THE HOT 100
CHVRCHES HYPE-JUSTIFYING SYNTH-POP
We used to see lots of Lauren Mayberry around The List – by the kettle, in editorial meetings as LGBT/Around Town editor. Now, a victim of her band’s synth-pop runaway success, a chat involves two weeks of chasing, a publicist, a PIN, a conference call and a ten-minute window. Let’s be crystal clear: we wouldn’t want it any other way. Watching the band she fronts i rework skywards has been a hype-fuelled, hit-making joy to witness. ‘Surreal and slightly alarming is how this year’s felt,’ she says on her mobile, having a day off on Brighton Beach.
For those who’ve missed it, trio Chvrches (singer
Mayberry, plus ex-Twilight Sad’s Martin Doherty, and former Aereogrammer, Iain Cook) created a buzz after glorious power-beat-loaded single ‘Lies’ appeared on the blog, Neon Gold. Soon, A&R guys were tripping over themselves to make their debut gig at the Glasgow Art School. Next single, ‘The Mother We Share’, sealed the deal, and dance-making, slick live shows coni rmed their chops. ‘We’re trying to keep our heads screwed on,’ says Mayberry, a relative rookie who confesses she accidentally threw away her artist pass on a recent UK support tour for Passion Pit. And forgot socks. ‘I’m on a learning curve,’ she cringes. ‘Obviously hype means nothing if there’s no substance behind it,’ says Doherty, who’s doing a rural retreat for two weeks with the band to work on a i rst album, due next year. But the l ash-in-the-pan i nger is hard to point with synth-pop this good. ‘I guess we weren’t listening to much Scottish music when we started writing,’ adds Doherty. ‘It was mostly Vince Clarke, Robyn, Kate Bush, 90s R&B. Maybe that’s helped us sound different?’ Ignoring the hype helps too, admits Doherty. ‘Too much positive stuff gives you a big head; negative stuff is depressing. Either way you don’t get much music made!’ (Claire Sawers)
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29 CHVRCHES (SEE PANEL, ABOVE)
26 ERRORS MAKING NO MISTAKES
28 KEVIN HARMAN BEST IN SHOW
Harman may only recently have graduated from Edinburgh College of Art but he’s already making a splash at home and abroad. His outdoor pop-up work for this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival, ‘24/7’, explored 24-hour consumer culture and he topped off the year in style with a new sculpture and prints at the Ingleby Gallery. (AR)
27 CARGO PUBLISHING YOUNG TURK
The innovative Cargo stepped right up to the plate this year with some impressive literary action including
joining forces with the Edinburgh International Book Festival and McSweeney’s to produce Elsewhere. And the guy who runs them is the sixth most eligible man in Scotland. Fact. (BD) 24 THE LIST 13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013
Knocked by the departure of guitarist Greg Paterson after last year’s career-dei ning (so far) Have Some
Faith in Magic, the Rock Action-signed Errors have manned-up to life as a trio admirably. They toured and released a well-received mini-album, New Relics, demonstrating a more electronic sensibility than before. (DP)
25 CORA BISSETT RENAISSANCE WOMAN
The award-winning actor, musician and director was the creative driving force behind two ambitious multi- disciplinary projects in 2012. Whatever Gets You Through the Night combined music, spoken word and i lm to give a theatrical tour of pre-dawn Scotland while Glasgow Girls was a musical tribute to the Drumchapel teenagers who stood up to the UK immigration authorities. (AR)
24 STEVEN MOFFAT MYTHBUSTING TV GUY
The Paisley-born TV man did his best
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to upturn some applecarts by sneakily introducing a new companion into Doctor Who a few months early, as well as having Benedict Cumberbatch l ing himself off a hospital roof in the stirring and moving Sherlock season two i nale. (BD)
23 KIERAN HURLEY AND THE BEAT GOES ON
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Glasgow-based theatre-maker Hurley coni rmed the promise of his i rst major work, Hitch, with Beats, a blistering, music-enhanced exploration