Aidan Moffat - Where You're Meant To Be on The Moon

This is an album I had been hoping to check out for some time. It has been available non-digitally for a while, with just a couple of great tracks available on Soundcloud. But with the recent cinema release of the accompanying film, it is now available to stream in the usual places.

The film is "Paul Fegan’s first feature documentary follows Scottish cult-pop raconteur and former Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat as he tours Scotland in 2014, performing his modern re-interpretations of old folk songs.

It was meant to be a tour that celebrated communities and lore. But just before they hit the road, Moffat met Sheila Stewart: a 79-year-old force of nature, the last in a line of travelling folk royalty, and a balladeer whose life – and unexpected death, in 2014 – upturned Moffat’s folk assumptions, and diverted the course of Fegan’s film.

The ensuing film is a warm-hearted journey through music, mortality, landscape and time. It’s also a moving, wry and enlightening depiction of two of Scotland’s most distinct and vital voices, as they cross paths (and words): Moffat believes Scotland’s oldest songs are ripe for re-working against a contemporary urban backdrop. Stewart does not."

You can find out where you can still catch the film, some with live performances here

The album is a brilliant contemporary re-writing of some great old Scottish folk tunes, but delivered in a very traditional way. It is not for the faint-hearted lyrically, but for most it should be a hilarious antidote to these strange times. Check it out via Spotify below and check out his excellent LP with Bill Wells from 2015 on The Moon