Rising Scottish electronica duo WHYTE – Alasdair C. Whyte (vocals) and Ross Whyte (electronics) – release their new album MAIM, a collaboration with the inimitable Theatre Gu Leòr, which will be released digitally on 9th April. As well as this, MAIM is also available on CD and download as well as a limited-edition book which will come later in the summer.

WHYTE’s fusion of Gaelic song and electronica has been winning them plaudits at home and abroad since the band’s inception in 2016. Their evocative and “achingly mournful arrangements” (fRoots) have seen previous single ‘Tairm’ making it onto the popular ‘Lush and Ethereal’ playlist amassing almost 500,000 streams. They have also been awarded the 2019 Scottish Gaelic Arts and Culture Award and the 2017 Hands Up For Trad/Creative Scotland Nòs Ùr Songwriting Award for their original Gaelic song ‘Cionran’.

Drawing comparisons to Sigur Rós, the band are not only experimental in their music but also with their collaborations. MAIM was born from a partnership with Theatre Gu Leòr and is an extension of the hugely successful theatre production of the same name. The original theatre production ‘MAIM’, directed by Muireann Kelly and featuring script contributions by fellow cast-members Elspeth Turner and Evie Waddell, premiered in March 2020 and saw a run of sold-out shows at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow prior to the lockdown in mid-March. Both the production and the new album explore responses to the panic and horror we feel when time is running out – when faced with all we stand to lose – if we don’t make a stand against language and climate extinction.

MAIM was recorded at GloWormRecording with Gordon Maclean & Keir Long with strings provided by Seonaid Aitken, Megan Henderson, Patsy Reid, Alice Allen and Màrtainn Skene and additional vocals and guitar from Elspeth Turner, Evie Wadddell, Cian McCarthy and Ruairidh Murray.

Bandcamp | Amazon (CD, Download, Stream) | Spotify | iTunes | Apple Music | Youtube Music | birnamcdshop.com