The Zephyrs

Emerging from Edinburgh, Scotland toward the end of the 1990s, the Zephyrs combined vintage folk-rock with British shoegaze elements in measured equilibrium. Early recordings featured shared personnel with Glasgow’s Mogwai, and the band issued its debut full-length, It’s OK Not to Say Anything, in 1999. On the fifth album, 2010’s Fool of Regrets, the group adopted a somewhat more robust approach while retaining its overall measured pace.

Stuart and David Nicol, sons of a rock musician, played together throughout childhood and later formed the Zephyrs, taking the name from their father’s 1970s band. Their first album was produced by Mogwai’s Michael Brennan, Jr., with Stuart handling lead vocals and guitar, David on bass, Gordon Kilgour on drums, and additional contributions from the Cowdenbeath Brass Band plus Gordon’s brother Jonathan Kilgour on guitar. Issued in limited form by Edinburgh’s Evol imprint in 1999 under the title It’s OK Not to Say Anything, the record drew the attention of Mogwai, leading to a deal with the band’s Rock Action label, distributed through SouthPaw Records. Rock Action put out the Stargazer EP in 2000 and the follow-up album When the Sky Comes Down It Comes Down on Your Head in 2001; the latter received minimal promotion after the label ceased operations days after its release.

Madrid’s Acuarela label subsequently released the EP The Love That Will Guide You Back Home in 2002. The band then moved to Setanta for 2003’s Year to the Day, which added both Kilgour brothers, multi-instrumentalists Cian Ciárán and Michael Cochrane, and various orchestral guests to the Nicol lineup. For the fourth album, Bright Yellow Flowers on a Dark Double Bed, the Nicols recruited an entirely new supporting group; the record appeared on Acuarela in 2005. Apart from a single Spanish festival appearance in 2008, the band remained largely dormant over the following four years.

Reconvening with Michael Brennan, Jr., the Zephyrs completed Fool of Regrets, issued by Club AC30 in 2010 and supported by a U.K. tour. After another hiatus, they reassembled in 2014 with a fresh configuration to perform several concerts and begin composing material for a subsequent release. This process culminated in the 2018 two-track single The Witches and The Crown Prince of Lies on Acuarela.