What do Scottish Indie heroes of yesteryear do as the days pass and middle age descends. They write songs about what it feels like to be going through your middle ages, not unnaturally. Joe McAlinden once of Superstar and BMX Bandits has released a fine example of best practice in this respect with his latest album Where the Clouds Go Swimming.
It's a reflective, meditative record. Not a jangling guitar to be heard. Far more Blue Nile than Yummy Fur. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. That kind of stuff. It certainly tolls plenty over the course of the fifty minutes here.
If you haven't yet experienced your fifties, I'd say that everything gathers a different pace there. An added poignancy. A melancholy, McAlinden shows a wonderful understanding of the march of time. This is a record to relish and play in the early hours as you rise to greet a new dawn, wondering what the day has in store for you.
There are heavenly choirs and minor chords. A wistfulness for things not said and done. Things feel different at this point of life and McAlinden knows there's more to it all then having a crush on the girl next door. Where the Clouds Go Swimming is an album that breathes the passing of time. A small pearl
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