• Pastels – Slow Summits

    Late last year, your intrepid album reviewer found himself in the lounge of an apartment in the west of Glasgow. Wintery sun poured through a large bay window, which looked out of over the University’s imposing clock tower. Across the room sat Stephen McRobbie, one of the original members of The Pastels. Stephen had invited me to Scotland to become one of the first people – outside the band’s close circle of friends – to hear several tracks from ‘Slow Summits’, the first album in over 16 years from the iconic and hugely influential Scottish indie-pop group. I remember experiencing…