Rediscovering a love for Shetland at the heart of Hound’s new record
HOW DO you rebuild your connection with Shetland after moving away?
That is the basis for a new album being launched by Glasgow-based band Hound – who are fronted by Shetlander Zack Manson – this Friday.
Another Lifetime in a Different Country focuses on Zack’s relationship with Shetland, and his band-mates’ newly discovered love for the isles after visiting for gigs over the past three summers.
The Shetland link continues with Zack’s sister Lindsey and isles’ graphic artist Chloe Keppie designing the artwork.
The design also takes inspiration from Zack and Lindsey’s late uncle Bobby Robertson’s mosaic-style paintings, and features many references to Shetland.
Hound will celebrate the launch of the album by playing the Freakender festival in Glasgow on Saturday – an event organised by Chloe’s brother and fellow Shetlander Ross Keppie.
Zack said that Another Lifetime in a Different Country allowed the four-piece to trace the journey “away from home and back again”, and his own “softening attitude” towards Shetland.
While he said the band’s 2024 double EP Some Days Were Good… But Mostly It Was Grim established the band’s primary mode of melodic slacker rock, this time around he said the band had honed their sound into “something more cohesive”.
He put this down to the tight bond between himself, Martin McCormack (bass), Joseph Cardle (drums) and Lewis Douglas (guitar).
This was strengthened, he said, while recording at Black Bay Studio in the Outer Hebrides – an isolated location mirroring the subject of the album.
Zack said the new album explores how feelings for people shift over time, from the breaking up of a relationship in Pick Yourself to a long-time friend whose choice of work is causing worry and harm on Rallying.
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He cites musical touchstones such as early Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement and Sonic Youth across the record.
The album’s parallels between people and place culminate in Big Time, written about the band’s first visit to Shetland together.
Zack said the song is rich with glimpses of island hospitality and the “newness of seeing a familiar place through the eyes of friends for the first time”.
Suntrap takes the opposite perspective, he said, after his mother visited his current home and friends in Glasgow.
“It’s mixed feelings of pride, contentment and guilt will resonate for anyone with family at a distance,” Zack said.
The album ends with Hometown, a more introspective take on the trip described with great energy in Big Time.
“Here, Shetland is ‘this special place where I used to live’, where feelings used to be ‘hate, now appreciation’,” Zack said.
“There’s both a comfort and a strength to the melody; as it fades out, those seaside sounds are still there – the sound of home as a constant, waiting patiently to welcome us back.”
Another Lifetime in a Different Country is released on Friday.
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