission from the Moon’, essentially a Douglas Maxwell play in 80 seconds. I sent him the song, he timed the gap, and he wrote the piece to fit the gap. It took the song to another level.

Isobel McArthur is having massive success with her show Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) and she wrote ‘Walls’ as a poem, and that inspired me to write some music, and she performed it over that. Cathy Forde is a young adult novelist and a playwright in her own right, and wrote what became a song lyric. I think Cathy was going for a Lucinda Williams country vibe, so Lucinda Williams via Oban was our direction.

Was there a point you felt ‘this is an album’?

I don’t think it was until we got to the end of summer 2020, and I counted up the songs and minutes.

Pretty much the last thing that happened was sequencing. My wife Lynda Radley (a playwright in her own right) was listening back to the songs, and she helped me think of it as an album journey, and telling a story. Lynda’s contribution helped me realise it cohered like an album.

Music by Andrew Reilly Page 25

Was it challenging, sequencing the record?

I don’t think it was until we got to the end of summer 2020, and I counted up the songs and minutes.

Pretty much the last thing that happened was sequencing. My wife Lynda Radley (a playwright in her own right) was listening back to the songs, and she helped me think of it as an album journey, and telling a story. Lynda’s contribution helped me realise it cohered like an album.

After that, it depends on how well this record does.

If it feels like there’s an appetite for another one, the prospect of getting everyone together in the same room is an appealing one. It just depends on people’s lives and working around the things we all do. I’m hopeful, but I couldn’t give you any sense of when or what’ll that be. There’s hope this won’t be the only thing we do.

Without wishing your life away, what is next with Album Club?

Having accidentally made an album, we now have to intentionally form a band. Since the beginning of January, a core group has been meeting in person.

The out-of-towner, the Honourable Minister for Helensburgh, Adam Scott (formerly of Zoey van Goey with MJ) has been involved. We did a day in the studio with Paul and me, playing bass on the record. We’ve got Adam in the picture, Paul and Emma, Douglas on guitar and Rhona on vocals and me; we’ve been meeting as a six-piece to bring this to life.

Bear in mind, none of the songs on the record had been played live in a room. The songs have gone on a journey – some arrangements are different, even some song structures. The live version is a new take on these songs. It is recognisable, but if people come along knowing the album, I hope they’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Album Club is released on 20th May on Last Night From Glasgow The band will play live at Oran Mor on 24th June

We’ll also get Isobel on accordion, and Cathy might deliver a new piece. So, at Oran Mor on 24th June, we could be at eight or nine people on stage.

However, we won’t be able to pull this together too often – it won’t be a touring band, it’ll just be special occasions.

snackmag.co.uk

Music by Andrew Reilly Page 26

SWISS PORTRAIT Visual artist-turned-musician Michael Kay Terence produced and recorded his first EP, Familiar Patterns, in his bedroom during lockdown. We caught up with him ahead of some live dates this summer to talk about new album Safe House and the joys of retro technology.

What was the thought process behind Safe House?

It was based on being in lockdown and being in the one room. The songs were really based around looking back on things that happened in the past and moments where things weren't so good. Just trying to create a narrative that is a wee bit more cohesive, in the sense that I didn't want it just to be random songs put together. Specifically, having been in lockdown, I actually kind of started to enjoy quite a lot being on my own, just being stuck in the house. And it was weird because I used to always love going and seeing people and stuff like that. But now when I'm not going to do something that's for music or for work, I tend to not really go outside. I think that's maybe something that everyone's had to deal with, with lockdown. So Safe House is more about the idea of it being okay, being at home on your own.

I've noticed a bit of a recurring theme of nostalgia for tech in your work: you’ve released music on cassette or your website that I've lost a good half hour playing solitaire on.

Yeah, well, I love the older stuff. And there's things I used to collect, you know, like Super 8 cameras and film, and I have an 8mm film projector. I love things like that because I think there's a lot more authenticity about it and it's more immediate. The little human errors in it are quite interesting and fun to see because I think it feels more natural.

Photo credit:

I've got an old tape recorder where you would speak into it from a little microphone and record your voice. Like a little hilarious, tiny microphone.

And I spent ages trying to record vocals for it. There's a little bit of that in some of the songs. I approached all the recording and taping of all these things kind of like an experiment, just to see how it went and to have fun doing it.

It snowballed, because then friends were asking me to do things. My website was made by my friend Paul, because he was doing a digital media course.

It sort of naturally happened from things I wanted to do for fun, things that were creative. It's building quite a lot of momentum now out of a wee hobby: that’s quite cool, really.

Swiss Portrait play the Wide Days Showcase on 20th of May Safe House is out now on Spirit Goth swissportrait.co.uk widedays.com

Music by Chris Queen Page 27

DONNA MCLEAN If Donna McLean’s Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police were a work of fiction it would most likely be dismissed as far-fetched or fanciful. The fact that it reports on and relates to real events from McLean’s life, and that she was not alone, makes her story all the more extraordinary. Over 40 years, British police units acted undercover to infiltrate activist groups, often deliberately targeting women and entering into relationships with them. Donna McLean was one of those women, and SNACK spoke to her to learn more.

How do you describe Small Town Girl to people?

My elevator pitch is it’s a memoir about love, lies, and undercover spies. I tell the story of how I, as an ordinary person, a small town girl, ended up at the centre of one of the biggest anti-democratic scandals of our time. It’s about me reclaiming my truth. And emerging stronger as a result.

It tells a quite remarkable story. Why did you want to set it out in a book?

I never set out with the intention of writing a book. Initially I needed to put words on paper to try and process the unbelievable story that was unfolding. Not just a story, but my life, my narrative. It began as fragments of memories. It was a way of renegotiating the truth. I wrote when I was a child and that urge came back so strongly. I think it was a coping strategy, at least at the beginning. I joined a six-week writing course called Write Like a Grrrl and my tutor, Kerry Ryan, read some of my work. She encouraged me to write my truth.

I applied for a mentoring programme with Penguin Books called WriteNow and that really began to focus me. I effectively joined a peer support group with other writers, and we’ve maintained a strong connection ever since.

snackmag.co.uk

It also proves that real life is often stranger, or more incredible, than fiction. As you wrote, did you ever feel that these were things which happened to someone else? Did the act of writing it make you reassess all that had happened?

Reassessment was an intrinsic part of my writing process. Two years of my life had been unveiled as a complete lie. That made me question everything I did or had done, not just during the relationship but afterwards. The jigsaw that was my life had been upended, pieces scattered everywhere. Writing became a way of putting it all back together.

There's a key section in the book where you break the news to your family. Did you have an expectation as to what their reaction would be? And if so, did they fit those expectations?

I knew my sister would be pragmatic and righteously angry. My mum, I was a wee bit more worried about. Their response has been immeasurably supportive. They’ve given me time and space to write, especially in the form of childcare. My sister and I were always very much in tune politically and I feel that my mum has joined the activist ranks as a result of this!

You form strong bonds with others who have been through similar experiences. Have they read Small Town Girl, and what has the feedback been?

I’ve had a lot of feedback from people who are portrayed in the book – that was probably one of the more anxiety-inducing things about publication.

What would people think? One woman who experienced the same cruel deception said she felt like a fog had lifted. That was extremely moving for me. I’ve had lots of messages of support and solidarity from people who have experienced abuse at the hands of the state, all talking about the book in very emotive terms.

Photo credit: Andy Aitchison

They’ve laughed, cried, got angry. I suppose that is what I want as a writer, to not only convey feelings but to have the reader join me, to feel as though they’re having a conversation with me.

You became a central figure in a media story, with all that entails. Did you ever get the feeling that you were 'the current story' which would be forgotten when the next one came along, and did you write Small Town Girl in part to make sure that that didn't happen?

It never occurred to me when I was writing the book.

The act of writing is such a private endeavour. I’d already been in the media a fair bit, as an activist, and in many ways it felt like an extension of that.

I wrote the book primarily to tell my truth, as the state institutions create their own narrative. I also wanted it to read like a novel, although it’s memoir and frequently pops up in the true crime section of Waterstones!

It's a book which is about more than just the SpyCops scandal and your role: you also visit other events and relationships in your life. Is that to give readers further context, or was that part of your own investigation into who you are and what happened?

I have another 30,000 words of life writing that was edited out! Thank god for brilliant editors (shout out to Harriet Poland at Hodder Studio). I’ve tried to explain the process of writing memoir as being like a memory portal opening up. You end up excavating everything, regardless of how connected it is to the core story. Those 30,000 words certainly aren’t wasted, whether I use them elsewhere or not.

They allowed me to investigate my decisions and motivations, and fundamentally that has shaped my life over the last couple of years.

Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police is published on the Hodder Studio imprint of Hodder & Stoughton Book by Alistair Braidwood Page 29

Photo credit: Gee Photography

Moses McKenzie is a Bristol-based writer whose debut novel, An Olive Grove in Ends, is inspired by the area in Bristol where he grew up. Delving into a whole host of sociopolitical issues that envelop the lives of the Hughes family, principally protagonist, Sayon, and his cousin, Cuba, McKenzie has created a conceivably intrepid world, with characters that feel fully fleshed, living, breathing, and most importantly, loving.

Sayon Hughes longs to escape the world of his volatile Bristol neighbourhood, known as 'Ends', and create a better life with Shona, the girl he grew up with. However, deceit, lies and family loyalty are all holding him back, and through this we get a sense of McKenzie’s ability to create real characters within fathomable worlds.

Moses McKenzie spoke with SNACK about how he started out and what drives him as a writer, as well as what he is currently reading.

This is your debut novel, but how did you start out writing, Moses?

So, I started writing prose in 2017. Before that I’d write song lyrics, and I wrote three manuscripts before I wrote An Olive Grove in Ends. Yes, three manuscripts and then a screenplay. And they were all of varying quality; the premises had varying ideas, some of them good, some of them bad. And then some of them were poorly executed. All of them were poorly executed! But yeah, then I wrote An Olive Grove in Ends in 2019.

Where did the inspiration for the novel originally come from?

I set the novel in the area I was raised in. So the inspiration is just the area itself, you know, my home is the inspiration. I don't mean my home as in my literal house. My home, as in my area and then the neighbouring area. I didn't have to sit down and think about setting and place because that was what I lived. And then I wrote it for my little cousin. snackmag.co.uk

It's a novel about class and status as well as race and religion: this covers a great deal of sociopolitical scope. Was this the intention?

Yeah, definitely. But I think it's difficult to separate them. If you are a Black person, writing about class, you will be writing about race. It’s inextricably tied, connected. The book has little to nothing to do with race, other than the fact that all characters are Black, in a majority white country. Like you say, I'm sure if I'm depicting the working class, then I'll be talking about race or there'll be discussion about race as well. I think they're my favourite topic, religion and God, whether together or apart, that’s my favourite. I think everything I write, in some way, is an exploration of God; or maybe the two religions Christianity and Islam, because they’re the two religions I know most about and which have impacted me the most.

And at the core of it is this relationship between Sayon and Shona, so pivotal to the story and the decisions that Sayon must make.

A classic story of two people from different paths in life, which adds moral ground and understanding to the protagonist’s direction: Shona being a rock, almost flawless. Did you ever feel tempted to pull Shona into the darker sides of the novel?

No, because having her as that character reminds people that Sayon is very much an unreliable narrator. Shona is probably the most limited character in the book, because she's limited by Sayon’s perspective of her and he needs her to be perfect, he needs to have her on this pedestal in order to give him hope, or like, a vision or a clear path or a way out.

Sayon has such complexities, someone we feel we can touch, with internal conflicts and a sense of duality, it’s easy to find something to relate to in him, as well as root for him as we continue through the novel. Have you written about Sayon before in previous works?

As in any of the other manuscripts? Oh, no, no, no.

He's a character that was invented just for this.

Cuba, on the other hand, is very intense, and I understand this to come from his actual lack of presence in the tale. Most of him seems to be formed within Sayon’s internal dialogue – was this a deliberate technique in terms of the portrayal?

Yeah, I wanted it to be very internal. And even in the firstdraft it was very meandering. We spend a lot of time in Sayon’s world, in his mind, and everything is limited by his perception of things and of people.

But Cuba is my favourite character by far. He’s the character that I have the most time for, the most compassion for, that I had to remind myself not to be too compassionate about. But I think portraying their relationship was one of the best things about writing the novel for me. That was intentional as well: perspective limiting or limiting what we see.

And what compelled you to give Sayon this ending?

I like open-ended stories a lot, depending on what it is. With this story I thought it needed to be open-ended. There's like a lot of criminality in the world surrounding Sayon, which he perpetuates, but the law is never much of a real presence in the book. Punishment is just kind of glossed over and skipped over even when it does happen, which is very intentional, because it's not about that: it's about the possibility of potential punishment in the hereafter. And that's what all these characters are concerned about, or not concerned about: they're not even really thinking about earthly punishment.

And, as I've written it, the language that I've written it in, it's like the biblical conception of heaven, and then as he [Sayon] is walking down Stapes Road, in the second chapter, it’s hell on earth. And then in the final chapter, when he's walking down Stapes Road, again, it’s the Qur’anic version of heaven.

Because all they want to do is just find the little slice of heaven, you know, find something that he can own and claim and be proud of.

I would be keen to meet both Shona and Sayon again in the future; do you think you might bring them into future novels, considering how you concluded it?

No, I can't imagine writing about any of the characters again, but I'm adapting it into a screenplay at the moment. But regarding writing another book, I’ve got too many ideas I want to do outside of this, rather than revisit this.

What are you currently reading, yourself?

I'm currently reading A Dictionary of Symbols. I just finished Sigmund Freud's Moses and Monotheism.

What else am I reading? I'm reading the Qur’an.

I'm reading Don Quixote as well at the moment, but I mean, I love books, and I just finished Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, which is insane.

An Olive Grove in Ends is out now, published

by Headline Books by Keira Brown Page 31

MOVING MINDS SCOTTISH MENTAL HEALTH ARTS FESTIVAL

Exploring engagement with the arts as a way to destigmatize and prevent mental ill health, The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is returning for its 16th year, with a programme of performance, film, exhibitions and community events.

I caught up with broadcaster Halina Rifai to talk about Moving Minds, a multi-arts event at Glad Café which will bring together the refugee and asylum seeker community.

Hey, Halina! So, what was the thought process behind Moving Minds?

It's always important to think about the celebration of communities and the great work and culture that they bring, because ultimately they are part of our community. Integration brings in a wealth of new knowledge. One interesting thing is that mental health might not even be defined as mental health within these communities. They might not even use those terms. So it's about looking at the things that are on the periphery of that and addressing those: community, collaboration, love – storytelling as well. It's a celebration of storytelling, and storytelling underpins pretty much so many things that we do. I think, particularly when you have to leave that family behind, those communities, those countries, the one thing you can take with you is your stories. snackmag.co.uk

It's important that we help to maintain and nurture that storytelling as well, because it can provide safety for people. So it's about bringing all different creative practices together and telling the stories of these people.

OK, sounds great: what can we look forward to specifically?

So far we've got Hidden Rhythms, which is a collective of female poets, songwriters, and playwrights. Some of the women who are part of Hidden Rhythms are asylum seekers and refugees who have come to the UK. They work with people like Vox Liminis and other independent creative freelancers and musicians. So they come from all over the world, but Glasgow is their home.

The work that they do questions the themes of belonging and safety, but also finds silliness in difficult times. They've performed at Tramway, at Barras Art and Design, St Luke's, and they've kind of got this friendship at the core of it, which is just phenomenal. And the resilience of them all is just totally inspiring.

There is also a photo exhibition by 17- and 18-year-olds who have come through Edinburgh Council and social services. What they would do is take a camera for a couple of hours, go outside and connect with nature and so on, but then pull the themes that came out for them. They've each submitted one photo that they would like to represent them, and there's a caption, like an exhibition. But we're also going to get them to read their captions in their native language and then interpret it, so that people can actually sit on a couple of audio stations and listen to them.

The amazing thing about this project is they're actually going to be using that as part of the Mental Health Foundation training going forward, to help those communities. So for me, that was just incredible.

And then the other thing is In Our Shoes, which is from Maryhill Integration Network. It’s a booklet of poetry that features voices of diverse women and writers. It explores the kind of happiness, the frustration, the dreams of everyday life. They come from a range of backgrounds, but they've all experienced a lot of pain leaving their homeland, so they all contributed to this.

Speaking about how different cultures experience and talk about mental health, what is the learning from that, for you?

Language is a big thing, isn't it? Spoken language; but we all have our own dictionaries. We define things in different ways. For me, it's listening, and I don't think we do listen enough. Exposing ourselves to as many people as possible in a way that we are understanding a bit more. But also understanding the sheer pain that these people have been through; nine times out of ten, they don't want to leave the place that they've had to leave.

So it's understandable sometimes that it is hard to integrate because you're having to change or lose that inner part of yourself you've grown up with. I have a lot of respect for the resilience and the want to keep going for the next generation that comes after you. I just hope it gets easier as everything moves along.

I just want to touch on ‘Gather’ being the theme of the festival. Is that a reaction to the last couple of years?

Definitely. It was a great time for us to regroup.

There's going to be some touching things; there's going to be some testing, challenging things. But like I said earlier, it's a celebration as well. We've been through so much and some people have been through things that are unimaginable. But they got through it and, you know, it's trying to remember how bad it was at times, but at the same time they’ve actually moved forward.

The brilliant thing about this Mental Health Arts Festival programme in particular is that it does cast your mind back and it may show you how tough it was. But again, it does amplify that resilience that we all have within us, and I suppose it even builds on that resilience by exposing us to that.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival runs from 4th-24th May in venues across Scotland Moving Minds is at Glad Café on the 21st May mhfestival.com

Community by Chris Queen Page 33

FOODIE NEWS EDINBURGH

Italian brothers Fabrizio & Simone Cioffi have opened a new cafe and aperitivo-style cocktail bar, Bittersweet, at 24 Henderson Street in Leith, where Steel Coulson Tap used to be. Fabrizio also runs the nearby Old Poison Distillery; by using their own spirit they can keep costs down, so aperitivo drinks are available at Bittersweet from £5. They are also licensed for off-sales and food is available all day, from pastries at breakfast to lasagne and sharing boards later in the day. bittersweetleith.co.uk

There is also a bar with craft beer, wine, cocktails, and milkshakes (including vegan Biscoff), which can all be enjoyed at your seat as you watch the movie. everymancinema.com/edinburgh Purveyors of potato goodness Frites, on Lothian Road, have opened a second branch in the city at 224 Leith Walk. Now those down Leith way can also enjoy ‘frietkot culture’: Frites claims to be the first and only true Belgian fries takeaway in Scotland. fritesoriginal.co.uk

GLASGOW

The five-screen Everyman Cinema has just opened at the St James Quarter. but why is a cinema getting a mention under Foodie News?

Because this is no ordinary popcorn, hot dog, and nacho cinema food affair. Instead, you can order Aberdeen Angus beef burgers, a plant-based cheeseburger, vegan pizza, hummus, mezze sharing boards, and more. snackmag.co.uk

Brawsome Bagels at 292 Dumbarton Road in Partick have updated their menu. Customers can now look forward to a Breakfast Club bagel with avo smash, tomato, egg frittata, bacon and Marmite mayo, and a Tex Mex hot filled bagel comprising cheese sauce, sweetcorn fritters, peppers, onions and jalapenos on a toasted cheese and jalapeno bagel.

Popular local coffee and bakery chain Grain and Grind have now finally opened in the west end at, 45 Old Dumbarton Road near Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. grainandgrind.co.uk

Glasladies Beer Society are are hosting a beer festival. Their Collaboration Series Festival will take place on Saturday 7th May from 5 - 10pm, at Glasgow Beer Works Beer Garden at 118 Osborne Street. Entry is £6, which includes a festival glass, and a percentage of ticket sales will be donated to the Glasgow-based charity Ubuntu Women Shelter. The event is all on one level so suitable for wheelchairs, it’s also dog-friendly and familyfriendly - children older than two can enter for £1.

Participating breweries include Boden Brewing, Dookit Brewing Co., Drygate Brewing Co., Glasgow Beer Works, and Hidden Lane Organic Brewery and Simple Things Fermentations, who will both be doing tasting sessions. bit.ly/glasladies

PRODUCT X Muse, pronounced ‘tenth muse', is a blended barley vodka made using two heritage varieties of barley, Plumage Archer and Marris Otter.

These varieties are grown in the UK and distilled separately. The water used to make the spirit comes from an ancient aquifer at Jupiter Artland, the sculpture park outside of Edinburgh. It is a smooth and silky vodka, perfect for sipping. xmusevodka.com

Òran Mór have relaunched their brasserie, with chef Dylan Morris, formerly of notable restaurants such as Six by Nico and One Devonshire Gardens, at the helm. The new restaurant will focus on modern dishes, with in-house smoked meat and fish. oran-mor.co.uk/dining/the-brasserie-restaurant Wild Flours East gluten-free cafe bakery has now opened at 553 Duke Street, where Black Vanilla was.

UKRAINE APPEAL Linlithgow-based chocolatier Sebastian Kobelt has enlisted the help of food & drink businesses across Scotland to raise funds for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Prizes include hotel stays and dinner at restaurants, including Aizle and Fhior in Edinburgh, the Gannet in Glasgow and the Michelin-starred The Cellar in Anstruther. Tickets cost £10 and 100% of this will go to the appeal. app.galabid.com/fundsforukraine

Scottish brewers Williams Bros have added to their Joker range with a new beer named Juicy Joker.

This is a 5% New England (NEIPA) style version of their flagship Joker IPA and will be available in 440ml cans and on draught. New England IPA beers are known for their fruity style, so we are looking forward to trying some of this. williamsbrosbrew.com

Food and Drink by Mark & Emma, Foodie Explorers Page 35

RECIPE TITLE

snackmag.co.uk

VEGAN SPICED PANACKES

Sunnier weather always makes us want to make a bit more of an effort for brunch, and to lounge a bit longer enjoying it. Pancakes are a favourite in our house as they are filling, easy to make, and you can add an unlimited amount of herbs, spices, or whatever takes your fancy to make them taste special.

Remember, we have no rules in our kitchen, so feel free to try whatever spices you enjoy. We like strong coriander and cumin flavours, so have larger amounts of these. If you would rather have more garlic or paprika, simply add some more to your ratio of spices, if you’re unsure how much to use, start small and experiment until you get the flavour balance just right.

Whatever spices you combine, enjoy these almost falafel-tasting spiced vegan pancakes that are delicious topped with a dollop of (vegan) yoghurt.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

100g plain flour

In a large bowl, combine the plain and chickpea flours, baking powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and salt and mix well.

50g chickpea flour (also known as gram flour) 1 tablespoon baking powder 2 teaspoons ground coriander

Add the sparkling water and mix until all the ingredients are combined.

2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 teaspoons ground turmeric

Heat a large frying pan until hot.

1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Spoon 2 tbsp batter on top of each other in the pan to form each pancake.

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper ¼ teaspoon salt

Cook, over medium heat, for 1-1½ mins on one side, until small bubbles appear on the surface.

250ml sparkling water ¼ cucumber, diced

Flip and cook for 1 min on the other side until golden, puffed up and crisp on the outside.

6 cherry tomatoes, diced 1 spring onion, sliced

Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm while you make the remaining pancakes.

Optional 2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt or Greek style vegan alternative Pumpkin seeds Fresh coriander

Serve warm topped with diced cucumber, tomatoes and spring onion. A dollop of (vegan) Greek-style yoghurt is recommended, as is a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and fresh coriander to garnish.

Food and Drink by Mark & Emma, Foodie Explorers Page 37

Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord, Greece

Alvan and Ahez, France

Konstrakta, Serbia

EUROVISION May is a glorious time of year. Days are getting longer; you cannot move for bank holidays; and, of course, it’s Eurovision season, culminating in the gayest night of the year. What’s not to love? Pop music; bizarre performances and baffling stage production; presenters clunkily wading through dreadful dialogue and responding awkwardly to unpredictable mishaps.

We don’t know how lucky we are. But this year, when the contest makes its way to Turin, Eurovision feels more a necessity than a night of camp frivolity. So much is happening in the world that the biggest party in the world serves more purpose than ever. This light, high camp entertainment holds more weight than one might imagine.

Eurovision is never without controversy, and politics inevitably bleeds into every ceremony in some way, amidst the glitter confetti. But 2022’s political climate risks casting a dark cloud over this year’s festivities, given the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

In February it was announced, following a previous statement that they would be provisionally permitted to compete, that Russia would not be allowed to participate in this year's competition.

The European Broadcasting Union contended that Russia's inclusion would effectively dishonour the competition and reinforced its commitment to ‘protecting the values of a cultural competition which promotes international exchange and understanding, brings audiences together, celebrates diversity through music and unites Europe on one stage.’ snackmag.co.uk

WHO DOESN’T WANT A LITTLE DISTRACTION FROM THE PERPETUAL GLOBAL SHITSHOW?

And this year more than ever, when LGBTQ+ rights and safety feel less secure than many had previously thought, Eurovision’s status as a celebration of queer identity and diversity feels imperative. Needless to say, many competing countries have boasted a dismal record on LGBTQ+ rights. Nations like Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine have historically performed on the Eurovision stage despite their detrimental stance on LGBTQ+ equality and human rights violations.

But my heart goes out to those watching at home in these countries, for whom Eurovision can be a small but meaningful lifeline: accessing the contest and being part of our global community without fear for even one night can bring a sense of solidarity and affirmation. Dozens of nations come together, as cheesy as the festivities may be, to celebrate a mix of cultures and promote diversity.

MANY COMPETING COUNTRIES HAVE BOASTED A DISMAL RECORD ON LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

And this year, celebrations as we traditionally know it can return to regularly scheduled programming – i.e. getting all your pals together, creating themed cocktails, and bitching about the performers.

Eurovision is probably my favourite night of the year, and while last year’s restrictions led to some smaller, more intimate celebrations, I cannot wait to attend our annual festivities. The challenge will be in keeping quiet during the actual performances, to avoid irritating those who have not followed each country’s road to Turin since January…

But however you celebrate, make the most of Eurovision 2022. We are lucky to have such a unique, at times baffling, but always glorious cultural juggernaut on our doorstep. Eurovision has the power to bring the world together, even for a few hours, and never has such a tonic been more crucial. Celebrate with your loved ones and choose your drinking game rules carefully – taking a shot every time someone does something embarrassing may result in alcohol poisoning.

The 2022 Eurovision Grand Final will take place on 14th May and will be broadcast on BBC1 from 8pm

And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want a little distraction from the perpetual global shitshow by way of some high camp shenanigans?

But, serious talk: who do I think will be taking the trophy home this year? Listen, I have a terrible track record: last year, my predictions were dreadful.

My picks – Russia, Israel, and Iceland – failed to live up to my expectations, and I chastised each country that ultimately made up the top three. So, with egg on my face, I will be less committed in my forecasts, but I will say my personal favourites are France, Greece, and Serbia. Watch them populate the bottom of the leaderboard now that I have said this out into the world.

Photo credit: Eurovision Song Contest

LGBT+ by Jonny Stone Page 39

NOT) THE (

GAY

B E CLU MO V I

Ever the stereotype, I have an increasing obsession with Hollywood’s Golden Age, largely thanks to its eternally dynamic leading ladies. We have discussed extensively the likes of BFFs Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, the beauty and rapier wit of Rosalind Russell, and the elegance and charm of Doris Day throughout our NGMC tenure, but we have neglected the really old school divas, especially those who survived the silent era.

Enter the oft-imitated Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, in what may be one of the most significant Hollywood films about Hollywood ever made, one so full of iconic dialogue and glamour that we simply must welcome it into the (Not) Gay Movie Club.

We invite readers to wear bejewelled turbans throughout this feature.

Norma Desmond, an ageing silent-screen actor unable to keep up with the film industry post-silent era, is offered a second shot at fame when jaded screenwriter Joe Gillis agrees to write a script for her. She has been overlooked and forgotten, becoming reclusive, but accepts this second chance with vigour.

snackmag.co.uk

Image credit: Press

SUNSET BOULEVARD As the two collaborate, and ultimately become a somewhat dysfunctional couple, Gillis realises that Norma rejects the notion that her fame has evaporated, and that his leading lady has been rendered quite vulnerable because of the brutal Hollywood system. The ending is one of the most significant to ever grace the silver screen, and features the line from Norma, stepping hauntingly into the camera: ‘All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.’

But what makes Sunset Boulevard so impactful, and worthy of its status as this month’s NGMC, is both the duality and tragedy of Ms Norma Desmond: it is almost impossible to separate her from Gloria Swanson, as the film feels like art imitating life. Swanson had not been the filmmakers’ first choice: Mae West, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow and Mary Pickford had initially been approached, all rejecting the role. Swanson’s story mirrors Desmond’s: she had struggled to transition from silent movies and her career had stalled.

And the parallels with Desmond’s relationship with Paramount and Swanson’s in real life are accurate: Swanson had made a substantial amount of money for the studio, but she was disposable.

Queer audiences are traditionally drawn to women perceived to be tragic – Judy Garland, Tammy Faye Bakker, even Princess Diana – and Desmond’s perpetual quest for fame, beauty, and adulation is heartbreaking to watch. She is, by the end, so deluded and disconnected from reality that one cannot help but pity her. Her arrest at the end, with the police creating the illusion that she is filming a movie, is devastating. Yet she is still firm and committed in her pursuit of glory; perhaps gay audiences have identified with this impervious tenacity. Plus, her dialogue and delivery are high camp: Ms. Swanson was going full ham, and the film is all the better for it.

As always, we appreciate the costume and craft of each film in our cavalcade of camp classics, and Sunset Boulevard is no exception. I was not surprised in the least to see the costuming legend Edith Head was behind the helm – she won a record eight Oscars for costume design and was responsible for previous NGMC gem All About Eve. Even at her most…let’s say bombastic, Swanson exudes glamour and is surely every drag queen’s dream muse: she is adorned with feathers, turbans, cigarette holders and any other camp essential one could imagine.

Of course, there are many lessons from Sunset Boulevard that, alas, have been largely ignored, most notably regarding the dangers of fame and the Hollywood machine. Desmond is obsessed with celebrity and seeks validation at any cost, addicted to a form of exhibitionism seen from, well, most celebrities today. The film is a critique on how Hollywood treats its stars and how we, the humble public, have the power to decimate a star.

And while visibility has brought positive change – think of the strides the LGBTQ+ community has made thanks to pop culture representation – in 2022, exposure is everything, and it seems few have acknowledged the numerous warnings of fame’s pernicious dangers. Sigh. Sunset Boulevard challenges its audience to reflect on our need to be seen, and the inevitable pitfalls with which that comes.

So, what makes Sunset Boulevard worthy of inclusion in our illustrious vault of movies? Perhaps queer audiences have a keener interest in the dark, insidious nature of pop culture, fascinated by the machine that entertains, moves, and shocks us. Turn to gay Twitter and you will encounter screeds upon screeds of memes and throwbacks to celebrities from list A-Z in their majestic glory or, conversely, embarrassing themselves. Perhaps we are inherently suckers for tragedy, which is arguably what the film boils down to. One could weep at the film’s final scene: Desmond cascading down the stairs in the throes of ecstatic fantasy.

Put simply, to us Sunset Boulevard is one of the finest films of the 20th century. Rarely does our monthly feature focus on a film of genuine quality – excellent writing, iconic cinematography and biting social commentary – but it is Gloria Swanson and her bravura performance that cement the movie as a queer classic. Camp and glamorous as the film is at times, its tragedy and exploration of fame, self-worth and the perpetual quest for validation are what resonate 60 years after its release, and confidently secure its place in the (Not) Gay Movie Club vault.

LGBT+ by Jonny Stone Page 41

Track by Track: Just Mustard Heart Under It’s been four long, arduous years since Just Mustard’s last album but that, strangely, hasn’t seemed as long as it reads just written down like that. 2018’s Wednesday made some ripples but wasn’t actively sought out by a lot of people until the release of a 12 inch in 2019 comprising of two tracks, ‘Frank’ and ‘October’. The Dundalk five-piece crystalised their ethereal, bedroom-friendly energy into something with enough of a hook to get some prominent airplay. They were also championed at that point by King of the Stadium Goth Grandads, Robert Smith, which gave them a broader visibility.

Reports from recent Just Mustard shows focused on the new material and gave the impression that the new songs were a massive lurch in a new direction.

I’m pleased to report that, if you’re already a fan, Heart Under will contain all the components you already like about the band with a bit more of an occasional driven edge.

Katie Ball (vocals), David Noonan (guitar/vocals), Mete Kalyon (guitar), Rob Clarke (bass), and Shane Maguire (drums) have found themselves on a new label but continue to be involved with their own production with the additional bonus of being mixed

by David Wrench, whose previous collaborators include Frank Ocean and Let’s Eat Grandma. snackmag.co.uk

Comparisons and influence-spotting are always going to be central tenets of critiquing music, but it can also become a lazy way to think about new things.

That said, the comparisons to My Bloody Valentine aren’t likely go away and just name-dropping other bands of that era like Curve, Cocteau Twins and the like doesn’t disguise the fact that the layered textures, the reversed guitars squashed through several reverb units and the dreamlike soundscapes all leave comparisons unavoidable. That’s not to say no other influences are present. The new stuff, in particular, is dashed through with darker shades of eighties sci-fi and a spicy bit of menace.

Opener ‘23’ is a blistering highlight. E-bowed guitar sounds play less of a lead line and more of an environmental cushion for the skipping drumbeat and pulsing synth that coat the songs first two minutes. An extremely squelching, low frequency pulse joins in for parts of the second half. Throughout the familiar quiet/loud dynamics, the consistent element is just the sheer atmospheric density.

Latest single ‘Still’ conveys that eighties sci-fi vibe with a rumbling bassline that wouldn’t be out of place in a video game based on an Arnie film. The transition from verse to chorus to hook is a thing of beauty that’ll have you roaring along ‘So bitter/I am yours/In this river/I am yours’.

Lead single ‘I Am You’ feeds off the notion of a hypnotic repetition of elements (like the vocals) while other elements gradually raise, fade out and buzz around. The repetition works with what feels like a very introspective, almost self-destructive lexicon to create something that does exuberate pure emotion, but it does grind on repeated listens.

I love nothing more than not being certain what instrument made what noise so ‘Seed’ is right up my cul-de-sac. A big bag of delay effects, strutting rhythm and panoramic…noises. The last version of the chorus is almost an intrusive shock, like someone else’s nightmare bleeding into yours.

‘Blue Chalk’ takes two minutes before bass drum kicks in and, when it does, it’s at twice the tempo you expect. The vocals are, at times, buried in the mix with pulsing percussion and synths going front and centre in an unsettlingly effective juxtaposition.

Some of the songs feel like they’ve gone through some iterations to get to where the band want them and ‘Early’ has so much going on in its radiofriendly run time that it occasionally feels like the band are exercising some forced restraint during the noisier sections.

‘Sore’ revolves around a two-note bass riff being manipulated with volume or expression pedals and guitars that manage to sound like distressed whales in the rhythm of a creaking 18th century whaleboat.

If it feels like I’m reaching for abstract descriptions rather than conventional guitar tone comparisons, that’s because I am and, quite frankly, the thing I love about this band is that they are forcing me to do this by making such a gloriously indefinable racket.

Released as a single in April, ‘Mirrors’ has a danceable tempo and blends the voices of Ball and Noonan singing about someone else looking back out of the mirror in such a way that manages to be comforting rather than creepy.

‘In Shade’ also has a danceable thrust but the contrast between the moody, menacing verses and the soaring chorus make this one I’d love to see live and would argue that it deserves to be a single.

Either way, this is an absolute joy of a song and will be the retro theme to a movie sometime around 2050.

Closing track ‘Rivers’ deserves to be named after larger bodies of water. A floating mesh of wailing guitars over an insistent bassline that serves as a musical sunset to a perfect sonic day.

There’s no telling what music is around the corner in the remainder of 2022 but it's likely that none of it will be any better than this. Heart Under plays like a concept album or one larger opus rather than a collection of songs and, yet, each song has enough of its own character, enough of its own detectable composition to show that the album is not only a vibrant format, but once every 15, 20 years, a band like Just Mustard can perfect it.

Heart Under is out 27th May via Partisan Records

Music by Stephen McColgan Page 43

LEILA MOTTLEY

RUARRI JOSEPH

Book: Nightcrawling

Book: William the Conqueror

Nightcrawling is the jaw-dropping debut novel inspired by a headline story and the author’s home city, Oakland. Kiara, a young Kiara, a young Black sex worker who walks the streets for survival and lands, staggering, in the depths of the justice system, is doing all that she can to look out for both her brother and Trevor, a nine-yearold whose mother leaves for periods of time with no word of her whereabouts.

Novels by musicians are a mixed bag. For every And The Ass Saw The Angel (Nick Cave) or Three Craws (James Yorkston) there are more than a few Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace (Bruce Dickinson), or even a Tarantula (Bob Dylan). Ruarri Joseph’s debut novel William the Conqueror proves that he sits alongside Cave, Yorkston, Louise Wener, and Josh Ritter as songwriters who can also successfully write fiction. Taking the same name as his band, William the Conqueror is a semi-autobiographical novel which finds the titular William at a turning point in his life, reflecting on his past experiences and younger self to try to make sense of how things have come to be.

Kiara is a loyal seventeen-year-old who considers it her remit to scope out work to pay the rent for the squalid apartment that she and brother, Marcus, still live in, despite being abandoned by their mother. Especially after he makes it very clear that he isn’t willing to work on anything aside from his music.

After a misunderstanding, she finds herself walking the street to simply keep a roof over their heads and avoid the wrath of their landlord, Vernon. And as her world opens up to involve the Oakland Police Department, the book becomes a riveting page-turner, as we follow Kiara with concern to see where in this unsafe world her work takes her into. The callous language of motel rooms and police badge numbers becomes very familiar as the story progresses.

Raw, gritty, grim: this intense debut depicts a side of Oakland and a life that will disturb and alarm. Leila Mottley has created an unforgettable adult world for a character that we need to remind ourselves is just a child. Nightcrawling is a disturbing and emotive novel that packs a punch.

Nightcrawling is published by Bloomsbury on 24th May 2022 Keira Brown snackmag.co.uk

There are two narrative voices which offer alternative takes on events, and it is up to the reader to decide their relationship and whether one is more or less reliable than the other.

It’s a story which will draw empathy from many readers. William describes his ever-changing world as he moves into what some people call ‘adulthood’. Joseph uses precise cultural references to set the time and place and hint at William’s background. His relationship with his parents is a complex one, and a love of Bob Dylan seems to be the only thing of note that father passes down to son. As William begins to discover his own musical heroes – including Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, and Elliot Smith – or references films such as Nil By Mouth, we are placed squarely in the 1990s of Camden, Converse, The Chronic, and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

However, William the Conqueror isn’t simply a trip into nostalgia (although there will be an aspect of that for those who were there).

It’s more about understanding how that young boy grows up to be this man, how he has been treated, and how in turn he has treated others; and if there are points along the way where lessons can still be learned. As such, you can’t help but reflect upon your own life and times, and the people who shaped them.

William the Conqueror is published by Blue Raincoat Books Alistair Braidwood

SINEAD GLEESON AND KIM GORDON Book: This Woman's Work: Essays on Music

The collection transcends genres, styles, and formats, and is a fantastic read for anyone wanting to have a quick overview of women working in music, past challenges, or insight into the sheer determination of some icons.

Highlighting the dominance of men in film, music and literature, This Women’s Work would make a wonderful series of books, with this one merely beginning the conversation. As with this, some essays would be emboldened, enjoyed, flourish over others, but this mere spotlight on women in an industry ruled mostly by men should continue, as we hopefully begin to see a further shift in gender equality in the music industry.

This Woman's Work: Essays on Music is published by White Rabbit Books Keira Brown

This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music is a fascinating collection of essays including work

by Fatima Bhutto, Anne Enright, Megan Jasper, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Maggie Nelson to name a few. Edited by Sinead Gleeson and Kim Gordon, it’s a collection that looks to confront the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men, and it gives women the space to speak about their own musical background and that of those women that they respect.

Made up of sixteen chapters of eclectic writing, whether it be from auteurs, those who work in music, or acclaimed voices in literature, This Woman’s Work is a mere glimpse of the work that women do in the music industry.

The collection includes Anne Enright’s chapter on Laurie Anderson, Megan Jasper on her time at the beating heart of Sub Pop, Fatima Bhutto on music and dictatorship, and Sinead Gleeson herself on the work of film composer Wendy Carlos.

review@snackmag.co.uk Page 45

KEVIN WILLIAMSON AND MIKE SMALL Book: Bella Caledonia: An Anthology of Writing From 2007-2021 Launched in 2007 by Kevin Williamson and Mike Small (editor of this anthology), Bella Caledonia helped pave the way for new and alternative voices to be heard in Scotland, embracing the opportunities and challenges of the ever-evolving arena of online media. Over the next 14 years they would continue as they had begun, and Bella Caledonia: An Anthology of Writing From 2007-2021 is both evidence, and a celebration, of this.

The contents page reads like a who’s who of Scottish political and cultural commentators, featuring Andy Wightman, Peter Arnott, A.L. Kennedy, Irvine Welsh, Claire Squires, Pat Kane, Anna Saleem, Gerry Hassan, and many more.

The introduction from editor Mike Small sets out the history, development and aims of Bella Caledonia, and why these pieces, and these writers, have been included.

There’s a beautiful essay by current Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie, who writes on our relationship with the natural world, and the seas in particular. Novelist and playwright Alan Bissett’s poem ‘Vote Britain’, which went viral during the run up to the 2014 Independence Referendum, is also included – a reminder that Bella Caledonia was central to that national debate. Scott Hames addresses the complex question of language in Scotland in ‘Not Nationality but Language’, and his fellow academic Alison Phipps’s essay ‘When I Needed A Neighbour’ has a resonance which takes on new and more powerful meaning when read today. Bella Caledonia has always been a place where the long form essay could find a welcome, and increasingly rare, home. snackmag.co.uk

One of the best pieces in the anthology, Neil Cooper’s ‘A Song for Europe – Lost in Translation on a Grand Tour’ offers a fresh take on Scotland’s relationship to Europe and is the perfect example of this.

Bella Caledonia: An Anthology of Writing is impressive, but also unexpected. Even if you have been a regular reader over the years you may still be surprised as to how varied and balanced this collection is – a result of Small’s judicious editing. If you are not familiar with Bella, then this is the perfect introduction. Of course there’s passion, but there is also clear and independent thought (no pun intended). You may not agree with everything you read – I think it would be impossible to do so, such are the variety of voices and opinions in evidence – but it’ll make you think, and think again.

Bella Caledonia: An Anthology of Writing From 2007-2021 is published on the Bella Caledonia imprint of Leamington Books Alistair Braidwood

OCEAN VUONG Book: Time is a Mother Ocean Vuong releases his second poetry collection, Time is a Mother, following the enormous success of his 2019 debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Fast becoming the face of contemporary poetry, Vuong’s most recent collection largely serves as a tribute to his late mother, but his work remains a heartfelt blend of identity exploration, cultural commentary, and trauma (or rather,the navigation of it).

Vuong is Vietnamese American, having fled his native country by way of a Philippines refugee camp before arriving in the US. His debut, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, loosely but not explicitly based on his own life, is a series of letters from a Vietnamese man, in the throes of his homosexual awakening, to his illiterate mother.

Time Is a Mother, however, sees Vuong navigate life in the aftermath of his mother’s death with the poignant honesty one has come to expect from his work.

Each of the collection’s sections jump wildly in time and place, perhaps reflecting the non-linear navigation of grief and trauma. This narrative choice at times risks compromising a sense of momentum or clarity; but each caveat into which Vuong takes his reader is still satisfying. There are numerous examples of shorter poems that provide a gut punch: ‘Old Glory’, (not for the faint of heart) for one, is a fourteen-line hurricane filled with aggressive clichés that epitomise toxic masculinity; a heady blend of frightening sexual and homophobic violence and performative diatribes. What I would give to hear Vuong perform it live. ‘The Last Dinosaur’ seemingly jumps between a visceral chaotic landscape and warning a lover of investing too much (‘Sure, we can / make out. But I’m warning you – / it’s a lot’) and so many other transient thoughts. The

reader must abandon any need for control.

The book’s second part contains its most pertinent moments. A standout, ’Rise & Shine’, takes the reader through what is at once a heartwarming morning routine and a subtle exploration of substance abuse, touching on his mother’s former role as a nail salon technician: Scraped the last $8.48 from the glass jar.

Your day’s worth of tips at the nail salon. Enough for one hit.

He returns to his mother’s job throughout the collection, most notably the poignant ‘Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker’, which itemises her monthly spending, a list that dwindles heartbreakingly in the knowledge her cancer is terminal. ‘Not Even’ allows the reader to find the bleak humour in the dimness of death (‘Rose, I whispered as they zipped my mother in her body bag, get out of there.

Your plants are dying’), while ‘Dear Rose’ serves as a beautifully meandering direct address to his late mother.

Time is a Mother, like grief and trauma themselves, can be chaotic; but Vuong’s sophomore collection is all the better for it. His explorations – parenthood/childhood, personal identity/national identity, fragility/resilience – are moving and so richly handled that by the end, the reader feels the catharsis the poet hopefully feels himself. Time is a Mother is the work of a remarkable talent at the zenith of their career: an exciting prospect to watch unfold.

Time is a Mother was released on 7th April

by Vintage Publishing Jonny Stone review@snackmag.co.uk Page 47

BOOK KLUB

WALLICE

EP: When The Water Comes I Want to Sink

EP: 90s American Superstar

When The Water Comes I Want to Sink, Book Klub’s debut EP, invites listeners to step foot into a darkened world crowded with tales of human interest, where we’re guided through an ambush of melodic guitar. The band have solidified their aesthetic from the very start. In their world music and visuals go hand in hand, creating sounds that stimulate specific storytelling elements.

LA-based indie popstar Wallice is set for making waves with her upcoming EP 90s American Superstar. The rowdy(ish) indie-pop project has Wallice visualising herself as a fictionalised pop icon, chronicling her rise and inevitable fall from fame through the 5-track EP.

The EP conveys a gothic tale, with tracks such as ‘Siren Song’ and ‘Life of Me’ depicting intricate stories of inward self-reflection and connection.

The group’s sound only amplifies this mood, taking a modern approach to post-punk through the concoction of distorted guitars and frenetic build-ups leading to an overwhelming immersion in sound.

‘Pines’ is the EP’s final track: it presents a journey, starting with a melancholy duet of vocals and guitar before transcending into an intensifying collection of instruments and repetitive lyrics. Frenzied screams and screeching guitars round off an exploration of the vivid world of Book Klub.

Photo credit: Rosie Sco

When The Water Comes I Want to Sink is out now Abbie Aitken

snackmag.co.uk

The record is an energetic, fuzzy roller coaster ride from the get-go, with previous single ‘Little League’ setting the tone for the project. Its energy gives a clear indication of what to expect from the EP, with themes of wanting the best from yourself, for yourself.

The tracks are upbeat, for the most part, with a retro sound where the artist has plenty of room to showcase her vocal, which ranges from laconic to peppy innocence. The EP serves as a confident lob into the crowded indie pop scene, while keeping the songs mainstream enough for radio.

The EP’s title track serves as the next single: a catchy, fever-dream indie track stuffed full of 90s pop culture references.

90s American Superstar is out 6th May on Dirty Hit Ross Wilcock

INDOOR FOXES

KATHRYN JOSEPH

Single: Butterfly Boy

Album: for you who are the wronged

The first release from Glasgow-based Indoor Foxes in over a year, ‘Butterfly Boy’ explores the fragility of men and the ways they relate to one another.

The power of Kathryn Joseph's music lies in its quiet, understated delicacy: she can silence a room into hushed adoration when playing live, quietened by forensic tenderness. This, her third album, its title in lower case like an inscription, seems more openly political, as it appears to allude to frightened people trying to cross borders in boats, the failure of the UK government in helping those with mental health problems receive adequate treatment, and the ubiquitous abuse of power by tyrants. At least, that is my interpretation. She implies, she does not state: and that is in its own way more effective.

Played with a full band, the track is punchy and guitar-laden, with lead singer Martha’s signature pure vocals delivering the poignant lyrics. A timely social commentary while still being a fun listen.

'Butterfly Boy' is available to stream now Lily Black

BECCA STARR Single: Tides With her own particular brand of groove-led hip-hop with a righteous anger, Becca Starr takes on climate change and the limitations of activism in a lyrically complex tune that wrestles with the idea of fighting a system whilst trapped in its confines. Tempering her anger with a grime-y synth bounce, this is a call to action – what use is knowledge, if it changes nothing?

'Tides' is out now on In Black Records Chris Queen

Joseph's lovely half-sung, half-whispered voice is disarming: you really have to lean in to listen properly. It's like secrets shared from a sister or a lover's confession, as with 'bring to me your open wounds', where she asks a partner to share the darkest parts of their psyche, and trust in the process. 'how well you are' bobs and weaves like a ship on choppy waters, and the rhythm of 'of all the broken' is like blood running into a hypodermic needle. There is a pared-back heartbeat tempo in 'the harmed'; and Joseph bares her teeth more, like a ferocious lioness protecting her young, on 'until the truth of you'.

Keys and double-tracked vocals layer this intense, beautiful album, forever vacillating between sorrow, desire, and hope. Blood, bones, skin, and mantras pointing towards traumas resolved cover the album in both human fragility and strength; wishes for better, more peaceful days ahead. for you who are the wronged was released 22nd April on Rock Action Lorna Irvine review@snackmag.co.uk Page 49

ALBUM CLUB

NOKOMIS

Album: Album Club

Album: In Waves

Glasgow’s rain-soaked streets often stand in for Gotham or Philadelphia; for Album Club ‘the Clyde reminds me of the mighty Mississippi’ on an album steeped in longing and distance, physical and temporal. The time zones slipping on ‘Different Hours’, a visit to an old house and old ambitions on ‘Walls’ or the turbulent dreams of ‘Never Sleep Alone’ all carry a yearning to reach a hand they don’t quite meet.

I missed out on In Waves when it was first released on streaming services, near the end of 2020.

Fortunately, good things come to those who wait and its recent vinyl release gave me another chance to hear this darkly personal debut from Scottish singer/songwriter Anna Nokomis.

Album Club were a few old friends meeting in the pub to talk about music. Except those friends happened to be MJ McCarthy of the much missed Zoey Van Goey, some of Scotland’s best playwrights, and two actual ex-Delgados, and the pub was Glasgow’s famous Laurieston Bar, so by some process of alchemical magic the talking became recording.

They wear their rich and dense influences proudly.

There's a strong sense of classic singer-songwriters of the seventies in the vein of Karen Dalton, grand touches of the cinematic sweep of The Bathers, Husker Dü-esque power pop on swaggering single ‘The Hard Part’, of deep house bounce and Durutti Column shimmer. An album in thrall to the joy of dissecting music and remaking it from the parts; it all dissolves into a delirious coda of layered harmonies and birdsong and sparse, tentative optimism.

Album Club is out in May on Last Night From Glasgow Chris Queen

Even though I’ve been listening to it digitally, it’s apparent that In Waves has a timeless quality to it that will sound fantastic on wax. It’s spacious, it’s moody, and it’s introspective, and Nokomis has joined forces with a full band of collaborators to create a shimmering instrumental cloud for her stunning vocals to drift and glide through.

It’s the strength of these vocals, the intricacies of the instrumentals and the interplay between the melodies, that make every moment of In Waves a joy. The brooding piano and scuzzy stabs of guitar on the title track, the shrieking saxophone solo that closes ‘Lay My Body Down’, the heartwrenching melodies of ‘All The Little Things’ and the sorrowful, lamenting lyrics of ‘Waiting For A Name’ are just a few of the record's standout moments. There are clear links to well established, or even heritage, artists like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Portishead and Massive Attack; though, it should be said, the songs sound fresh and bang up to date.

On this, her debut album, Nokomis has successfully merged a sense of familiarity with a modern voice and style that’s sure to resonate as much with fans of contemporary artists like Pumarosa, Orla Gartland and The Big Moon as it does with nostalgic thirtysomethings like me.

In Waves is out now Christopher Michael Ovens Sneddon

snackmag.co.uk

BLOC PARTY Album: Alpha Games

‘Of Things Yet To Come’ has a tentative positivity growing from its spidery spirals and the Crowleyreferencing single ‘Sex Magik’ brings a dark seductiveness to the elemental chant of its chorus.

Okere has said that a lot of the inspiration for the album came from revisiting the energy of the band’s early material, and it’s palpable in the music – the glam rock stomp and screeching stylophone solo of ‘The Girls Are Fighting’ recalls as much of the electroclash of Add (N) to X or Ladytron as it does the platforms of the seventies, with the house beats and ecstatic synths on ‘By Any Means Necessary’ reminiscent of 2007’s ‘Flux’. It’s an album clearly made to be played live, staggering off into the sulphur-lit city night.

It’s not all tight shorts and black lipstick, though: ‘the things you do for blow or a little guest list have consequences’ and the paranoia and emptiness of the morning comes to every party.

The second half of the album strikes a more fragile, regretful tone.

Alpha Games is out on 29th April via Infectious/BMG. Bloc Party play Glasgow Barrowlands on 3rd June Chris Queen

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The deep cut v-necks and smeared mascara of the early 2000s have been cropping up in the fashion blogs again as ‘indie sleaze’. While they’ve had few line-up changes and lifted a lot of weights since 2004’s Silent Alarm, Bloc Party still have their heads somewhere between the nightclub and the gutter: their stuttering drum breaks and whirling guitars leading doe-eyed innocents astray into the dark corners of parties with champagne in plastic glasses and cocaine cut with seltzer, the cool kids taunting ‘you can’t hang with us’. ‘Ooh, you’re a wrong un’, trills Kele Okere on the gloriously acerbic ‘Callum is A Snake’, clearly enjoying every moment of the dysfunction unravelling around him. The album is packed with these sketchy characters, revelling in the shadowy sleaze on the edges of fame.

THESE SOUTHERN LANDS Album: Midnight Oil Activism in music is always a difficult balance to strike, as many well-intentioned but misguided pop stars have found to their cost. Supporting the No Music On A Dead Planet initiative, Duncan Sutherland, the Glasgow-based composer behind These Southern Lands, comes to the climate emergency not with the righteous ire of protest but a weary, forlorn disappointment. Like the Kurt Vonnegut epitaph ‘we could have saved the earth but we were too damn cheap’, the album looks at the missed opportunities and told-youso’s of a climate emergency that has been kicked down the road until there’s no road left.

LOOKING BACK TO THE TRADITIONS OF THE LAND AND FORWARD INTO AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The centrepiece of the album, the ambitious sprawl of ‘Lost in a Forest’, breaks down into a dissonant and fractured crumble before setting back into Georgina MacDonnell Finlayson’s lamenting violin. It’s a beautifully atmospheric piece of music, referencing early 00s glitch and the folksy balkan lilts of the Elephant 6 scene with Sutherland’s lost, plaintive vocal.

Combining electronic composition and acoustic instruments, notably the strings of the Nevis Ensemble’s Sagnick Mukherjee and Joanna Stark on ‘Birds and Bees’, gives a folk inflection to the music and grounds it in a musical lineage, looking back to the traditions of the land and forward into an uncertain future, in a manner reminiscent of Roly Porter’s Kistvaen.

It’s not all so portentous: single ’Fun In Pink’ brings a welcome lightness and some flirtatious fun to the second half of the album and ‘One Two Blue’ gives dance-driven aesthetics. Overall, though, the last words of ’Cruel Light’ are what is left ringing in our heads: ‘It’s a cruel light, this hindsight’. We’re looking at inaction in the face of destruction not as an angry polemic, but a disappointed shake of the head, asking not what we should do but

Photo credit: Fiona Christie

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why we aren't.

Midnight Oil is out now Chris Queen

GLITCH 41 Every revolutionary gig, every moment of music that goes down as social history, probably happened in the basement or back room of a pub somewhere: some unassuming black-painted function suite with a PA in the corner has hosted most of the great ‘were you there moments’ of the rock back pages.

That the second night of an ongoing monthly residency featuring some (or maybe all, given how many people are on stage at points) of Glasgow's amazing jazz community is packing out a capacity Rum Shack on a mid-month Thursday is a testament to just how exciting these gigs are.

Two hour-long sets with a focus on getting people dancing, with the first hour a fairly straight run down of some solid tunes with influences from 90s acid jazz and echo dek reggae, get Govanhill moving, no doubt helped by the plentiful samples of free rum.

The key lies in doubling the sax and vocals, dropping out the musicians to allow for Gregory Coleman-worthy drum breaks, and showing off the skills of a tight bunch of musicians who clearly enjoy each other’s playing.

Photo credit: Andy Laing

Live: The Rum Shack, 21st April

The second set is where it all gets a bit wild, MCs TK and Ace piling on to the stage with an improvised freakout and rolling line up that swaps drummers, pulls members of Astrosnax out of the crowd seemingly at random, and turns the whole venue into a writhing, pounding mass of dancers packing the room and hollering to every sax line and scat break.

They close with a UK Garage medley of ‘Flowers’

by Sweet Female Attitude and the classic ‘Gotta Get Thru This’, which inspires a mass singalong from a crowd that couldn’t have been long out of primary school when Daniel Bedingfield was last in the charts.

The tendrils of a really exciting scene are creeping out of this night, the ever-overlapping group of musicians talking about the Rum Shack as a ‘second home’ and selling these nights out far enough in advance for the organisers to be warning people not to DM them if they miss out.

This has the makings of one of those back rooms of a bar that we’ll be talking about in years to come.

The next Glitch 41 is Thursday 12th May at The Rum Shack 657-659 Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow Chris Queen

review@snackmag.co.uk Page 53

DRIVE MY CAR Film I’m not one for conducting interviews with filmmakers; I find it stressful and nerve-wracking.

However, when it’s someone I really admire I can’t pass up the opportunity. My first was a long time ago, and I had the honour of it being with Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi. He passed away a couple of years ago; a sad day.

His 1977 comedy-horror House is one of the most insanely inventive films I’ve ever watched: a gonzo-surrealist masterpiece that has to be seen to be believed. When I asked him if he was influenced by surrealist film-makers such as Luis Bunuel, his response was ‘Yes, I like those films, but Ozu is the most surrealist director.’

Yasujiro Ozu’s films are revered as the most traditionally Japanese in style, and usually depict the everyday lives of the nation’s people in a realistic fashion, exemplified by the depiction of postwar Japan in 1953’s Tokyo Story. I found Obayashi’s answer cryptic and I didn’t really understand. There was nothing dreamlike about the films I had seen from Ozu. Upon watching Drive My Car, Japan’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, it suddenly dawned on me what Obayashi meant.

Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car is based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, my favourite author. Murakami specialises in heartbreakingly realistic stories and conversely surreal flights of fantasy. Drive My Car is the former, and is without doubt the best film interpretation of Murakami’s prose, in my opinion.

Other efforts were admirable, such as 2018’s Burning, but none have captured the tender intimacy and wisdom of the world he creates like Drive My Car.

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Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is a successful stage actor and is married to Oto (Reika Kirishima), a screenwriter. One day Oto dies of a cerebral haemorrhage, and two years later Kafuku takes a job preparing actors for the play closest to his heart, Uncle Vanya by Chekhov. Kafuku becomes close with his driver, who takes over the wheel of his old 1987 Saab 900 Turbo. It’s a beauty of a car that almost becomes a character in itself, lavished with long lingering shots and pivotal dialogue scenes taking place in its interior. This relationship, along with another with an actor under his tutelage, makes Kafuku confront his grief and the illusory nature of memory.

Like Parasite, the Korean film which won the Oscar for Best Picture two years ago, Drive My Car is a film of such depth that taking it all in is overwhelming. Unlike Parasite, it unfolds gently and tenderly, moving with complex rhythms, which means it becomes an effort of pure cinema.

The film takes you out of time, and you’re unaware of the three hours of your life it takes up.

Towards the end of Drive My Car the revelation hit me: my interpretation of Obayashi’s comment on Ozu is that the very act of filmmaking is surreal: to condense life into a manageable narrative, to impose the conditions of film technique onto a story. So, the films of Ozu and now efforts such as Drive My Car, in striving to communicate real life, are the most surreal of all. They give us a reflection of reality, and in doing so envelop us in a dream.

Drive My Car is currently on Mubi Martin Sandison

THE NOVICE Film Debut director Lauren Hadaway’s examination of obsessive achievement, The Novice, is played out on the US college rowing scene and garnered praise on the 2021 festival circuit. Frequently compared to Whiplash, another portrayal of sadomasochistic perfectionism on which Hadaway worked as sound editor, the movie leans heavily on the intensity of Isabelle Fuhrman as Alex Dall, a rookie rower who joins her university’s novice crew but will physically destroy herself to make it to the top varsity boat, despite limited talent.

Notwithstanding the praise, there is inexperience in The Novice, especially within its first half. Its character development is simplistic, and its direction embraces a heavy-handed soundtrack and symbols in which classical music and overlapping voices represent confusion, while Motown soul equals emotion.

Elements of early dialogue are also audience surrogate explanations of the terminology of rowing, and the film is obviously semi-autobiographical: Hadaway was a university rower, and the project feels like an arts graduate wanted to make a film and therefore dramatised themself in the style of her favourite movie.

This is not to say The Novice is a bad film, but possibly an over-hyped one, and the second half definitely has a point to make about driven personalities.

Alex’s obsessive and alienating determination to beat more naturally gifted peers makes her highly able, but never the best, and eventually her betters push back against her intensity ruining the rowing club for everyone. Fuhrman’s character represents that person screaming at five-a-side football, that student in the library at 5a.m., that middle manager pushing her team. The question being posed is: if very good is your upper limit, and everybody hates you, is the intensity worthwhile?

The Novice is worth a watch, but unless you’re appreciating Alex’s psychology or awaiting more rowing screen time, it will likely be one-and-done.

Fuhrman produces a mighty effort on an unlikeable protagonist, but would have benefited from Hadaway fleshing out the sympathetic secondary figures, such as innately talented crew member Jamie Brill or coaches Pete and Edwards, rather than using them as mere mirrors for Alex’s rage.

Dialling back the sound triggers would also have helped. Nonetheless, The Novice is trying to bring a meaningful personality to the screen, via a less seen world, and an interesting but flawed character study should be supported, even if it does not always create a smooth film.

The Novice will be available on digital platforms from 2nd May Jamie Wills

Anna Russell-Martin as Josephine ‘Jos’ Willcott and Eilidh Loan as Meredith ‘Murph’ Willcott

review@snackmag.co.uk Page 55

SNACK BITS

associate with the colourful cube, and carries the strut of a person who has completed more than one whole side.

Right, no messing about; let’s get tore into our SNACK Bits roundup for May. Mogwai celebrated their European tour by releasing ‘Boltfor’, a seemingly effortless number that other bands would try and carve a career out of. It says everything you need to know about Mogwai’s quality and consistency that a release of this nature is seen as par for the course. It’s not as if we take them for granted, but we perhaps need a jolt to reaffirm just how unique this band is.

It’s also been a busy time for the band’s Stuart Braithwaite, with the announcement of Spaceships Over Glasgow: Mogwai and Misspent Youth. Stuart’s book is released in the autumn and will give him the chance to see authors get paid as little as musicians in the present day.

Another act that has been famously wrapped up in books is Belle & Sebastian. Their new album, A Bit Of Previous, should be with you by the time of publication. The final teaser for the record, ‘Young & Stupid’, is another cheery stomper, the sort of thing the band does very well.

There’s music for every mood, but few things blend as joyfully as B&S and sunshine, so fingers crossed for this summer! Of course, some people think Belle & Sebastian are squares, but it’s boisterous upstarts Dictator who focus on cubes this month. ‘Rubik’s Cube’ is a funky tribute to the puzzle created by Ernő Rubik. The track has more swagger than you’d snackmag.co.uk

Another track with a self-assured belief is ‘SWEAT’

by BETA WAVES, a mature and modest floor-filler that wouldn’t be out of place alongside the more reflective Hot Chip moments.

You’ll also find yourself shimmying to the Kaossteedeethree EP by Glassmasterer. The title track has such a blissfully Balearic opening that you’ll swear it’s just the sun rising. Before too long, though, it takes a squelchy turn, and it’s always more enjoyable when things get a little weird. It’s a glitchy and trippy release that deserves some spins over the next few months.

If you love pop with a slightly stiffer edge, we think you’ll enjoy what Katherine Aly and Kirsty Grant have up their sleeve. Aly’s ‘Hype Up’ is a solid little number, suitable for a drivetime radio electro-pleaser, but perhaps just needing a bit more punch in the chorus. It’s good, though. As is ‘Quick Fix’ by Kirsty Grant. This is a bit more polished and on the harsher side of love, but no less compelling. Pop is never a dirty word, and it’s good to see local acts making their way in this field.

And of course, after mentioning two up-andcoming artists, you might ask: where’s Alice Faye? The answer is Glasgow, and she has a hell of a voice on her. ‘Haircutter’ is an excellent introduction to her sultry style, perfect when you need a jazzy little interlude.

Pollokshields says

You all know the music section is the essential thing about SNACK, but we want to reach out to the other parts of the mag. While ‘I Made Too Much Pasta’ by Triptych doesn’t give you enough time to boil an egg, let alone cook too much pasta, it is a fuzzy and scuzzy little number that you can’t help but like. And with that sort of vocabulary, the music team aren’t allowed to write food reviews or suggest recipes.

And we couldn’t let the month slide by without mentioning the Pandamonium EP from Pandas.

The title track would serve them well as the theme tune for their E4 show, in a Monkees for the ‘20s style. However, ‘Foolish’ is far more relatable, a cheeky indie banger that deserves to have people pogoing and falling in Firewater or whatever damn place you youngsters drink and dance in these days.

Bitter Suite have impressed us this month with their debut single ‘Anywhere’. It’s a beautifully ethereal, scuzzy gem of a track that wouldn’t seem out of place on the soundtrack to an 80s American blockbuster movie but it’s Eve Sutherland’s unmistakably west of Scotland vocal that really brings the tingles home. One to play on repeat.

And just before we run the risk of this page being discarded entirely from the mag, a shout out to Ciar Nixon. ‘Cleopatra Dreaming’ is a woozy number from the capital’s self-proclaimed hardest vegan.

The Edinburgh Festival will give him the platform to live up to this claim, with any luck.

See you in the June Gloom!

Support our work by setting up a monthly donation at www.pollokshieldsfoodpoint.org

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SNACK Bits by Andrew Reilly Page 57

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DOT COTTON GASSES RABBITS TO DEATH IN A BISCUIT TIN It’s two days after beloved Eastenders actress June Brown passed away and an odd obituary insinuates that, as a child, the lady behind gossiping, chain-smoking, fur-collared Dot Cotton gassed rabbits to death in a biscuit tin and there’s gasps of disbelief on Loose Women where angelic Denise Welch shakes her head and timid Janet Street-Porter crumbles like gingerbread, and today’s special guest – Katie Hopkins – is typically speechless and unexpressed.

America unites in a state of distaste.

It puts Pam and Tommy off sex.

No condemnation was ever writ by Kanye West.

Miley Cyrus rescinds all twerks and Donald Trump remains invested only in self-interest.

But then the truth leaks.

The rabbits which had been gassed were for dissection during a school biology class and subsequently, June Brown was no self-confessed bad-ass intent on indulging in blood sports.

It doesn’t make as interesting a report though, does it?

Stephen Watt

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