Haar (Noun):
dialectal, British
“a cold wet sea fog”
• Merriam Webster Dictionary

Silver (adjective):
“...Having a white lustrous sheen...”
• Merriam Webster Dictionary

“It’s shite being Scottish.”
• Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting (1993)

In the four songs that make up their debut Lights Out EP, the recently-formed Glasgow outfit Silver Haar have captured musically that very Scottish, hard to define feeling the Portugese call Saudade - an intense longing for someone or something that is absent; for happiness that has passed or perhaps never even existed.

Maybe it’s the weather.

Comprising of songwriters Tom Brogan (Vocals, Guitar) and Duncan McCormick (Guitar, Backing Vocals), a couple of old school pals with over 10 years experience playing in a variety of bands across Glasgow’s music scene, Silver Haar were birthed during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic as a much-needed creative outlet. Channelling their love for 80’s indie guitar bands at their most anthemic (think Head On The Door era Cure, Creation Records era House Of Love and The Pixies of Doolittle) mixed with more contemporaneous stuff like We Are Scientists, Biffy Clyro & Radiohead, they use these influences to express their Saudade here with ringing arpeggios, impeccable melodies/harmonies and the all-important anthemic choruses that find triumph in the melancholic ennui entrenched in the Scottish character. Much like fellow Scots The Jesus & Mary Chain before them, I suspect Silver Haar are also Happy When It Rains.

Lead title track (and de facto single) Lights Out lays down the mission statement straight out the gate. The guitars shimmer plangently in the intro, only to be shot forward suddenly by the arrival of a driving rhythm section and a Robert Smith-esque lead guitar line that counterpoints beautifully with synthesised strings bearing a trace of The Queen Is Dead era Smiths. These “simple lines intertwining” (to quote Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnell) explode the whole thing into an epic widescreen Technicolor landscape, though probably that of a Douglas Sirk melodrama rather than a John Ford adventure picture. A strong vocal melody (supported by gorgeous harmonies) pushes us through into a chorus that contradictingly sounds celebratory despite the words we’re hearing - “Lights Out/We’ll never be free.” Are we entrapped by dead-end careers, a romance that’s long lost its spark, some other form of subjugation or all of the above? The lyrics are elliptical enough to deny a solid answer, but one thing’s for sure, whatever’s keeping us in chains is likely of our own making and it’s rarely sounded so joyous.

Push It Away strikes a more raw, confessional tone that painfully captures the death of a relationship at its crisis point. The opening riff suggests a Second Coming era Stone Roses vibe, something which dissipates quickly to be replaced by intricate skeins of discordant guitar lines and noisy waves of distortion (Kevin Shields would be proud), all crashing around underneath another corker of a melody line. Lost finds Silver Haar in a more pop-oriented mode, with a gorgeous leap into the major key for the chorus bringing to mind Echo & The Bunnymen’s The Cutter and lyrics reminiscent of the haunted big city poetry of The Blue Nile. Finally, Fear of The Unknown has lyrics that snarl aggressively (“Why do I hate to see you win?/I sure can’t wait to see you lose”) made palatable by a thumping FM-friendly rock sound and what is by this stage is an obligatory (and tremendous) anthemic chorus.

As a debut release, it’s astonishingly confident - the playing is excellent and they’ve developed in just a few short months a distinctive sound. More importantly however, they’ve got that magic, sometimes intangible thing - great songs. Like the solitary beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds, these are songs that find comfort in sadness and celebrate the living of a life, no matter how painful it sometimes is. The best kind of songs in other words. Keep your eyes on Silver Haar - I suspect there’s plenty more Saudade coming from them in the future.