Aidan Moffat – Where You’re Meant to Be

Recorded onstage in the musical hotbed that is Drumnadrochit, the companion piece to Paul Fegan’s new film sees Aidan and band on entertaining form, full of traditional Scottish ballads given a contemporaneous (and typically Moffat-esque) slant.

“The thing with folk music is that people think it’s a very austere scene – so for that reason I chose to do a few funny songs,” the artist responsible told The Skinny recently, and there’s certainly enough sauce in these 12 tracks – some acapella, others accompanied – to keep titter organs occupied (particularly the X-rated reimagining of The Ball of Kirriemuir).

Yet this is much more than rude lyrics sung to traditional melodies; songs such as Big Kilmarnock Bunnet or (the untampered-with) MacPherson’s Farewell display Moffat’s sharp ear not only for folk’s cultural significance, but the roles that bursting hypocrisy (on Ode to O’Brien Et Al) or documenting broken evenings on Sauchiehall Street (the title track) play in upholding that tradition. And while the project makes more sense if you’ve seen the movie, there’s plenty of warmth and intelligence alongside the tits and willies.