Saturday Night at The Howff with The Vegan Leather, Be Charlotte and I Shake Like Static

howff /haʊf/. A favourite meeting place or haunt, especially a pub.

This week at The Howff, Bella Caledonia welcomes The Vegan Leather, I Shake Like Static

Taking its name from the old Scottish word for twilight, The Vegan Leather‘s new track ‘Gloaming’ conjures fever dreams of wild and weather-beaten landscapes. Marked by a relentlessly infectious urgency, the song marks The Vegan Leather’s return to the spotlight after a landmark 2019 that saw them played on BBC Radio 1, winning the Best Live Act at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards and named among the List magazine’s Hot 100. With ‘Gloaming’ they are retaining their art-pop sensibilities and pushing their electronic influences to the forefront. The song is inspired by Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’.

Lead singer Marie Collins says, “The song sort of became a kind of monologue of a menacing narrator trying to entice someone into the wilderness with them. In Wuthering Heights, Cathy always seems to run to the moors to seek solace whenever she’s feeling overwhelmed, but it always feels like there’s something sinister lurking. ‘Gloaming’ then turned into a song about being led astray, when all you’re looking for is comfort. It’s about being led into your own darkness, following your inner demons.”

You can see more from The Vegan Leather and support their work at their Facebook here.

23-year-old Scottish pop star Be Charlotte has just released the brand new single ‘Back to Life’, co-written and produced with Phil Cook (of Little Mix and Lewis Capaldi fame). The Dundee singer’s vocals are dynamic and gymnastic as ever, emanating pure-pop positivity and her lyrics are assertive, personal and raw. She says, “The song idea came to me on a packed tube journey in London, it struck me how odd it is when so many people are packed in such close proximity but sit in absolute silence. The song is a metaphor for going through the motions in your everyday life when deep down you are not genuinely happy. I wanted the lyric to represent a sort of love story to ourselves and a willingness to do better. “ 

You can hear more from Be Charlotte and support her work at her website here.

I Shake Like Static is a synth pop / post-punk artist based in Glasgow, offering uniquely Scottish utopian miserablism accompanied by crackling, aged drum machines and echo drenched synthesizers. The debut album From a Single Cell, a tribute to the late Cumnock based writer and activist Mark Gilroy, was released yesterday on limited edition clear vinyl as well as being made available for streaming on all digital platforms.

You can see more from I Shake Like Static and support their work at their bandcamp here.

Feature image by Linzi Clark.