Louis Rive

Louis plays folk music; not the kind about orcs, glens, wizards etc, more about people and places. Like Tom Waits and Lou Reed if either of these guys wrote about Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. Closer tae home he wants to follow on from top lyricists like Michael Marra, Liz Lochead, and Hamish Imlach.

Nina Simone said that it is an artist’s duty to highlight injustices and rail against wrongs, so that’s what he tries to do. At the moment, the powers that be and the general state of world affairs provides him with ample inspiration to do so. There is indeed a lot to thank Nina Simone for.

Following on from his debut album, ‘The Cheap Part of Town’, a 2018 ode to an unknown suburb of greater Barcelona where he was resident at the time, Louis has continued to release singles that comment on the realities of day-to-day life. Whether it be Scotland’s unspoken relationship with its past (The State of the Nation), the sheer unbridled joy of heading to the big city for a Saturday night (19:27 Saturday Service to Helensburgh Central), or even the nationalistic jingoism that has come to define many aspects of 21st century UK life (Whitewashing), Louis has never shied away from the highs and lows of life’s great story.