Spinning Coin

Glasgow outfit Spinning Coin crafts indie pop with support from genre stalwarts Stephen Pastel and Edwyn Collins. Their earliest work, notably the 2017 album Permo, explored the quieter, tangled and melancholic side of that style, whereas their follow-up Hyacinth, arriving in 2020, moved toward brighter energy and playful eccentricity.

Before uniting, the musicians had already performed in other groups, composed material and participated in the local scene, eventually creating the raw, ramshackle indie pop that prompted future label head Stephen Pastel to recall a “feeling (he) had at the end of the Boy Hairdressers and the beginning of Teenage Fanclub.” They first assembled in late 2014, initially to support guitarist Sean Armstrong on a set of his compositions, yet quickly adopted the name Spinning Coin and expanded their scope. The lineup stabilized with Armstrong (guitar and vocals), Jack Mellin (guitar and vocals), Cal Donnelly (bass) and Chris White (drums). Local gigs soon drew the interest of Fuzzkill Records, which issued the band’s self-titled five-song debut cassette in October of 2015. Those recordings and performances likewise attracted Geographic Music, the Pastels-operated imprint backed by Domino. The group tracked its first single, “Albany”/“Sides,” at home and released it in April of 2016 before turning to a full-length project.

Working with producer Stu Evans in Glasgow and Edwyn Collins at his Helmsdale studio, the band enlisted backing vocals from the Pastels’ Katrina Mitchell and Tuff Love’s Rachel Taylor. Geographic issued the resulting album, Permo, in November of 2017; shortly afterward Spinning Coin welcomed Taylor into the group on keyboards.

Prior to the next album, Donnelly departed while Taylor and Armstrong moved to Berlin. During a summer European tour the remaining members recorded at Black Box Studios in France with producer Peter Deimel, later refining the tracks at home in Glasgow and Berlin. Armstrong and Mellin again supplied most of the material, though Taylor contributed one song; the finished Hyacinth ventures beyond jangle pop into art-pop territory and appeared on Geographic in early 2020.