Musician Callum Easter sees album ranked among best in Scotland

Callum Easter spent the early months of the pandemic in 2020 working on his second album, System.

It was longlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year and follows in the footsteps of Easter’s debut album Here or Nowhere, which made it through to the finals in 2020.

A winner will be announced in Stirling this evening (Thursday) and former Dunbar Grammar School pupil Easter was hoping to attend the ceremony, despite his album not making it onto the shortlist.

Thirty-five-year-old Easter, who grew up in Dunbar, told the Courier there was “about five minutes of disappointment” at not being shortlisted for a second time before the happiness of making it to the longlist stage returned.

Callum Easter's second album System has proven a hit. Picture: John Mackie

He said: “It’s great, especially with the first album getting shortlisted.

“To be getting longlisted is nice, like a stamp of approval.

“And to do it all out of a little studio on Iona Street in Leith too.

“It is always a buzz when you get stuff like that.”

Easter, whose mum Gill Last, dad Lawrence Easter, and younger sister Lawren Fraser still live in Dunbar, described the album as “like a party album for the end of the world”.

Lockdown brought about many challenges for the musician, who recorded the album, released in November last year, in Edinburgh, where he now lives.

READ MORE: Dunbar musician Callum Easter battles top artists for Scottish Album of the Year crown

He said: “I was working with the backing singers, Jacqui and Pauline, they call themselves Leith Congregational Choir.

“Because of the nature of the timing, we could not get together in the studio.

“I was sending them stuff and they were sending me ideas back, which was a new way of working. They have got writing credits on the album and I quite enjoyed that and not knowing what was going to come back from them and their input.

“I might try to do that a bit more and work with people because you drive yourself a bit crazy doing it all.

“I am in this little room with lots of different instruments and throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.”

Work could soon turn to a third album for Easter, who plays a range of instruments including the xylophone and glockenspiel.

A special concert in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall is also planned for December 10 after a performance at the venue earlier this month was interrupted by someone taking unwell.

The musician was due on stage at 10pm but did not get on until after 11.30pm when his set had to be cut short.

Easter, who played organ with Dunbar-based indie band The Stagger Rats before the band split, said: “Anybody with tickets, they will still be valid for the show in December.

“There was a lot of work and I was playing with a four-piece band and Jacqui and Pauline were up.

“It was a really good feeling when we finally got on.

“People were really into it and we are hoping to just do it again and take it up a couple of gears for a longer set.”