Under The Plow Hairband

Remastered and lovingly packaged with a host of extras our edition comes on ruby red vinyl with 12 x 12 lyric insert, A4 Repro Gig Poster, BBC Sessions CD (Marc Riley, 2018 & Vic Galloway / Nicola Meighan, 2019). And a Temporary Tattoo – to show off your permanent love. Edition of 250.

“Have you ever lost control? / Have you ever left your home? / And if so, how far?”

The greatest groups are unrepeatable, magic – more than the sum of their parts. They own their space, they make you glad to be there with them, you feel rare in their company – part of an epic collision in time. With our Glasgow School series we’re trying to capture these moments – make you feel like you’re there in the room, a first-hand participant. 

What would it be like being in a room with Hairband somewhere in the world, but maybe in close proximity to Queens Park, sometime between 2016-2020 when they were getting things together, working on stuff? I think there would have been a lot of smiling, a lot of warmth, community, kinship, a determination to make something worthwhile and great. A sense of invention – everyone in Hairband had been in other bands but somehow this one always felt really special.

There would have been five people in the room – Sephi Lock, Emma Smith, Rachel Taylor, Simone Wilson and Rowan Wright. With five people in a group you need to know how to make space for each other – there needs to be a lack of ego for it to work properly. Looking back, Simone says there was always an understanding that everyone should feel “equal and heard”. Quickly the music tumbled out – funny, serious, joyful. Mad stuff, beautiful singing, liquid guitar parts, energy. They were the best new group in Glasgow no bother – for most of the Monorail team their shows were always the shows to go to.

In what they were doing I heard a kind of oddball funkiness and fun with melody which I felt could maybe be traced back in Glasgow to Orange Juice. There was girl group stuff going on, The Raincoats, contemporary pop and then maybe other things I didn’t know if it was them or me – maybe Y Pants, The Tesco Bombers, something from that Rough Trade / Ladbroke Grove scene that ran so rich and deep. They were so addictive, there was so little to go on. 

We decided we’d ask them if we could document them on Monorail Music which was unusual for us – there’s always so many other things going on in the shop. Anyway, we released a five-song 12” in October 2018 and it really did well. BBC6 picked up on it – they were on Gideon Coe, Marc Riley, other shows all the time. It felt very vibey but also there was a creeping sense that maybe it wasn’t a group that would last forever. Rachel was moving to Berlin, it was becoming complicated.

I’m so glad that they managed to make an album together and that it’s so good. Made in Green Door Studio with Ronan Fay, Under The Plow captures their wild magic in all its glory. Everything is in, everything is there to make you know that you’re in love with them. Guitars chime in like church bells, the rhythm lock is so solid you could build a wonky house on it, which is what Hairband have done. It’s music in the moment, but meant to last – many voices, one united sound. Emma: “The ten songs “reflect a period the band will forever appreciate and be proud of. You can hear the fun and joy in equal measure, alongside more complex, darker aspects that we hope speak to some of the wider experiences of women.” 

There’s a lot to Hairband, there always was. Any album that starts with a song called ‘Unconscious Rivals’ and finishes with one called ‘Extremities’ is in with a big chance. Under The Plow is a record overflowing with ideas and love and unrepeatable moments – languages, music, people, people in a room. That’s what a record is, isn’t it. So Glasgow, so Glasgow School. Thanks for the reminder Hairband.

Stephen Pastel, Glasgow 2025