Sonar | Debutant

I have been on a quest for some time now, and the quest continues. Fascinated as I am with the Icelandic music scene, I simply cannot get enough of the sheer amount of quality coming from the isolated island. Just look at the absurd amount of bands who have the power to captivate you with their sound textures, their gently played acoustic guitars, the lulling violins, violas and cellos, the simple and calming electronic bleeps and blops. The breathtaking nature and infuriatingly cold climate clearly have a very positive effect on the island’s artists, who all manage to stand out at whatever they do, always with that distinctive Icelandic flavour but never sounding the same like their fellow Icelanders.

So I was talking about a quest. If you ask me, Scotland and Iceland have many things in common, whether it’s the nature, the climate or the whiteness of our skin, there are many similarities you simply cannot deny. Now, let’s try to forget about the never-ending musical cliches of the Icelandic music scene - let’s avoid naming Sigur Rós or Björk - in fact, let’s not name any band at all, let’s simply talk about the music and what it evokes.

Debutant, who is not exactly from Iceland, is an Edinburgh based artist who released a split vinyl with Conquering Animal Sound on the Gerry Loves Records label. His music is entirely acoustic, gentle, fragile; it’ll slow the pace of your heart-beat, or it’ll fasten it by evoking long forgotten memories. With just a couple of instruments Debutant manages to create an incredible soundscape that flows swiftly, softly accompanied by acoustic guitars and the occasional echoing, whispered vocals.

In a similar way to the aforementioned Icelandic style, Debutant makes good use of the little he uses. He manages to create that balance with carefully crafted melodies that recall lochs, fields and mountains. It is this philosophy, the one of the less is more, the one about DIY, the one that is farthest apart from the money machine of the music industry, the one that I so admire and long to see in Scotland more and more.

Coincidentally, Gerry Loves Records signed the two Edinburgh-based artists who are very close to reaching that status. Both Conquering Animal Sound and Debutant possess that particular vision of music that is similar to the Icelandic one, but remains very Scottish. When listening to these artists, you will think of whisky, of the smell of the Highlands’ grass and all the things that have been there for thousands of years, yet we are reminded of them even when we listen to a track solely produced on a laptop.

It is this, my quest. To find, to promote, to do anything as long as I can find the band(s) who, in my very modest opinion, manage to reach perfection crafting fantastic ambient-inspired music that sound just like Scotland would if it was a song.