With a new single due this week you’d not imagine that Edinburgh’s Broken Records wouldn’t have a lot of time on their hands. Despite that, the band’s guitarist Ian Turnbull has managed to put out an album under the digitalanalogue monicker, which despite deviating from the sounds and styles of his ‘day job’ is already proving to delight fans of the band and unfamiliar ears alike.

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When?

Just me (Ian Turnbull) with a guitar, piano and whole load of other instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.

When?

When I’m not playing in Broken Records! digitalanalogue initially started way back around 2001-2 while I was at university in St Andrews. Although Broken Records (as it is now) started properly in 2007 I’ve been playing in various bands with Jamie and Rory since we were at uni, so it’s always been something I’ve been doing alongside other band stuff. Because St Andrews is not exactly a bustling metropolis there’s a definite ‘make your own fun’ ethos about the place. It was around the same time the Fence Collective was beginning to take shape, so that was also a big inspiration for DIY music making.

Where?

Now currently based in Edinburgh.

What?

The name digitalanalogue was simply a description of the ramshackle recording set up I was using when I first started – 4-track tape recorder, minidisc player, obsolete audio software, and played on old guitars, transistor organ, crap 80’s Yamaha keyboard and a drum machine. Until now it’s really just been a method of cataloging ideas or trying to make music in a different style to what I’m doing in the band. Other than being almost entirely instrumental it doesn’t really fit into one style – sometimes it’s glitchy electronica, post-rock, modern classical or gentle acoustic folk. Until now there’s never been any performances or available recordings (apart from a few CD-Rs handed out to friends back in the day).

Why?

I can’t really explain why, but I’ve always enjoyed writing and recording music. Even if a lot of things never see the light of day it’s a good way to keep learning how processes work or try new ideas, which in turn can be very helpful for working with the band. The idea to finally make an album of my own came out of some recordings I started making in 2011-2012. Those two years had some pretty extreme ups and downs, and given we were also working on the last Broken Records album it was quite a prolific time anyway. I took some of the more ambient minimalist instrumental tracks from that period and they became the basis of Be Embraced, You Millions!. Each track is about a specific person, place or event from that time, so the end result is a kind of musical memory of those two years.

‘Be Embraced, You Millions!’ is out now, on Song, by Toad Records