Constant Follower, the band formed around Scottish songwriter Stephen McAll, first emerged with the acclaimed debut Neither Is, Nor Ever Was on Shimmy Disc.
The album was shortlisted for the 2022 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, followed in 2023 by a second SAY nomination for McAll’s collaboration with Scott William Urquhart, Even Days Dissolve.
Known for their atmospheric, meditative sound, Constant Follower have captivated audiences at SxSW and received airplay on KEXP, WFMU, BBC Scotland, and BBC 6 Music. Their second album, The Smile You Send Out Returns To You, released in February 2025 via Last Night From Glasgow, was met with critical acclaim and charted across the UK: No. 1 on the Official Independent Breakers Chart, No. 2 on the Scottish Albums Chart, No. 3 on the Folk Albums Chart, and No. 14 on the UK Album Sales Chart.
McAll is now back in his Stirling studio, working with a close group of collaborators on Constant Follower’s third album.
Local support comes from Creepy Crawly. Creepy Crawly is the project of Bristol-born and Manchester-based musician Rachel Cawley, weaving bittersweet narratives through shimmering, multilayered songwriting. Her distinctive crystalline vocals guide listeners through ethereal dreamscapes, moments of eerie unease, and the satisfying crunch of ’90s alt-rock melancholy.
Growing up in the rural West of England, her music is, in part, inspired by a childhood soundtracked by folk revival artists and traditional British folk music. But the pull of the city was huge and, aged 18, she moved to London and submerged herself in the many worlds of music available to her there – working at venues, writing for music magazines, temping at record labels – and going to a lot of gigs. But, as it so often does, London spat her back out. And so, during a period of self-reckoning with the question of 'how the hell did I get here?', living a life that seemed frighteningly ordinary, she returned to writing songs – tracing out the path of how she found herself in a place she didn’t want to be – and armed with newfound hope and resilience, plotting a route back out of it.
The result of this reflective work is her debut album Like a Real Thing, which will be self-released on 30 May 2025 and draws from a diverse palette of influences including Scott Walker, Big Thief, Laura Marling, Anne Briggs, Cat Power, Breeders and Heatmiser.
Price: £14 adv
Info/tickets:
https://www.heymanchester.com/constant-follower#info
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- This Friday, 8th August, 07:30 pm, Anna McLuckie ** Single launch ** + Marco Woolf / The Castle Hotel, Manchester / Fri 8 Aug in Manchester
- Next month, 1st September, 07:30 pm, Lily Seabird + Brain Leak / Gullivers, Manchester / Mon 1 Sep in Manchester
- Next month, 5th September, 07:00 pm, The Burning Hell + Jon McKiel / YES Pink Room, Manchester / Fri 5 Sep in Manchester
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