Stornoway

Taking their name from the Scottish town on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, England's Stornoway combine clever pop songcraft with lyrics rooted in wildlife, literature, and youthful romanticism. The band's jangly folk-pop sound found favor with the masses in 2010 after their debut album, Beachcomber's Windowsill, reached number 14 on the U.K. Albums chart. Subsequent efforts Tales from Terra Firma (2013) and Bonxie (2015) saw the group incorporate psychedelic and Baroque pop elements into their oeuvre. Stornoway disbanded the following year but re-formed in 2022 for a series of festival performances and released their fourth studio album, Dig the Mountain!, in 2023. Singer/guitarist Brian Briggs, keyboardist/string player Jonathan Ouin, and brothers bassist Ollie Steadman and drummer Rob Steadman formed the group while they were attending Oxford University; the well-studied band includes an ornithologist and a Russian translator among its ranks. They debuted their jangly, largely acoustic sound -- which has drawn comparisons to James, Belle & Sebastian, and XTC -- with a self-titled EP that included the song "Zorbing," which was inspired by and named after the sport of rolling down a hill in a transparent sphere. Another early single was 2007's "The Good Fish Guide," a musical list of which fish are plentiful to eat, and which are endangered -- its profits went to the Marine Conservation Society. Stornoway continued to refine their sound and had a breakthrough in 2009: they headlined the BBC Introducing stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend that May and officially released "Zorbing," which included Briggs' brother Adam on trumpet, as a single that July. That summer they played festivals including Glastonbury, and wrote a tour journal for The Daily Telegraph. Their second single, "Unfaithful," which featured violin courtesy of touring member Rahul Satija, arrived that September, and appeared on their 4AD-issued debut long-player, Beachcomber's Windowsill. The band closed out the year by making the longlist for the BBC's Sounds of 2010 poll. Stornoway's sophomore outing, Tales from Terra Firma, arrived in March 2013 and saw the group stay true to their folk-pop foundation while exploring intricate, psych-tinged avenues. The band inked a deal with Cooking Vinyl before releasing their third long-player. Arriving in 2015, the Gil Norton-produced Bonxie featured a robust and expansive set of songs influenced by Brian Briggs' academic background in ornithology. The following year, Stornoway announced that they would be amicably disbanding and embarking on a farewell tour. Re-forming as a trio in 2022 with Briggs, Quinn, and Steadman at the helm, the band made a series of festival appearances before announcing the release of a new studio album. The resulting Dig the Mountain!, produced by Mike Lindsay of Tunng and featuring guest spots from Sam Lee and Fyfe Dangerfield, arrived in 2023. ~ Heather Phares & James Christopher Monger, Rovi