Irvine Welsh, the author – still, after all these years - best known for Trainspotting, is to release a disco album.
Yes, you heard that right. It’s called Men In Love and it’s a companion piece to a new book of the same name by the 66-year-old writer, which is an “immediate” sequel to his most famous work, continuing the stories of Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie and the others.
The album is apparently a “sonic companion to the novel,” with its themes, lyrics, and musical atmosphere “reflecting the experience and inner turmoil of its characters.”
As is the way with these things, there’s a single too – A Man In Love With Love. Welsh penned the lyrics, an entity called The Sci Fi Soul Orchestra is responsible for the music.
So why disco? Welsh himself answers this in a press statement, saying: “In uncertain times, dominated by the ascendancy of soul-dead oligarchs, their corrosive technology and looting economics, the great positive constant for humanity remains our infinite capacity for love.”
He continues: “Music is still the medium by which we bypass their reductive, low-frequency world, and if we can sing and dance and express our collective love in joy and rapture, we render their pathetic schemes the irrelevant sideshows they deserve to be.”
“One of the greatest musical forms in delivering that ecstasy has been discotheque music. No matter how confused our men (and women) have been in the quest for love, as we are forced to earn a living to pay for our fun, our real predilections are to party like it’s 2099. So don’t diss the disco, let’s dance away the heartache or die trying, because nothing else makes any sense.”
It’s not the first time Welsh has dabbled in music. Back in 1996 at the very peak of his fame, he collaborated on a Euro 96 themed record with Primal Scream and Adrian Sherwood’s On U Sound. The Big Man and the Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown featuring Welsh reading sardonic lines from Trainspotting over a dub soundtrack. Unbelievably, it reached Number 17 in the charts. Different times.
A little later, Welsh was part of Hibee Nation, alongside Andrew Innes and Martin Duffy of Primal Scream and journalist/producer Kris Needs. The project released a couple of dance singles in the late 90s via the Creation offshoot label Eruption.
Both the Men In Love album and book are out on July 24 and Welsh is going a book tour around that time. For more details go to https://linktr.ee/meninlovebook
