Biography
Scotland's Mull Historical Society serves as the creative outlet for singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Colin MacIntyre, whose project first appeared on the British charts with the debut album Loss near the end of 2001. Its distinctive mix of intimate chamber pop, ringing indie textures, and inventive sonic collage allowed the group to develop steadily through the 2000s via releases such as Us (2003) and This Is Hope (2004), until MacIntyre set the name aside to issue a dedicated solo record at the close of the decade. Reactivating the band in the 2010s, he simultaneously pursued fiction, issuing a novel in 2015, and later resumed pop work with two further MHS albums, among them Wakelines, produced by Bernard Butler and released in 2018.
Hailing from the Hebridean island of Mull, MacIntyre chose the Mull Historical Society name after noticing it in a 2000 advertisement. Early on signed to the British independent label Tugboat, he began shaping a substantial backlog of material into recordings. The warmly received single “Barcode Bypass,” issued later that year, earned NME’s Debut Single of the Year accolade. Additional singles preceded the October 2001 arrival of Loss on Blanco y Negro. Drawing on his Mull upbringing and the loss of his father in 1999, the album’s singular indie-pop constructions earned critical and popular approval, reaching number 43 on the U.K. chart. Support dates with Elbow, Delgados, R.E.M., and the Strokes broadened the project’s reach.
The 2003 follow-up Us retained a comparable approach, layering numerous instruments, meticulously orchestrated arrangements, and evocative maritime elements including the B.B.C. shipping forecast. Though it too met with favorable notices, Warner Bros. dropped MacIntyre shortly afterward. An extended stay in the United States informed 2004’s This Is Hope, the third MHS album and the first for London indie B-Unique, produced by Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen. MacIntyre then retired the MHS moniker for his initial solo album, The Water, written in 2008 in New York, his wife’s hometown. After a second solo effort, Island, appeared in 2009, the group name returned with City Awakenings in 2012. The anthology The Best of Mull Historical Society arrived in 2015, documenting the project’s first fifteen years; that same year MacIntyre published his debut novel, The Novels of Ivor Punch, set on Mull. Dear Satellite followed in spring 2016, and Wakelines, again produced by Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, emerged in September 2018.
Hailing from the Hebridean island of Mull, MacIntyre chose the Mull Historical Society name after noticing it in a 2000 advertisement. Early on signed to the British independent label Tugboat, he began shaping a substantial backlog of material into recordings. The warmly received single “Barcode Bypass,” issued later that year, earned NME’s Debut Single of the Year accolade. Additional singles preceded the October 2001 arrival of Loss on Blanco y Negro. Drawing on his Mull upbringing and the loss of his father in 1999, the album’s singular indie-pop constructions earned critical and popular approval, reaching number 43 on the U.K. chart. Support dates with Elbow, Delgados, R.E.M., and the Strokes broadened the project’s reach.
The 2003 follow-up Us retained a comparable approach, layering numerous instruments, meticulously orchestrated arrangements, and evocative maritime elements including the B.B.C. shipping forecast. Though it too met with favorable notices, Warner Bros. dropped MacIntyre shortly afterward. An extended stay in the United States informed 2004’s This Is Hope, the third MHS album and the first for London indie B-Unique, produced by Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen. MacIntyre then retired the MHS moniker for his initial solo album, The Water, written in 2008 in New York, his wife’s hometown. After a second solo effort, Island, appeared in 2009, the group name returned with City Awakenings in 2012. The anthology The Best of Mull Historical Society arrived in 2015, documenting the project’s first fifteen years; that same year MacIntyre published his debut novel, The Novels of Ivor Punch, set on Mull. Dear Satellite followed in spring 2016, and Wakelines, again produced by Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, emerged in September 2018.
Albums
In My Mind There's A Room
2023
Wakelines
2018
Am I Wrong (Part 2)
2009
How 'Bout I Love You More (Part 1) - Single
2009
This Is Hope
2004
Us
2003
Loss
2001
Singles
