Scottish band to play new album in full at Lanarkshire gig

“I wasn’t that good at it, really,” he says, ruefully. “I made a mixtape for my wife Margaret once, and I included the Waylon Jennings song, If You See Me Getting Smaller I’m Leaving.”

He rolls his eyes. “I didn’t even think.

“I just like all those sad, break-up songs and wanted to share them. So it was probably a good thing I didn’t do it that often.”

Fans of The Pearlfishers will be able to hear the new record, which is out now (on vinyl, CD and limited edition cassette, appropriately enough) in its entirety at Frets Concerts in the Strathaven Hotel on Friday (June 7).

There is a freshness to this album, the band’s first for five years, but equally, even after just one listen it will feel like these songs have been in your life forever.

Witty, wistful pop gems about the healing power of music and its role in helping make sense of love, life and everything, will recall for many the days of compiling a C90 (or C45, if you were a bit skint) for the one you adored, letting the songs do the talking.

“Music is a code, for your real self,” says David. “To share music is to share meaning, and trust.”

Any one of the 12 exquisitely crafted songs on Making Tapes for Girls could feature on a mixtape – highlights include the beautiful Wild Lives, the pop-y Simon and Garfunkelesque masterpiece Yellow and the Lovehearts, and the fantastic first two singles from the record: the title track, and We’re Going to Make a Hit Record Boy.

The reaction to the new album has been warm, with excellent reviews tumbling in from long-time fans and supporters and esteemed music critics alike. A tour, around November, is in the early stages of planning.

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“It’s great when people who enjoyed our music in the past think it’s still good, that means a lot,” says David, who wrote the songs on the album during lockdown.

“It sounds like the biggest cliché ever, but during that time, which was really tough for everyone, I had a real burst of writing.

“I must have written about 18 songs in three months. That hasn’t happened to me since I was a kid."

He adds: "These are very personal songs, but I feel like that’s the job of the artist. You can be a novelist, or a social commentator…I’m an autobiographical songwriter, and if you're doing that, you just have to put it out there and grit your teeth."

He pauses.

“And if people think, oh, it’s too sweet, or too nostalgic, that’s fine – I don’t care," he says.

“For example, I wrote Sweet Jenny Bluebelle for my wee granddaughter, because the melody is what I’d hum to her while I was pushing her round Troon in the pram trying to get her to sleep.

“And on one level, you might think that’s a lovely story, but so what? Why should that matter to anyone?"

David adds: “But if there’s a connection with someone, if a song means something to that person at that moment, then it does matter.”

There has always been a “nostalgic, romantic edge’ to David’s songwriting, he agrees.

“It’s not just about looking back in a rose-tinted way, though, it’s also the realisation that it won’t last forever,” he explains.

“And an understanding too, actually, of how well-formed you are at 16 or 17 even if you don't realise it – you don’t change all that much.”

The rare opportunity to hear Making Tapes for Girls in its entirety, along with a selection of other Pearlfishers hits from the band’s 30-plus years of music-making, comes as part of Frets’ series of album gigs, which started with James Grant performing Love and Money’s Dogs in the Traffic in February.

“When Douglas [MacIntyre, founder of Frets] suggested it, my first thought was oh my god… I’ve only ever seen one full album show and that was Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys,” says David, with a laugh.

“But I’d do anything for Douglas. He is a guiding light on the Scottish music scene."

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He adds: “You don’t necessarily ‘design’ an album as a live show, but in rehearsals we have been playing it start to finish in order, and it does feel like a really great running order.

“And in between, I’ll be chatting about the songs, pulling the curtain back a wee bit – Frets is such a great place to do that, so I’m really looking forward to it."

He pauses. "It’s a big show, you know, but it is nice and intimate," he adds. "You do feel like you’re in a room with your pals.”

The Pearlfishers will play Making Tapes for Girls at Frets in the Strathaven Hotel on June 7. The album is out on Marina Records now.