I released my debut solo EP, ‘Keep it Afloat’, today. Oof. You can listen to it over at dougjohnstone.bandcamp.com, where you can also download it for £2 or order a CD copy for £3. You’ll also be able to buy the CD at any live dates as well as from the awesome Avalanche Records in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket.

My band Northern Alliance recently entered an extended period of hibernation and I decided to bash on alone for now, this debut EP being the result. The tunes were written on acoustic guitar but fleshed out to a full-band sound, me playing all the instruments, as well as engineering and producing the EP myself in typically half-baked fashion.

The songs are about parenthood, homesickness, the creative process and having a car crash with Bjork. Compared to Northern Alliance, the music is a smidgen more melodic and a tad less sleepy. There are smatterings of indie, rock, lo-fi, folk and country, but essentially this is what pop music sounds like in my head, for better or worse.

Please have a listen, and lemme know whatcha think, eh?