This Is Hope Biog

What is hope? It’s that unquenchable human optimism, a light inside of us that never goes out. But specifically, ‘Hope’ is a painting by New York artist Mediaeater. In the past year, this canvas has travelled round the world with Colin MacIntyre, the gifted solo songwriter/multi-instrumentalist & producer who has released 2 previous albums under the pseudonym Mull Historical Society. The painting has been a lucky charm, symbolising the man from the Island of Mull’s fresh start (an Island of 2000 inhabitants which sits in the Atlantic off Scotland’s west coast): new label, new single, new album, new management. And while he might be just one man, his growing Society already stretches around the world.

Colin’s already got two terrific records under his belt, of course. Mull Historical Society’s bewitching 2001 debut album Loss marked in Colin the arrival of a major new musical talent, and was home to both the heart-bursting sugar-rush of Watching Xanadu and the soft, seven-minute ache of Barcode Bypass. His 2003 follow-up, Us, was equally, awkwardly beautiful; another sweet haul of haywire pop that seemed perfectly at home in the Top 20 of the albums chart, helped along by the chiming hit The Final Arrears and Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me, the sort of soul-cleansing ballad Robbie Williams could only ever dream of singing, let alone actually writing.

“Loss was an explosion coming out of me, lots of stories and ideas on community – my first album. Us was more about me and what was going on in my life,” explains Colin. “But since last summer, I’ve really opened things out. Everything has been a source: newspapers, books, art, and music. I’ve been grabbing at things and stealing from places and then jumbling it all up in the air. But I’m excited by how it’s all landed becoming This Is Hope.”

Prometea, the world’s first cloned horse, was a major inspiration for This Is Hope, sparking off questions of science and progress in Colin’s head whilst he was on holiday in Italy. It was the start of a year-long creative journey that took in everything from exploring New Orleans to the suicide of Doctor David Kelly. In Colin’s own words, this is a record about life-fabrics: hope, love, death, time, science, man, woman, machine, war, community, ethics, genetics, metaphysics and evolution. It sounds like a lot to pack in, but the concept remained clear.

“This Is Hope has always been a really strong vision, something I could almost grasp,” he explains. “I almost knew what it was going to look like and sound like before I even had the songs. It’s just felt like the most natural process.”

After recording his first two albums in Glasgow, Colin compiled This Is Hope during an intense three-week recording burst in London studio The Strongroom. Since he was responsible for producing the record and playing most of the instruments from bass guitar to banging beer kegs preparation was hugely important.

“I felt like an athlete honing myself for a big game,” he remembers, “or an actor stepping up for a big part.” The result is an album that manages to combine a starburst of ideas with a leaner sound, particularly noticeable on the sinewy and infectious opening track Peculiar. But fans of Colin’s endlessly inventive approach to sonic science needn’t worry; the rest of This Is Hope features a whole range of found sounds, including a lusty sing-along from one of his gigs, a monologue from Colin’s grandmother and three sisters recorded on mini-disc in the back streets of New Orleans singing a gospel chorus. And that’s all in the same song!

Appropriately for a record conceived all over the world, the album was eventually mixed over in upstate New York, a near rival to Scotland for raw, rugged beauty. And Colin’s found a home for that painting ‘Hope’; it has pride of place on the wall of his new Glasgow base. So what happens next?

With the release of This Is Hope in America on the new digital label Wired Set, Colin has decided that from now on he will write, record and perform under his own name, instead of under the pseudonym of Mull Historical Society, which he has used on his 3 albums to date.

Here’s what Colin has to say:

“It’s important for me that my fanbase realises that nothing has changed here on a creative front. They are still “The Society” and I’m still from Mull. By dropping the MHS name I’ve not suddenly gone solo – I already was solo.

“What I’m doing, by changing to my own name, is part of the continuation of my creative journey, and I wont be doing anything differently from the way I’ve operated before, except that I think this change will help me grow more as an artist. For some time now I’ve thought about doing this and now it feels like I’ve shed a skin. But I’ll always play songs live from ALL of my previous albums. And maybe it was also time for me to give the real MHS their name back!” Colin

So, back to This Is Hope.

There’s the single, the irresistible, chiming How ‘Bout I Love You More and a return to touring, this time with an extra-special mascot: a 15-foot-high bewigged dog big enough for Colin to sit inside – which stars with Colin in the promo video for “…Love you more”, a story of space exploration and man’s evolutionary progress alongside machine, directed by Alex Smith, who has previously produced award-winning promos for The Darkness and Coldplay (“Yellow”). This enormous pooch made her T in the Park debut in July; for Colin, it was his fourth year in a row; a feat no other artist has ever managed.

There’s also quiet progress on his novel – his website has a thriving book club waiting in anticipation for a MacIntyre publication - and numerous short stories. Colin's even toying with the idea of putting together a musical.

But what’s important, right now, is this album; his most accomplished and intriguing to date, a brand-new staging post on Colin’s continuing recruitment drive.


He will no doubt steal the odd moment to pen more distinctive melodies and tales from the edge for album number 4, which he has been writing back home in Scotland and on a writing sojourn to the U.S. His fourth album is to be released in ‘06. Colin will be working with a producer for the first time on this album.

A songwriting junkie, oblivious to passing trends, he has become more than just Mull's local hero. He recently performed in the new Scottish Parliament – the first time it has been used for a gig! - as part of a unique event to highlight a new Scottish Music Manifesto (he was just nosey to see the inside..).

And with a sold out UK tour completed for ‘Hope’, a gig on London’s Millennium Wheel as part of FLIGHT 5065 (an event celebrating African culture ahead of the G8 Summit), 4 sold out gigs as part of With Strings Attached (which featured Colin and a host of the UK’s best Celtic/Classical musicians re-working his songs), and recent artist endorsements from the likes of Michael Stipe and REM, The Strokes, and Wayne Coyle & The Flaming Lips (each of whom Colin has supported) as well as Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn - his not-so-secret society is getting bigger all the time.

This is something special. This Is Hope.


More Info: www.colinmacintyre.com


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What the press says about ‘This Is Hope’

"Brimming with Breezing Melodies. The monolithic closer, In The Next Life(A Requiem) is MacIntyre’s Life On Mars." 8/10 NME

"Proves Scotland is Brave" Sunday Times

"Classic sounding and eccentric pop...MacIntyre writes and sings with utter conviction about the things that matter most" Daily Telegraph

"His strongest album yet...combines the melody and maverick qualities that made its predecessors so memorable" Daily Mirror

"A great album....melodies with the sticking power of industrial strength Velcro" Time Out

"Worth any time you can spare - MacIntyre has a well tuned ear for a classic pop tune " Evening Standard

"His most ambitious and deeply felt album to date" 4/5 The Times

"His third and effortlessly best album...sonically ambitious pop that reaches near perfection" Observer Music Monthly

"A bonkers master stroke" Mojo

"A warm and welcoming album" 4/5 The Independent

"His best yet….full of epic expectations, whimsical choruses and love" The Guardian