Carla J Easton

Making music described as “glitter bursting from every chorus” and combining “the ominous glimmer of synth-wave with the maximalist fun of <a href="spotify:artist:6sFIWsNpZYqfjUpaCgueju" data-name="Carly Rae Jepsen">Carly Rae Jepsen</a>’s ’80s throwbacks”, Carla J Easton is a pop songwriter with a back catalogue that would make most people envious.

From <a href="spotify:artist:30KWuHj0XV2ZtL2EMnt4L3" data-name="Futuristic Retro Champions">Futuristic Retro Champions</a>, through indie pop upstarts <a href="spotify:artist:3H9c0GxXLznhRKhbU4mSBm" data-name="TeenCanteen">TeenCanteen</a>, a record under the name <a href="spotify:artist:3YCJt75s7m4S7eSkSVb4rX" data-name="Ette">Ette</a>, to the solo albums Impossible Stuff (shortlisted for the 2019 SAY Award and produced by <a href="spotify:artist:3kjuyTCjPG1WMFCiyc5IuB" data-name="Arcade Fire">Arcade Fire</a> cohort Howard Bilerman) and WEIRDO , Carla J Easton writes essential indie pop.

Sitting proudly alongside <a href="spotify:artist:4wWQkHhmUNlXvhbHRUSqZW" data-name="The Vaselines">The Vaselines</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7dl9xeD8jLQYMQyCfpK8TE" data-name="BMX Bandits">BMX Bandits</a> (who have covered her songs) and <a href="spotify:artist:4I2BJf80C0skQpp1sQmA0h" data-name="Belle &amp; Sebastian">Belle &amp; Sebastian</a>, with whom she co-wrote the track “Best Friend” , collaborating with <a href="spotify:artist:2zCxZQIcbO3Ev8AyTxxqmm" data-name="Honeyblood">Honeyblood</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0DNFN2rA1knrevdBSSvkjG" data-name="Solareye">Solareye</a> she is considered alongside the best Scottish music has had to offer over the past few decades.

WEIRDO is a record that Bandcamp described as “all volume needles buried in the red, glitter bursting from every chorus.” The Line of Best Fit praised its “maximalist” tendencies while hinting that Scotland has found its own answer to the pop titans Carly Rae Jepsen and <a href="spotify:artist:06HL4z0CvFAxyc27GXpf02" data-name="Taylor Swift">Taylor Swift</a> and Pitchfork called it “bubblegum pop [with] the scrappy glamour of a homemade theatrical production”. Finding her voice, Carla J Easton is in the position now where she is consistently releasing music that’s talked about in terms of albums of the year garlands in Scotland, and beyond.

-Andrew Hannah, Bright Dead Things 2020