of all the towns to sleep in
“He's very good...” Eartha Kitt
“insightful lyrics” Michael Potvin, Indie In-Tune Mgazine
“great voice the man's got, very mellow...loving that...” Shaun Keaveny, Xfm
“delightful... beautiful acoustic melodies” Karen Dorrat, T-Break Reviews
Douglas Kay started playing acoustic gigs around Edinburgh in 1995 and has honed his skills in the clubs, bars and coffee houses of Australia, North America, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe. His extended travels have given him a wide range of influences and experiences which inform his writing and have bolstered his performance skills.
Kay's debut album Of All The Towns To Sleep In saw him marrying digital recording programmes to the analogue mindset which informs his song writing; the fruit of the union was an organic set of songs born of singer-songwriter craft and swaddled in an uplifting collection of sounds. Tracks from that album received airplay on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio One, London station Xfm (where Moving Target won the listener vote after featuring on the show X-Posure) and Australia's Central FM. The album also led to Kay's first Australian TV appearance in spring 2004 and a support slot for KT Tunstall.
2006's solo acoustic mini-album, Late, saw Kay strip back to just vocals, guitar and piano, and was promoted with a tour of the US which stimulated interest from producers in that country. Back in the UK supports for artists such as Amy MacDonald and Horse were secured and Douglas was booked to play a series of gigs at Beanscene Coffe & Music Houses around the country.
In the intervening period Douglas Kay Band had been formed, and in addition to playing a number of notable shows (including the T Break Showcases in May 2005) had begun work on the album Into Your Head. Throughout the album's gestation period the band, which features Alex Hunter (bass) and Hugh Martin (drums) alongside Douglas, continued to gig around Scotland and made numerous appearances at the world famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008.
Douglas undertook a solo acoustic tour of Australasia during the early part of 2009, doing a series of concerts which took him from Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island to Fremantle in Western Australia. This tour was followed by a set of band shows in Edinburgh and London during April and May.
The band's new album Into Your Head features ten tracks penned by Kay; it opens with the uptempo, hook-laden All These Days which is followed by the stripped back Better - a song which topped a poll of tracks by Scottish acts in the Edinburgh Evening News late last year. Thereafter the album offers up an eclectic collection, with moments of delicate beauty (as on the guitar and strings number Everything In The World Outside’s Alright) contrasted by the swelling crescendo of tracks such as Haunted. The common threads throughout the work are Martin’s sympathetic, jazz-influenced drumming, Hunter’s melodic basslines and the thoughtful, passionate lyrics of Kay which are delivered in his warm, honeyed tenor.
Into Your Head is released on CD, download and limited edition USB drive on 20th November 2009.
With thanks to STUART FERGUSON.
