Withered Hand - Good NewsWithered Hand; the musical project of Edinburgh-based visual artist Dan Willson. Buy CD, download MP3s flac ogg

Keenly awaited by followers of Edinburgh’s recent musical renaissance, Good News is the debut album from the city’s premier antifolk songsmith, Withered Hand.

Made possible through support from the Scottish Arts Council, the album has been recorded with cult American producer Kramer (Galaxie 500 / Low / Daniel Johnston), who first contacted songwriter Dan Willson several years ago after stumbling upon his scratchy, home-recorded demos posted online.

Markedly more lush and polished than those early recordings, Good News sees Willson augmenting his regular live band – Neil Pennycook (Meursault), Alun Thomas (The Leg) and Hannah Shepherd – with the voices of local celebrity Bart Owl (eagleowl) and Lone Pigeon/Aliens collaborator Jo Foster.

I don’t need lights on my push-bike – my light comes from inside.

After years contentedly ploughing their own furrow within Edinburgh’s traditionally self-contained pop underground, Withered Hand have lately been gathering critical acclaim from farther afield. Regular airplay from the likes of Gideon Coe, Marc Riley, Tom Robinson, Vic Galloway and Rob Da Bank has led to live sessions being recorded for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC 6Music; and in recent months the band have been invited to play at festivals all over the country, including Fence Records’ Homegame, Triptych, The Tennents Mutual, and Edinburgh’s own Edge Festival.

Lord, won’t you deliver me from the wave machine and the transparent bikini?

The album is titled Good News in reference to Willson’s evangelical Christian childhood – and, accordingly, a theme of spiritual conflict and yearning runs through many of these songs. A few (‘Religious Songs’, ‘I Am Nothing’, ‘No Cigarettes’) will be familiar from the band’s first two EPs; the rest are previously unreleased. Two tracks are covers: ‘Joy’ was originally recorded by one of drummer Alun’s previous bands, Desc, and ‘Hard-on’ originally by Philadelphian songwriter Charles Latham.

This beautiful record marks a new phase in the development of an extraordinary songwriter and a much-loved Edinburgh institution.

Praise for Withered Hand’s "Good News" :

It is quite some time since a debut release has placed 10 such perfect songs back to back The Herald *****

He displays all the tremulous vocal vulnerability of Neil Young in a set of brittle songs which are full of spiritual yearning, questioning and contentment, inspired by his Christian upbringing The Scotsman ****

[Withered Hand's] gorgeous debut album, delivers a compendium of warped-rock sermons that variously reference Seventh-day Adventism (‘Cornflake’); lyrical post-rationalisation (‘For the Maudlin’); and knocking one out on your paramour’s couch (‘Religious Songs’, his signature anthem). The List ****

The world is better for songwriters like Willson. The Skinny ****

Withered Hand has realised the sound of yearning; it's this, simple and splendid and fierce. It's a chant that keeps changing, with words like flashpaper. Listen to the way he sings man, good, could, knife, car, go, FM radio, guitars, Thin Lizzy, pen, John Updike, hard-on. Each one, carelessly cast, could start a housefire. Said The Gramophone

a rare treat....... in Edinburgh there lies, in Withered Hand, a thing of great beauty. alayerofchips

Wry lyrics? Eccentric vocals? Lo-fi production, and the odd religious reference? Check, check, check. lastyearsgirl