Dear Scotland

Each Sunday we present some of the best new photos of Scotland in the gloaming – the magical time before sunrise or after sunset.

Though they have never really been away, Simple Minds are most definitely back. With a top ten album and a major European tour ahead of them this summer, the band are, quite rightly, ensuring that they will never be forgotten.

As the frontwoman for Bis, Manda Rin was the inspirational leader of the Teen-C revolution. Together with Sci-Fi Steven and John Disco, Bis toured the world selling over 100,000 albums in Japan alone. Manda released her first solo album last year and yesterday spoke to Dear Scotland ahead of a return to Japan next week.

The nicest part is just before you taste it, but that can’t go on forever.

At this time of year, we’re all antsy for the new season to start; what with almost half a week having passed since the end of the last season i.e. the Confederations Cup Final in South Africa on Sunday.  So as a service to readers worldwide (note: mostly located in Ireland) who may be visited [...]

After a couple of years as Scotland’s best unsigned band, Broken Records finally released their debut album on the legendary 4AD label in June. The band play in Rotterdam this weekend and will visit Ireland and Germany later this summer.

On June 3, 1990 an estimated 250,000 people enjoyed performances of pop, rock, folk, jazz and classical music from more than fifty artists, spread over eleven hours. Three stages at George Square, Custom House Quay and Glasgow Green allowed mainly Scottish artists to perform before huge live audiences, with millions more watching on Channel4.

Belarusian Scot Lucy Ross aka Dollskabeat has been lazily compared to current buzz acts Little Boots and La Roux, but her stylish electronica  looks more to the future than the past. Based in Edinburgh, Dollskabeat will be playing in Croatia later this summer.