An Ocean Full of Islands

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Tide Linestoday release their eagerly anticipated new album‘An Ocean Full of Islands’featuring the Radio 2 playlisted single‘Written In The Scars’,plus‘These Days’and‘Rivers in the Light’.Next weekthey embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, which includes a long sold-out show atEdinburgh’s 2800-capacityUsher Hall,as well as their biggestLondongig to date at theElectric Ballroom. Also confirmed as headliners atThe Gathering Festival,Tide Linesrecently announced their biggest ever headline show, a6,000-capacitybig top festival-style show atGlasgow’s Queen’s Park. An Ocean Full of Islands’is available HERE. The band’s official store offers a range of bundles, which include signed CDs and vinyl, and a new t-shirt. A turquoise vinyl edition is also available via retail. In the meantime, while Robert is listening to Bruce Springsteen up in Fort William, Gus will no doubt be playing his drums in Glasgow. Tide Lines today release their eagerly anticipated new album ‘An Ocean Full of Islands’ featuring the Radio 2 playlisted single ‘Written In The Scars’, plus ‘These Days’ and ‘Rivers in the Light’. Next week they embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, which includes a long sold-out show at Edinburgh’s 2800-capacity Usher Hall, as well as their biggest London gig to date at the Electric Ballroom. Also confirmed as headliners at The Gathering Festival, Tide Lines recently announced their biggest ever headline show, a 6,000-capacity big top festival-style show at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park.

That said, they only really had one song (‘Far Side of the World’) so the sets proved to be slightly challenging and included mainly cover songs. By the time they released their second album, they had a better strategy. How is it seeing the listeners’ response to your music and what can they expect from your upcoming album? That audience, Robert confirms, is multi-generational and includes everything from 16-year-olds to 85-year-olds.The band's first studio album Dreams We Never Lost was released in June 2017 following the release of their first single Far Side Of The World some months earlier. The album is a mix of English and Gaelic songs as well as the Piob Mhor Pipe set. Two further singles Fortunes of the Fearless and The Young and The Restless were also released as singles from this album.

We didn’t really have a proper chance to tour with the last album when it was fresh because it came out in May 2020,” Gus explains. “You want to get out there when the album comes out, get people when they’re really excited about it.”

A collection of pop songs that are catchy… built around the idea that people can relate to them straight away, sing along with them and would be good live. It’s at times reflective, at times uplifting, but it’s pretty upbeat throughout. That’s always been the aim of it.” That was a real boost for us moving forward but it came at a strange time… because it was during Covid and we couldn’t take full advantage of its success in terms of turning that into something tangible.” I’m absolutely fascinated by drums,” he says, unashamedly. “I don’t really do golfing or cycling… or archery. To be honest, I just play drums.” Tide Lines (two words) is a Scottish four-piece folk/pop band, not to be confused with Tidelines (one word), the annual Book Festival held in North Ayrshire. What are some of your stand-out highlights from performing this year, which has seen you be part of the National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour and your sold-out Town Hall Tour of Scotland?

It’s good,” he says, referring to their live gigs. “We bridge that gap. It’s always a lively crowd. We definitely have a young following but it’s not like we’ve left behind the older generation, they can be part of it as well. It feels like a pretty inclusive experience when you see our audience, which is nice. I don’t think you’d find anyone that would feel out of place.” We wanted to chart it,” says Robert, referring to ‘Eye of the Storm’ which did actually chart at number 12 in the UK in the first week and made it to number one in Scotland. I’m chatting by Zoom to guitarist and vocalist, Robert Robertson, and drummer, Fergus (Gus) Munro. The first thing I do is congratulate them on their sell-out gig in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in March. Tide Lines launch the album alongside its brand new single ‘Written In the Scars’. Listen HERE. Today they also reveal details of a major UK tour set for March 2023, which will see them play some of their biggest headline shows to date including Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and London’s Electric Ballroom.

An Ocean full of Islands

An Ocean Full of Islands’ is available HERE. The band’s official store offers a range of bundles, which include signed CDs and vinyl, and a new t-shirt. A turquoise vinyl edition is also available via retail. Having narrowly missed theTop 10with their previous record‘Eye of the Storm’and established a dedicated following in the live arena,Tide Linesnow look to step up another level with a collection of songs that are infused with rousing hooks, spine-tingling emotions and widespread, expansive ambition. It achieves all of that without losing sight of their roots, with the album recorded in their studio and rehearsal space in a former Baptist church on theIsle of Mull. The band’s keyboardistRoss Wilsonled the record’s production process. The third album, however, is already causing a buzz among fans both old and new, aided by BBC Radio 2 who included the single ‘Written in the Scars’ on its playlist.

There’s less Gaelic and pipes but it’s still very much the heart of what we do. But certainly, in a live set, the bagpipes have his huge effect. In Scotland it goes down well, but when we go down to England it goes down an absolute storm!”In fact, Tiree Musical Festival was the band’s first ever gig. A crowd of two and a half thousand people is not a bad place to start! Having narrowly missed the Top 10 with their previous record ‘Eye of the Storm’ and established a dedicated following in the live arena, Tide Lines now look to step up another level with a collection of songs that are infused with rousing hooks, spine-tingling emotions and widespread, expansive ambition. It achieves all of that without losing sight of their roots, with the album recorded in their studio and rehearsal space in a former Baptist church on the Isle of Mull. The band’s keyboardist Ross Wilson led the record’s production process. The album was put together on the Isle of Mull,” Robert tells me. “As a title, it encapsulates where we were physically but also, if you listen to the lyrics, it summarises it in quite a lot of different ways in terms of what an ocean full of islands could be.” Most of the drummers that I like are actually songwriters like Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters, or Prince or Stevie Wonder. I think the hardest thing to do is to approach the drums from the mindset of a songwriter. When you hear a songwriter playing drums to their own songs… it’s obviously the perfect drum part for the song because it’s coming from the same mind as the person who wrote the chords and the lyrics. I always try and be more inspired by that and not by the guys with the biggest drum kits and the most cymbals.”