We are pleased to be presenting four Scottish artists in partnership with Creative Scotland at The Great Escape Online 2021.

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HAMISH HAWK

STAGE 3 18:42 BST

Vivian Comma paints the Madonna, visibly on the verge of fainting. Christopher Wren walks amongst us once more, forswearing designing cathedrals for singing them. One half of the 1973 Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champions has a perfect serve. The boy who inhabits Track Three of John Lennon’s Imagine repeat-dials, passive-aggressively, to Tiree. A funeral, swinging to the Gay Gordons. A latter-day Paul the Apostle is offended by the sight of Edinburgh Castle – and, infinitesimally worse, can’t finish a beer.

These are the people and places, scenes and scenarios of the songs of Hamish Hawk.

Rich of voice and even richer of imagination, the singer-songwriter from Edinburgh creates musical pen-portraits as vivid in lyric as they are in melody. In all the wholly best ways, these are chamber pop songs that have swallowed both a dictionary and a compendium of modern urban (and island) fairy tales. And, on Heavy Elevator, his first fully-formed album, this prolific artist presents a perfect ten tracks packed with characters, incident, emotion, geographical/artistic references and tunes to hang your coat on. Hawk does all this with considerable wit, inspired by artists like Leonard Cohen, Morrissey (the olden days version), Jarvis Cocker, Randy Newman, and Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields.

MEMES

STAGE 3 19:01 BST

MEMES is a duo that formed in Glasgow, UK, in Spring 2019. Their debut single ‘Blah Blah Blah’ earned the band a Steve Lamacq live session on BBC 6 Music and regular radio airplay on BBC and Amazing Radio (from Steve Lamacq, Vic Galloway, Tom Robinson and Charlie Ashcroft).

In 2020, MEMES released their debut EP on Fierce Panda Records; garnering airplay and words from Pitchfork, BBC Radio 1, BBC6 Music, KEXP, Amazing Radio, BBC Radio Scotland and The Skinny.

Despite the UK lockdown, the band have continued to bring their energetic live show to virtual stages worldwide, showcasing at Scotland’s Wide Days convention, SXSW in the US and Germany’s C/O Pop Festival.

SWIM SCHOOL

STAGE 3 19:12 BST

Swim School are a four piece band from Edinburgh. Their sound is an amazing combination of indie music from past and present, their sound is the perfect mix of bands like The Cure, Slowdive, Foals & Wolf Alice.

At the start of 2020 swim school had a promising and exciting year planned, they’d just played their first ever headline show in Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s which they sold out months in advance. On top of this, the year before, the band played Scotland’s biggest music festivals TRNSMT, Belladrum & Tenement Trail - as well as supporting The Xcerts on a full UK tour showcasing them to a UK wide audience for the first time.

Their recent release "let me inside your head" has pushed the up-and-coming band into the spotlight even more. The gritty and dark elements of the track resulted in an ecstatic response from press, fans and music lovers as they realised swim school were pushing boundaries and exploring a new sound. "let me inside your head" was featured on 5 Spotify editorial playlists and also allowed the band to feature as cover artists on "Scotify". Their constant development and driven nature shows a promising and exciting future for swim school.

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ZOE GRAHAM

STAGE 3 18:52 BST

There is an impressive maturity and attention to detail in Zoe Graham’s music that sets this accomplished young songwriter apart from her peers. On stage, you will find her fleshing out the instrumentation with loop pedals on solo outings, which has seen her share stages across the UK with artists including Kate Nash, Rae Morris, KAWALA, Fatherson and The Proclaimers.

Her recent EP ‘Gradual Move’, mixed by Grammy-award winning Eduardo De La Paz (Arcade Fire, Frightened Rabbit, Rae Morris), fuses warm alt-pop synth tones with timeless songwriting rooted in folk music.

Zoe has been heavily supported by BBC Radio Scotland and Amazing Radio, featured in media outlets from The 405, God is in the TV to Rolling Stone Germany - and appeared on Spotify’s New Music Friday and Fresh Finds playlists.

LIZZIE REID

STAGE 7 19:12 BST l Primary Talent International Presents

Newly signed to Seven Four Seven Six, Lizzie Reid is one of Scotland’s most promising talents. An emotionally raw songwriter, Reid’s songs explore themes of love, loss, identity and modern life. Debut EP ‘Cubicle’ will be released in January 2020, which will include recently released singles Tribute, Seamless and Always Lovely, which have racked up plays across XFM, BBC 6 music and Phil Taggerts Radio 1’s Chillest Show. Drawing comparisons to contemporaries like Laura Marling, Angel Olsen and Julia Jacklin, Reid has an honest vulnerability which shines through in her songs creating a mature, steely eyed reflection on the topics she tackles.

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