Glasgow’s Stuart Dougan is The Quilter – a solo project that has a resulted in an anthemic indie pop gem entitled ‘The Long Weekend’. This is a euphoric track that fizzes with electricity and creates a certain joie de vivre, packed full of vaulting melodies and poetic lyrics. Through the snap, crackle and pop of the instrumentation, however, there is a sense of melancholia and yearning. Think of the intelligent expressive vocals of Guy Garvey from Elbow mixed with an eighties electronic buzz and the hyperactivity of Arcade Fire.
Dougan says of the song:
…this song was in part inspired by a viral clip I saw from the set of ‘Uncut Gems’ where the crew had finished filming and were all dancing to ‘I Feel It Coming’ by The Weeknd. It was just a short clip but I wanted to try and capture the palpable sense of joy that was clearly being felt at the time. It was written during lockdown and is basically a love letter to my friends and daydreaming about getting to hang out and have fun in a post pandemic world. I’m very aware that it’s bombastic and over the top in places but I wanted to purposely try and capture a sense of hopeful euphoria that one day, not too far from here, you’ll get to hug all your friends again.
The lyrics seem to celebrate the normality of existence in a world without COVID:
Patiently waiting for nothing particular
The mundane’s incredible now that it’s simpler
This is pulse quickening indie pop of the most satisfying variety. ‘The Long Weekend’ is a taste of The Quilter’s debut album, ‘Bolt The Door’, due out on 4 June 2021. In the meantime, you can get the single today from below, not forgetting that today is BandCamp Friday and all proceeds go to the artist:
