Pictish Trail – Island Family review

They say write about what you know, but what happens when what you see becomes all there is? Being locked down at home is one thing, but when that home is the Isle of Eigg’s fifteen square miles in the Scottish Hebrides, circumstances will dictate a different sense of perspective.

The situation caused feelings in Johnny Lynch – AKA Pictish Trail – sort of akin to impostor syndrome. Having moved to Eigg and joined it’s hundred or so permanent residents a decade ago work as a regular musician had still taken him away from it, leaving the singer out on something of an emotional limb. Then came several months in which the two parties really got to know each other.

Island Family is a, but not the result, of that process, but those who were previously sold on the Trail’s blissful folktronica – as best showcased on career highlight Future Echoes – will find themselves working harder to locate it here. The abrasion is a direct reflection Lynch says of the harsher side to Eigg’s character, Green Mountain and In The Land of The Dead both head warping in different ways. Like life on his home, there’s little casual here, although Melody Something and closer Remote Control are more ear friendly, a minority part however of a record which requires time and commitment to get along with.

You can read a full review here.