The Mary Column - Very Sparrow (2025)

It’s a matter of established record how much love there is for Glaswegian indie pop band Spinning Coin at this end. Managing just two albums, the pandemic killed off a tour for the second release, but a sure fondness remains fixed anyway. Guitarist and co-singer and songwriter Jack Mellin active in his home city with a myriad of projects before and since, is the epitome of grassroots creativity and what an absolute joy it was therefore to get his debut album in the God Is In The TV inbox. The Mary Column – as an idea anyway – a ‘teen rock fantasy’ at age fourteen, Very Sparrow as a record is classic Scottish pop in its very finest tradition, spirited and melodic with a no-fuss honesty.

The songs here are wide open, the record emerging in part from a close bereavement, Jack working in tandem with Spinning Coin bandmate Chris White on drums, the vocal harmonies of Rachel Taylor (also of SC) and Simone Wilson (Simone Antigone) adding subtle textures. Clutter-free, Very Sparrow carries the persistent insistence of fellow Glaswegians The Pastels and the Fannies and examples Glasgow’s enduring love affair with Big Star and American ‘90s and 60s sun-kissed rock. The album kicks off with the brisk heart bruiser ‘It Takes Time’, Taylor’s ethereal shadow vocals adding to the emotive punch. ‘Wild Light’ flips the heart, it really does. An organ hums and thrums prettily under Jack’s laments of love and loss. The bereaved can lean heavily into this song and know we are not alone. Repeat, repeat. A bloody gorgeous tribute to a loved one, originally released on a split A-side with Gerry Love.

‘Swimming’ switches again, a laidback meander of wander and wonder. Mellin is a spectacular guitarist, we know that, but he doesn’t showboat, mask the message or smother melody. Ok so on Dirty Winnings, his guitar sounds like a roaring motorbike, but ‘FUA’ is defiance itself and rails against international injustices and the class system and inequality of all the horrible shit, crunchy guitar endorsing the ‘fuck you all’ messaging we are totally here for. On ‘Dig’ he sporadically lets loose before pulling back and ending with a flourish; with album closer ‘Temporary’ we enjoy a tremendous guitar wig-out, balanced by his red raw vocals concealing nothing. Released on Errol’s Hot Wax who operate out of a pizza shop releasing nourishing tunes along with the scran, in Very Sparrow we have a record of glorious subtleties and depth, honesty, love and loss unashamedly shared. The political small p and big, and the personal never sounded so damn tuneful.