This year, Multi-award-winning Scottish band Skerryvore celebrated their 15 years together by releasing Live Across Scotland which Johnny Whalley reviewed for Folk Radio UK here. While that album featured familiar material defined by their tour setlist, this latest news should quench some of that fan thirst for new material, namely, a brand new, high energy single. You & I, is set for release at 7pm on this evening, Friday, 27 November.
Composed by lead singer Alec Dalglish, the new track has all the hallmarks of a pop anthem, showcasing Skerryvore’s signature dynamic brand of contemporary Scottish music at its best.
The lively single sees the band’s sound take another step forward, successfully marrying their traditional west coast roots with pop rock influences in a rousing track about togetherness and the long-lasting and important partnerships in our lives.
At 7pm on Friday, 27 November, the much-loved Scottish band will host a Watch Party on their YouTube Channel @SkerryvoreTV to premiere the video for You & I and officially launch the single.
Alec said: “This single has the classic Skerryvore sound to it but as always we have tried to push ourselves forward in certain ways. I always wanted to write something with an ethereal ‘choir’ section and it worked perfectly for You & I.
“The song was always supposed to be a big, festival headline, end-of-the-night jump around and hopefully people can at least do that in their living room until we can play for them live!”
Over the last 15 years, Skerryvore has performed in more than 25 countries worldwide including across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Australia. They released their first ever live album, Live Across Scotland, in July and are missing performing in front of their fans.
Alec added: “It’s important for us to be able to connect with our fans while we can’t get out to play live. We hope this new single is welcomed by the people we’d normally be seeing at gigs and festivals all over the world.”
Despite this, having the luxury of time in lockdown helped shape You & I, as Alec recalls: “I did a pretty extensive demo in my own time which meant I could experiment a lot more with sounds and production over a longer period of time and focus on some of the smaller details of the track. It feels great to get this out while we work away on another album.”
This newest single comes off the back of a collaboration with much-loved Scottish DJ, George Bowie, who fused his infamous brand of dance music with Skerryvore’s Take My Hand. The GBX vs Skerryvore Take My Hand (Remixes) has gone down a treat with dance, pop and folk music fans alike across Scotland.
Formed by brothers Daniel Gillespie (accordion) and Martin Gillespie (pipes, whistles and accordion) along with Fraser West (drums) and Alec Dalglish (guitar and vocals) on the Isle of Tiree in 2005, Skerryvore’s line-up includes Craig Espie (fiddle) and Jodie Bremaneson (bass), Scott Wood (pipes and whistles) and Alan Scobie (keyboards).
The new single was recorded over three days in August at Scott Wood’s Oak Ridge Studio in Glasgow, with the eight-strong group unable to come together to play the track all at once. It was mastered by Robin Schmidt of 24-96 Mastering who has worked with the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Sam Fender and The 1975.
Skerryvore will host a Watch Party on their YouTube Channel @SkerryvoreTV at 7pm on Friday, 27 November 2020 to premiere the video for You & I. The track will also be available to download and stream from 7pm.