PREMIERE Carla J. Easton, "Let's Make Plans for the Weekend"

Strumming up amplified expressions of excitement, amour and more with Carla J. Easton; photographed by Craig McIntosh.

Purveyors, taste influencers, and fans alike of the international independent music scenes have long since waxed poetic about the scrappy Scottish heroes of various little undergrounds. Hip record store wax pushers will speak of the influence and lore found in the prodigious Sound of Young Scotland, the breakout artful dodgers featured on the NME’s now 40 year old C86 cassette of pop provocateurs, Altered Images, Aztec Cameras, Camera Obscuras, Soup Dragons, Shop Assistants, Boy Hairdressers/Teenage Fanclubs, Irvine Welsh and his trainspotters, Mogwais, Franz Ferdinands, Belles, Sebastians, and many more of the local creative gentry. And while much of the music press (RIP Melody Maker, Sounds, Select, and the whole lot) has become noted for their embellished exaltations, adorations, and worship of myriad male-fronted artists, bands, and other such entities — one particular artist-auteur amplifies the voices and visions outside of these already much lauded boys clubs, and the much played-out misogynistic mainstream miasma.

Esteemed community steward, vanguard, and mainstay of the Scotland DIY scenes Carla J. Easton announces the new album I Think That I Might Love You, courtesy of Ernest Jenning Record Co. Featuring production from Howard Bilerman, in conjunction with Creative Scotland; the multi-disciplinary artist presents a solo album that follows on the heels of their recent documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands about the lesser heralded femme forward bands of their home turf, and numerous solo records. The former member of the Vaselines, along with TeenCanteen, Poster Paints, Futuristic Retro Champions, and countless other works serves up the debutante DIY discotheque du jour of “Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend”.

Joined by vocalist MALKA (Tamara Schlesinger of Hen Hoose), in collaboration with Pedro Cameron (aka Man of the Minch); Carla turns the dials from Radio 1 to Radio 4 that manifests into motion what wonders await at the end of a work week. The grooves grace the gritty dive floors of a favorite pub, replete with syrupy diamond synths that step up that mythical escalator that leads to the heavenly top of the charts.

"Let's Make Plans for the Weekend" is in praise of a break in the monotony and unbearable wait of the ennui that all but consumes our spirits and the whole of ourselves. The upbeat jubilation drives ahead with an inextinguishable joy that drowns out the noxious noises, dramas, traumas, general drudgery of jobs, and the soul draining news of the world. Carla J. Easton blesses the masses with momentary respite from the monotony of regressive social and civic trends that leaps from spaces of the familiar and ventures toward fantastical voyages that exist in the bookends of the Monday to Friday cycles. "Weekend" is an invitational for all to attend a weekly holiday with a degree of revelry for all seasons, with the kind of elated and fleeting feelings one hopes could last for all time.

Complete with visuals directed by Jacob Ceris Gandy, assisted by Jess Sweeney: "Let's Make Plans" is set up like an open mic pub event that Carla transforms into an escapist fantasia full of friends and fun. Popping in the backing track cassette into a portable boombox, Easton expresses desires for a romantic getaway that doesn't turn out as initially expected. Moments of disappointment are soon turned around as fellow friends get involved into the action of playground games, tennis, balloons, grand vistas, and the glorious rapture of an unfettered ecstasy that is guaranteed for all.

Cover art for I Think That I Might Love You , courtesy of Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Carla provided the following thoughts on “Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend":

I love this song so much. I knew the album was leaning more guitar indie-pop, but I couldn’t not include this. Me and my friend Pedro Cameron (Man of the Minch) wrote and demoed it in two hours, we’re both massive fans of Kylie Minogue and Girls Aloud. We wanted to write something that celebrates friendship, dancing, and that feeling you chase every weekend after a hard week.

Carla J. Easton’s album I Think That I Might Love You arrives May 8 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.