Album: The Burns Unit, Side Show (Proper)

That's Burns as in Robbie, the members of this Scots-Canadian folk-pop supergroup – including King Creosote, Future Pilot AKA, Karine Polwart and Emma Pollock – having met at a "Burnsong" retreat.

The tone is signalled by the Creosote/Polwart duet "Since We've Fallen Out", an unflinching expression of a collapsed relationship. "Blood, Ice And Ashes" is a brutal revenge drama built around a cycling piano figure; "Trouble" an expression of insularity from the world's harshness; and "Sorrys" a song about alcoholism featuring the blunt assessment, "There's one too many trying to make this work/ There's you, there's me/ There's the bottle in the cupboard". "Majesty Of Decay", a delightful confection, celebrates a child's ability to find beauty in weeds and ruins.

DOWNLOAD THIS Since We've Fallen Out; Sorrys; Majesty Of Decay; Trouble