Artist: Randolph’s Leap
Title: Nothing At All
Format: 12” sky blue with white splatter vinyl | digipack CD
Cat#: Fika085LP | Fika085CD
Release date: 26th February 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify
Spirit Level is the new album from Scottish folk-pop collective Randolph’s Leap.
Spirit Level is an upbeat, melodic indie-pop album full of personality, catchy hooks and memorable lyrics, rich in textural, polyphonic arrangements, and capturing the infinite charm of Adam Ross, the leader of this 8-piece band.
As a core songwriter with a large ensemble, Adam Ross may draw comparison with Stephin Merritt or Neil Hannon, while mining the rich Scottish seam of Postcard Records and C86. And as with contemporaries King Creosote or Withered Hand, is unafraid of drawing on folk music’s story telling tradition, detailing the minutiae of life’s fluctuations, here packaged up in glorious, anthemic and energetic pop.
The titular ‘spirit level’ is a steady reference point over what had been an unsettled spell writing the album, with Adam Ross uprooting from a decade in Glasgow to a tauntingly lopsided house in rural Aberdeenshire, navigating his way through shifting phases in his well-being and happiness, and reflecting on the untimely death of two greatly admired acquaintances. That balancing act came in the form of music, in an optimistic, even celebratory, collection of songs.
The move to Aberdeenshire roots the album, with Let This Lie reflecting on mortality during a train journey along Scotland’s east coast, to the nostalgia of parts of a life left behind in Glasgow on Punchbag. “I also had a weirdly contradictory feeling of wanting to get even further away – like maybe we weren’t remote enough and we should move to an island or something. It was just a classic “grass is always greener” situation. A bit of existential boredom, maybe. Fantasising about a new life to distract myself from my current one.”
Recorded over a period of a year in Glasgow with keyboard player Pete MacDonald engineering, mixing and producing the sessions at home, the album went off to mastering in the nick of time: the following night Pete’s flat went Up In Smoke in a massive fire, taking everything bar Pete (and his pet hedgehog, Frida) with it.
Album opener, Moment Passed, sets the tone for the whole record, with Adam’s protagonist struggling to present a balanced outward appearance while disorder bubbles beneath the surface. Spirit Level, despite its carefully poised 10 tracks and balanced artwork, prefers to revel in life’s quirks and imperfections.
“The next generation of witty Scottish indie pop” The Quietus
“A band deserving of every shred of love and success which came Belle & Sebastian's way” The Scotsman
"The Jonathan Richman of Scottish indie" The Herald
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Randolph’s Leap started out as a pseudonym for the solo output of Adam Ross, and now includes up to 8 people in the full live band. The debut Randolph’s Leap album, Clumsy Knot, came out in 2014, with another four live and studio albums and a handful of singles across labels Fence Collective, Olive Grove Records and Lost Map. In 2018 a touring theatre show called The Isle of Love was devised around the songs of Randolph’s Leap.
They’ve recorded several Marc Riley sessions, performed at Green Man, T in the Park, Indietracks, and The Edinburgh Fringe, and have toured with The Burning Hell and James Yorkston.
2020 saw Adam cement his reputation as one of Scotland’s most prolific songwriters, releasing around 40 home-recorded songs via Bandcamp and Patreon as a creative response to Covid-19 restrictions. He also released an album of country-pop music under the pseudonym A.R. Pinewood.
The Randolph’s Leap name is taken from a scenic location on the River Findhorn.
Spirit Level is their fourth studio album, and their first with London based Fika Recordings.
Randolph’s Leap are:
Adam Ross: songs, vocals, guitar
Adam Armour-Florence: drums
Ali Hendry: trumpet
Andrew MacLellan: guitar
Fraser Gibson: trombone
Heather Fox: violin
Pete MacDonald: keyboards
Vicki Cole: bass
“An all-singing, all-dancing full band album of joyful self-comforting, with blithe brass lifting up Ross’s soulful, hangdog vocals as he reckons with the search for a stable foundation, ponders mortality on an east coast train journey (rhyming “Deuchars” with “Leuchars” along the way) and brings pub piano and mariachi horns together in characterful celebration on Helluva Summer.” The Scotsman [4/5]
“this is an album – perhaps motivated by failure and death – that grasps life and screams with all the joy it can muster” Juno Daily
“The exhilarating pop album they’ve always been capable of. A strong contender for pop album of the year.” Is This Music
“This latest effort from Randolph’s Leap is likely to help your spirits level up as across its ten tracks it rarely lets up in energy, and is peppered throughout with Ross’s signature lyrical wit with lines like: ‘I like Big Momma’s House 2, but I prefer the novel.’” The Skinny
“We can all be consumed by the malaise of life, so for just a short time, let Randolph’s Leap take those troubles away and bask in the sunshiny folk on offer on Spirit Level.” Louder Than War
“'Spirit Level' is perfect listening for spring and summer’s lengthening days. It places Randolph’s Leap among the best in the pantheon of Scottish indie pop.” PennyBlack Music
“a fantastic, gilded piece of indie pop with slight Americana leanings.” Clash Music
“This is a very creative musical album and there is a lot gone into each song. Not content with just everyday song writing of guitar bass drums and piano. The music is just off the wall as the lyrical content. Horns blare as violins and guitars pop up bringing joy with them.” Backseat Mafia
“Spirit Level might just be one of 2021’s first great albums” For The Rabbits
“it takes on that chamber pop feel, bursting forth with horns and various instrumental textures. I won’t deny how much I love the rise and fall of the chorus here, like a roller coaster with a huge lollipop waiting for you at the end” Austin Town Hall
“delivers the exhilarating pop album they’ve always been capable of. A strong contender for pop album of the year” Manic Pop Thrills
“Spirit Level is a joy to listen to” Add To Wantlist
“a jaunty melody, catchy chorus and witty lyrics all culminating in a glorious brass filled romp” Net Sounds