It’s a far cry from either the summery 80s pop of Danny Wilson, or even the exuberant, C96 lo-fi of Spare Snare. In fact, on the surface, the only connection between Grand Gestures’ ubermeister Jan Burnett and singer-songwriter Gary Clark, is their shared hometown of Dundee.

Gary Clark

However, Burnett has wide and eclectic musical tastes and has put together an impressive array of vocalists for his collaborative project – over the space of two albums we’ve seen the likes of Emma Pollock, RM Hubbert, Jill O’Sullivan, Calamateur and comedian Sanjeev Kohli visit Burnett’s home studio for a curry and a session recording their vocals over the now Glasgow-based musician’s inventive electronica.

On ‘Third’ – the aptly-titled new release from The Grand Gestures ‘collective’- the ante is upped in a sense with not only former Hipsway frontman Grahame Skinner, but one-time Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark featuring. Chief Gesture Jan explained:

“I have obviously been aware of Gary since early Dundee / Danny Wilson days, and, surprisingly to me, he has been aware of Spare Snare, my other musical outing.
“We started chatting a while back via MySpace, and built up a bit of a pen friend type relationship; at the time he lived in LA.
“I had the nerve to ask if he’d like to get involved with The Grand Gestures – if you don’t ask, you don’t get, etc.
“I’ve recorded a few pieces with his voice in mind. For me the references were Tom Waits and Gavin Bryars.
“Gary seemed to enjoy the process and perhaps we’ll do something else, who knows.”

‘Third’ is released on 19th December but is available for pre-order (with limited edition Grand Gestures pencil!) here.

The album is preceded by a single, ‘The World Will Break Your Heart’ featuring Gary Clark, out on December 1st. You can hear other tracks from the album, as recently featured on Glasgow Podcart and ManicPopThrills, plus a premiere of ‘Yellow Pink Green’ featuring Nina Burnett, at isthismusic.com.