HEAVENS OPEN.

You may or may not have heard of Stornoway from their relentless UK festival touring, but if you’re in the latter camp, boy oh boy are you in for a treat. First off, these guys aren’t from Stornoway, despite the celtic-folk influences they’re all just pure brainiacs from Oxford, with a bunch of PhDs between them and some insane instrumental skills. With literate lyrics and haunting stentorian harmonies they make music that has you weeping into your microwave meal-for-one before anyone can say “man the fuck up.”

Their debut single “Zorbing” is a folk pop anthem all about “tripping” over girls in autumn time: perfect listening to warm your cockles on these cold mornings. It’s not just Brian Briggs’ stirring tenor that gets you, but the whole ramshackle folk-pop vibe reminiscent of back-in-the-day James circa-“If Things Were Perfect” with the powerful yearnings of Belle & Seb. Following hot on the trail of Guillemots and Mumford & Sons they’re jaunty, wistful and SO ELECTRIFYING.

MP3: “Zorbing” – Stornoway