Gourock singer-songwriter David Laing has released his new EP ‘Maybe We’ll Stay’.
The new EP bridges the gap between his first album and forthcoming second album, following a short musical hiatus.
Recorded on his own while feeling the effects of self-isolation direct from his West of Scotland flat, the new EP takes a minimalist approach including 4 older tracks which have been reworked acoustically, alongside new lead single ‘Maybe We’ll Stay’.
To celebrate his EP release, David Laing shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘Maybe We’ll Stay’.
Andy Shauf – To You | Listen via Spotify
I first heard Andy Shauf’s album ‘The Party’ and it completely bowled me over. The idea of an entire album following the same story from an evening at a house party could seem either lame or a challenging listen. This is neither. The way he writes is fascinating and has become a huge influence on my own writing. ‘To You’, ‘The Magician’ and ‘Martha Sways’ are the highlights on this truly beautiful album. This year’s follow up, ’The Neon Skyline’ was equally as wonderful.
Del Amitri – Tell Her This | Listen via Spotify
People often smirk when I tell them that Del Amitri are my favourite band. But for me, they’ve been a massive part of my life. As a child, my parents continually listened to them. As a teenager, I started re-listening to them and as an adult I continue to listen to them on a near-daily basis. Justin Currie is, for me, the greatest Scottish songwriter in existence and ‘Tell Her This’ is my favourite song of all time. It also contains my favourite lyric ever ‘Tell her something in my heart/ Needs her more than even clowns need the laughter of the crowd’. Glorious. When writing, I find this is the gold standard I’d love to hit someday with a completed song. I defy anyone to listen to it and not enjoy it.
Frightened Rabbit – Nitrous Gas | Listen via Spotify
Two of the songs on this E.P were written during my time in college. FR’s ‘Pedestrian Verse’ was released during this time and will forever take me back to those days when I listen to it. I always remember this song, in particular, standing out on the first listen and continuing to be in every playlist I had during that time. Scott Hutchison was a genius and has to me, like so many others, been a massive inspiration in my own songwriting and truly shows that sometimes honesty in your lyrics can make a song incredible.
Elliot Smith – Say Yes | Listen via Spotify
This song made the cut purely in relation to one of the songs on this E.P. It’s maybe not my all-time favourite Elliot Smith song (‘Waltz #2‘ has that sewn up) but was pivotal in my songwriting. Around the time of writing one of the tracks, I had a brief encounter with a girl who was a massive Elliot Smith fan. After the inevitable happened and we parted ways, I wallowed in self-pity for a few days and listened to Either/Or on repeat. The result was a song depicting the events of the previous weeks.
Teenage Fanclub – Tears | Listen via Spotify
Another belter from around the time I was writing these songs. I was put onto The Fannies by a wonderful friend I met in college. This song to me is just perfect, simple melody, beautiful arrangement and wonderful lyrics. outstanding.
You can listen to David Laing new EP ‘Maybe We’ll Stay’ via Spotify below: