Admiral Fallow

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Formed in 2007 by a group of Glasgow-based music student mates (Louis and Phil from Edinburgh; bassist Joe Rattray from Dundee; singer, flautist and keyboardist Sarah Hayes from Northumberland; clarinettist and keyboardist Kevin Brolly the only genuine Glaswegian) Admiral Fallow released their adored debut album, Boots Met My Face, in 2011 and its widely-acclaimed successor Tree Bursts In Snow the following year.

As a Glasgow band prone to self-deprecation, Admiral Fallow will probably wince at the plaudits their extraordinary third album, Tiny Rewards, has received. Heartbreakingly beautiful, sonically audacious and lyrically bewitching are words that spring to mind. The quintet, however, would more likely describe Tiny Rewards as a dozen songs from an 18-month experiment to do something different.

“When you’ve played your own songs hundreds of times, you can start to mock some of their features,” says drummer Phil Hague, apparently unaware of how few bands possess the self-awareness to do anything of the sort. “There were certain aspects of our sound that, two albums in, we decided we should maybe steer clear of – acoustic guitars being the most obvious.”

Which is how the band once categorised as indie-folk (or nu-folk or folk-rock) began on the path to Tiny Rewards, an album created largely on keyboards, on which acoustic instruments remain but are often unrecognisable, on which space matters as much as sound and with textures as rich as the melodies are moving. Key to that shift in sound was starting the album instrumentally as a five-piece, rather than coming together to work on songs already roughly written by front man and lyricist Louis Abbott.

“On our first two albums, I wrote whole songs or sections of songs and we arranged them as a band,” explains Louis. “This time we did the exact opposite. Fragments of music came first, whether a piano part or drum beat or just a certain sound or atmosphere. Because there was no framework and no lyrics, we could all pile in and be more experimental.”

On the magical Evangeline (which rhymes ‘common sense’ with ‘ebullience’, reason alone to adore it) he ponders becoming a parent, or as Louis puts it, “to someday be in charge of a small person of your own and the energy and craziness that brings in to your life. It’s inspired by some our friends having kids. You think, shite, that might happen to me at some point.”

If there is a theme – and none was intended – it’s about approaching the milestone of turning 30 (during the making of the album, all five waved goodbye to their mid 20s), taking stock of what they have achieved as a band so far and wondering the future holds.

“Aye, I suppose if you put it like that, it probably is,” admits Louis, reluctantly. “Four of the songs are about making music for a living, all from different perspectives. Carousel is the positive, uplifting version of it, Seeds is the sepia-toned, reflective version and Liquor And Milk is about nearing the end of your life and wondering what could have been. Happened In The Fall is the fourth, but I’m not sure what category that fits.”

Multi-layered, shape-shifting album opener Easy As Breathing and the lovely, lilting Some Kind Of Life are what Louis laughingly calls lust songs, or “the taking in of attractive people”. Good Luck is about the mess we’re leaving the world in for the next generation, tied to his suspicion of our all-encompassing reliance on technology. On the storytelling Sunday, he witnesses a hungover stranger staggering home and feels jealous. “I guess that’s another song about getting older,” he sighs. “Thinking that used to be me. It still is, sometimes, but now I know I should take more responsibility for myself.”

The band had a busy 2015 with 2 album tours in the spring, summer festivals as diverse as T in the Park, Latitude and The Iona Village Hall Festival (curated by Idlewild with whom they co-headlined) a short run of European dates in September and a 10 date club tour in the UK in November. In January 2016. There were 2 very special  SOLD OUT Celtic Connection shows

Admiral Fallow won’t tell you this themselves, but they’ve made of one 2015’s most compelling records. It is very special when performed in the live arena.  Bring on the gushing accolades and see them squirm.



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