Spotlight On... Jewel Scheme

It's been a wee while since we heard the name De Rosa, so imagine our excitement when an email landed in our inbox from De Rosa frontman Martin John Henry. Alongside De Rosa bandmate Chris Connick, and his Knockout Ned bandmate Allan Carroll, the three make up brand new Glasgow outfit Jewel Scheme. Gearing up to release their debut single, the gorgeously effervescent Spectral Index shimmers with bright piano lines, as Henry's voice floats atop it, getting more captivating as the song evolves. We catch up with Henry to find out more.

You’re about to release your debut single as Jewel Scheme. Can you tell us more about this new venture between old pals?
We’ve been friends forever. We’re all from Bellshill in Lanarkshire and we played in bands as teenagers. It’s a very musical town and in the mid-90s there you either played music or got wasted. I’m glad we did at least some of the former. We used to say in school that we’d love to be a band that could do anything. Returning to that idea as grown-ups is really exciting. Our Chris lives part time in Cyprus, so forming Jewel Scheme was also a nice way to keep in touch.

I absolutely love Spectral Index, which you describe as an ode to the past and a celebration of change. Can you tell us more about what inspired the single?
That’s so nice that you enjoyed the song! The lyrics on this album were all written quickly as required – usually the day of recording them. With Spectral Index, I think I’m singing about time as experienced and remembered by living things, from the sparrow’s flight to a human life to the timelines of evolution and beyond.

The music video for the single is a super cool mesmeric collage of moving images, with a gorgeous illustrative quality. Created by Kris Boyle, can you tell us more about the video?
Kris is also our childhood friend and has become a tremendous artist through his video and photographic work. He made the video with no brief other than the lyrics and an image of mannequins that we’re using for our forthcoming album cover. I love how he’s interpreted the theme with connotations of robotics/AI. His use of colour is mesmerising.

Your debut album as Jewel Scheme is due in September, which you’ve worked on alongside producer Andy Miller. Can you tell us more about the process and what we can expect from the rest of the record?
The album was recorded in two sessions in 2023. The first session was a week at Chris’s house in Cyprus and the second was at The Cottage Studio in Loch Fyne. We tracked and mixed the album ourselves and it was mastered by our friend and mentor Andy Miller. Andy’s worked on many of our favourite records so having his final pass was important to us, not least because the album is coming out on Gargleblast – a label he co-owns with Shaun Tallamy.

The album is eclectic, full of texture, electronics, guitars, some live drums and me having a good time singing. It’s a record which maps the coming together of a new band with each of us exploring aspects of the pop music we’d like to make. There’s aspects of 80s synth-pop, post-punk, dub and even a teeny bit of heavily disguised rapping. We all played a mix of instruments so there’s no clear drummer or keys player or bassist, it’s all up for grabs on there which was a really fun way to work.

As well as the record, what does the rest of the year have in store for Jewel Scheme?
We’ll be putting out another couple of singles this summer. The album is coming out on 13 September, with an album launch at The Glad Cafe on 15 September where we’ll be playing some of the album live for the first time. It’s difficult to get us together so it will be one of only a handful of concerts this year. Tickets will be available soon.

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Spectral Index is out on 28 Jun via Gargleblast Records; Jewel Scheme is released on 13 Sep via Gargleblast Records; Jewel Scheme play The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 15 Sep

Pre-order Spectral Index direct from Jewel Scheme's bandcamp here; pre-save the single wherever you stream your music here