About

“ An inviting, contrasting weave of warm, incisive melody and textural detail. ”

Adrian Pallant (London Jazz News)

James Lindsay is a Scottish composer and instrumentalist who pushes the boundaries of folk, contemporary jazz, and experimental rock music. His writing seamlessly blends diverse styles, merging traditional instrumentation and tune forms with contemporary harmony, abstract rhythm, and the freedom of improvisation. His critically acclaimed debut solo release Strand established him as a talented and imaginative artist working across genres to explore new meaning in musical spaces.

In 2014 James was awarded the Martyn Bennett Prize for Composition. In 2018 he was nominated at the Scottish Awards for New Music for ‘Innovation in New Traditional Music,’ and in 2020 he was awarded a first prize at the 2020 In Tune With Nature competition from Nature Scot & Fèis Rois.

In addition to his solo work James plays double bass full time with the award-winning Scottish contemporary-folk band Breabach. The group has released six albums to date and have performed extensively around the world, playing venues and festivals across Canada, Australia, Europe, and South Korea. As a session artist James has appeared on dozens of recordings and stages alongside artists such as Julie Fowlis, Kim Carnie, Skerryvore, Ross Ainslie, Kate Rusby, Gnoss, Elephant Sessions and Brian Molley.

Torus is James’ latest solo release, and as an album it continues his trajectory of experimentation in folk music. In the summer of 2020 James ran a successful Crowdfunder campaign and, with the assistance of Creative Scotland, was able to record at Glasgow’s GlowWorm Recording Studios with acclaimed producer Euan Burton (Kris Drever/Siobhan Miller/Seafarers) and a group of Scotland’s finest cross-genre musicians. Written over a period of two years and completed in lockdown, Torus takes a kaleidoscopic look at contemporary Scottish Folk; the tunes are by times intense and expansive, darkly atmospheric and up-lifting. Torus is an exploration of the flows which connect us to our world, and a reminder that change is our only constant.

“Mood, tone and tempo shift as constantly as the tide.”

★★★★ Jim Gilchrist (The Scotsman)

“That's one commonality across this record – everything sounds beautiful”

★★★★ Harry Harris (The Skinny)

James grew up in rural Aberdeenshire before moving to Glasgow in 2007 where he gained a 1st class BA Honours degree in Applied Music at Strathclyde University. Some of his musical influences include: Sam Amidon, Martyn Bennett, Brian Blade Fellowship Band, Swans, Lau, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, This is the Kit, Mike Vass and Bill Frisell. James now resides in the highlands of Scotland and enjoys riding his bike, baking bread, and drinking coffee.

“Very ethereal, very chilled, very cinematic. The mix of folk and jazz has been done seamlessly and very, very well.”

★★★★★ Simon Redley (Music Republic Magazine)

DISCOGRAPHY

ADAM HOLMES - She Glows Like the Sun (2013)
ALISTAIR MCCULLOCH - Four Seasons in One Day (2009)
ANGUS LYON - 3G (2013)
BELLA HARDY - Hey Sammy (2017)
BELLA HARDY - Battleplan (2013)
BELLA HARDY - Bright Morning Star (2012)
BLUE ROSE CODE - Water of Leith (2017)
BLUE FLINT - Stories From Home (2015)
BREABACH - Fàs (2022)
BREABACH - Dùsgadh (2021)
BREABACH - Frenzy of the Meeting (2018)
BREABACH - Astar (2016)
BREABACH - Urlar (2013)
BREABACH - Bann (2012)
BLAZIN' FIDDLES - Doddies Dream (2020)
CHRIS GRAY - Chris Gray (2020)
CRAIG ESPIE - Mr Goose: Risk & Reward (2021)
DAIMH - Sula (2023)
DAVID FOLEY & JACK SMEDLEY - Time to Fly (2020)
DEIRDRE GRAHAM - Urranta (2020)
DIANA SCHAD - Lulladi (2021)
DAVID SERIES – Meerkat Parade (2018)
DREAMING OF WHITE HORSES - Dreaming of White Horses (2018)
EWAN ROBERTSON - Some Kind of Certainty (2010)
EWEN HENDERSON - Steall (2020)
FINDLAY NAPIER & THE BAR ROOM MOUNTAINEERS - File Under Fiction (2011)
FINDLAY NAPIER & THE BAR ROOM MOUNTAINEERS - Raise A Glass (2010)
GARY INNES - Imminent (2018)
GNOSS - Stretching Skywards (2023)
GNOSS - Dirt & Bone (2022)
GNOSS - The Light Of The Moon (2021)
GNOSS - Drawn From Deep Water (2019)
GRAHAM RORIE - The Orcadians of Hudson Bay (2021)
GREATER GLASGOW POLICE SCOTLAND PIPE BAND - Ceolry - Live at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (2015)
HAMISH NAPIER - The Woods (2020)
HAMISH NAPIER - The Railway (2018)
HAMISH NAPIER - The River (2016)
HAMISH NAPIER - Giant Sequoia (2020)
HAMISH NAPIER & JAMES LINDSAY - Han The Highlander (2021)
HANNAH RARITY - To Have You Near (2022)
HEIDI TALBOT - Here We Go 1, 2, 3 (2016)
HEIDI TALBOT & JOHN MCCUSKER - Love Is The Bridge Between Two Hearts (2018)
IAIN MACFARLANE - Gallop to Callop (2016)
JAMES DUNCAN MACKENZIE - Sròmos (2018)
JAMES DUNCAN MACKENZIE - James Duncan Mackenzie (2013)
JAMES LINDSAY - Strand (2017)
JAMES LINDSAY - Torus (2021)
JAMES LINDSAY - Gaither (2020)
JENNA AND BETHANY REID - Escape (2010)
KIM CARNIE - And So We Gather (2022)
KIM RICHARDS - Leaves That Fly (2018)
LAURA-BETH SALTER - Breathe (2013)
LAUREN MACCOLL - Harr (2023)
MAEVE MACKINNON - Once Upon and Olive Branch (2012)
MAN'S RUIN - Health and Safety (2011)
MAN'S RUIN - Working For the Man (2013)
MARK SHERIDAN - The Flight Of The Arctic Tern (2009)
MEERKAT PARADE - Disturbed Nature (2019)
MIKE VASS - String Theory (2010)
MIKE VASS AND DAVE WOOD - Wait What? (2010)
RON JAPPY - Vincular (2020)
ROSS AINSLIE - Remembering (2015)
ROSS AINSLIE - Sanctuary (2017)
ROSS AINSLIE - Vana (2020)
ROSS AINSLIE (FEATURING MALCOLM JONES) - Hope in the Chaos (2018)
ROSS AINSLIE - Live at the Gorbals (2022)
RURA - Break It Up (2012)
RURA - Our Voices Echo (2021)
RURA - Live at the Old Fruitmarket (2020)
SARAH HAYES - Woven (2015)
SKALDER - Cora (2009)
STARAN - Staran (2021)
STEVEN BLAKE - Bystander (2014)
THE CAMPBELLS OF GREEPE - Fonn (2012)
THE HALTON QUARTET - Based on True Events (2012)
THE PAUL MCKENNA BAND - Paths That Wind (2016)
TIM EDEY - I Got Rhythm (2021)
TINA REES - Beatha (2022)
WILDINGS - Wildings (2015)