Broken Records are a band from

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, which formed in December 2006.Hailstone, Jamie (2008)
Broken Records: Epic Seven Piece Edinburgh Band
, '' Clash'', 31 March 2008 The band are signed to

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

and released their debut album, '' Until the Earth Begins to Part'', in June 2009. Their second album ''Let Me Come Home'' was released in October 2010, and their third ''Weights and Pulleys'' in May 2014.

History

The band was originally a three-piece comprising Jamie Sutherland, brother Rory Sutherland (violin, guitar and accordion), and Ian Turnbull (guitar, piano and accordion). After a few performances they added Arne Kolb (cello), Dave Smith (piano, trumpet), Andrew Keeney (drums), and David Fothergill (bass). Broken Records played 60 gigs in 2007 and recorded a session for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

at the

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

studios. They played a well-received set at

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

's T Break stage in 2007 and went on to play two sets at the 2008

Connect Festival Connect Music Festival is a Scottish music festival. It took place at the Royal Highland Centre Showgrounds in Edinburgh in 2022 and 2023, having been revived from the previous format of the festival, which was held in the grounds of Inverar ...

, including a well-attended headlining set at the Your Sound bandstand. Broken Records released three singles on three different record labels throughout 2008: "If the News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It" on

Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...

in April, "Slow Parade" on Label Fandango in August, and "Lies" on Distiller Records in November. Tipped for big things by publications such as '' The Skinny'', ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' and '' Q'', the band signed a deal with the independent record label

, with whom they released their debut album '' Until the Earth Begins to Part'' on 1 June 2009.Murray, Robin (2009)
Broken Records Get Snapped Up: Scots sign to 4AD
, '' Clash'', 4 February 2009 The album has been described by frontman Jamie Sutherland as "based around all the shit things men do." Broken Records released a digital EP, entitled ''Out on the Water'', on 2 November 2009. The release contains songs recorded before ''Until the Earth Begins to Part''. The band covered

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' song "

Oh! Darling "Oh! Darling" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, appearing as the fourth song on their eleventh studio album ''Abbey Road'' (1969). It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Its working title w ...

" for ''

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' (stylised in all caps) is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that ...

s ''Abbey Road Now!'', a free cover-mounted CD given away with the October 2009 issue of the magazine. In August 2010, 4AD announced the release of the band's second album, entitled ''Let Me Come Home'', released on 25 October 2010.4AD - News - Broken Records announce new album, free MP3 and live shows
, date=13 August 2010 The album was produced by Tony Doogan, and features artwork by renowned graphic artist

Vaughan Oliver Vaughan Oliver (12 September 1957 – 29 December 2019) was a British graphic designer based in Epsom, Surrey. Oliver was best known for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23. Both studios maintained a close relationship wit ...

. Frontman Jamie Sutherland said of the album's inspiration: In August, the band also announced the shift from being a seven-piece band to a six-piece for live touring with the departure of Arne and Gill, and the introduction of new member, Craig Ross, taking up bass and guitar duties.

Sound

Use of the violin, cello, and accordion gives them a distinctly

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

edge and their faster numbers have been known to provoke ceilidh dancing at gigs. The ''NME'' branded them the Scottish

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

, although this is an accolade previously bestowed on My Latest Novel. The band, who swap instruments when performing live, have received numerous comparisons to

, and have also been compared to

The Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

and

The Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the English Civil War who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populism, as sh ...

.Nicolson, Barry (2008)
Broken Records: A tale of two cities. King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow (September 23)
, ''

'', 3 October 2008Smith, Aidan (2008)
One hell of a racket - Broken Records interview
, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 3 August 2008Broken Records: Reminiscent of The Verve in their prime
, '' Clash''Larkin, Colin (2008)
Broken Records - If The News Makes You Sad Don't Watch It
", '' Clash'', 18 April 2008 They were described by ''NME'' in 2008 as "one of the country's most exciting new bands." Their album 2014 ''Weights and Pulleys'' was described as "skilfull (sic) songwriting, immaculately executed, consistently excellent." by Kate Travers for ''The Line of Best Fit''. Their live shows have been described as eliciting an "ecstatic reaction" and "crack ngopen the atmosphere and turn ngsimple enjoyment into euphoria." by Will Fitzpatrick for ''The Skinny''.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Until the Earth Begins to Part'' (2009) *''Let Me Come Home'' (2010) *''Weights & Pulleys'' (2014) *What We Might Know (2018)

EPs

*''Out on the Water'' (2009) *''Lies'' (2010) *''Toska'' (2014)

Singles

* "If the News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It" (

, YT012), 14 April 2008 *# "If the News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It" *# "Lessons Never Learned" * "Slow Parade" (Label Fandango, GALLAGOS022), 18 August 2008 *# "Slow Parade" *# "The Problem with Remembering" * "Lies" (Distiller Records, DTIL 006), 3 November 2008 *# "Lies" *# "Travelling Songs" * "Until the Earth Begins to Part" (4AD, AD 2909), 11 May 2009 *# "Until the Earth Begins to Part" *# "And They All Fell Into the Sea" * "A Good Reason" (4AD), September 2009 *# "A Good Reason" * "Lies" iTunes reissue (4AD), 9 March 2010 *# "Lies" *# "Travelling Songs" *# "Lies" (music video) * "A Leaving Song" free digital download (4AD), 13 August 2010 *# "A Leaving Song" * "A Darkness Rises Up" digital download (4AD), 18 October 2010

References

External links

Official websiteBroken Records Studio Diary
'' Clash'' {{Authority control Scottish folk music groups Musical groups established in 2006 Alternative rock groups from Edinburgh 4AD artists British indie folk groups