Glasvegas - Glasvegas

There’s something about Scottish pop—even songs sung in the thickest of brogues—that makes it undeniably majestic and uplifting. Perhaps it’s the surging guitars and soaring vocals common to bands like Big Country, Simple Minds and the Proclaimers. Add Glasvegas, whose name conflates the band’s hometown, Glasgow, with America’s Sin City, to that list. Led by singer James Allan, the promising quartet concocts a stirring pop brew on its excellent debut, especially on the moving ode to divorce “Daddy’s Gone.”

January 2009