The Long Way to Sweet Deceit: My Life with The Bathers
Sweet Deceit has been half-speed mastered and pressed at Seabass. It ships from 6 November 2026. Order Sweet Deceit on vinyl .
Some bands become part of the geography of your life. For me, The Bathers are tied to Glasgow: to old record shops, a bookshop on Byres Road, and a friendship that began with a message sent over coffee.
Finding Sweet Deceit in a Glasgow bookshop, 1990
I moved to Glasgow from North Ayrshire in the summer of 1990, into a poky one-bedroom flat in Caird Drive. I'm pretty sure I lived on toast for the first year. Glasgow was expensive, but the biggest problem was the ready access to numerous record shops. I could walk along Highburgh Road and find two branches of Echo, Fopp and, my personal favourite, the second floor of John Smith and Sons bookshop. There was another shop at the bottom of Byres Road whose name I can't remember, as well as a bunch of second-hand shops in the neighbourhood.
I first came across The Bathers in that second-floor bookshop. I didn't hear them; I simply stumbled upon a copy of Sweet Deceit in the racks. It looked intriguing. The song titles suggested something a little more intellectual, and I fancied myself as a bit of an intellectual, so I grabbed a copy and wandered home.
"Jesus Christ," I thought. "This sounds like Blue Valentine." I really had no idea.
From Je t'aime Gainsbourg to Celtic Connections
My next meaningful encounter was at the "Je t'aime Gainsbourg" concert that Duglas Stewart organised. I can't really remember what Chris performed. I just remember that he was considerably more dapper than everyone else around him.
Our paths as artist and listener didn't cross much for quite some time, if truth be told. It wasn't until Paul McGeechan introduced me to Chris at an LNFG Celtic Connections show that my love was reignited.
A coffee with Stephanie Gibson, and a message to Chris
Jump forward a year or so, and I'm having a coffee with Stephanie Gibson. A brief break in lockdown had given us the chance to meet, and I was there to pitch an idea to Steph: that we create a visual and literal companion to I've Seen Everything. Not only did we come up with the basic conceptual framework for the book, we also agreed to ask Craig McAllister to write it. We spent a good while discussing our mutual love of Sweet Deceit.
At 2:50 p.m. that day, while I was still in Tinderbox with Steph, I sent Chris a message: "Fancy chatting — Unusual Places...?"
Nineteen minutes later: "Yes, definitely."
That day, a friendship was born that I have cherished ever since.
Five albums together, and the ones that deserved more attention
We have released five albums together; six if you include Friends Again. In a brief chat with James Grant, I exclaimed that "State of Art" should be held in the same regard as "Tinsel Town" and "Alive and Kicking". James replied: "I'm not for self-aggrandising, but you're right, pal. That's a proper tune."
The fact that Friends Again barely registered on the national awareness spectrum is a curiosity trumped only by this: Sirenesque not only didn't win the Scottish Album of the Year Award, it wasn't even shortlisted by those planks who seem to hold the keys to the gate.
The Bathers live at Cottiers, Glasgow
[DATE], at a sold-out Cottiers (the second night in a row), Chris, Hazel, Calum and Nico, alongside strings, sax and three Friends Again musicians, treated us to a masterclass in performance, nuance, heart and soul. To say it was the finest Bathers show I have ever witnessed would be a massive understatement.
It's easy and lazy to compare Chris to Van Morrison, and I was always happy to reach for a lazy Tom Waits reference whenever I explained The Bathers. That night, though, I found myself thinking of two other artists. "Garlands" had me sobbing my eyes out; it struck me that it is our "Northern Sky". My favourite Bathers song: such beauty, such grandiose humility. That's what Chris does best. He says things that most artists couldn't get within a mile of pulling off, and yet he remains always "just Chris".
To hear "The Pursuit of an Orchid" in a church that, in 1990, I had to walk past on my way to the bookshop to grab the album that opens with it was a sublime and surreal moment.
The Bathers do Rickie Lee Jones
A couple of months ago, I was having a pint with Chris and telling him about an idea I had. I wanted to run a series of shows where artists performed an entire album by another artist. As we discussed it, I suggested that, to add some spice, perhaps we should reverse the gender roles. With that in mind, I quipped: "How about The Bathers do Rickie Lee Jones?"
At Cottiers, that didn't seem so daft. "If Love Could Last Forever" swooped and soared like "Last Chance Texaco".
The closing "Sirenesque" might have been the night's stand-out: Calum, James and Douglas interweaving in a way that reminded me of those moments when Radiohead decide they're a jazz combo.
Why The Bathers can take the comparisons
In this short synopsis, I've mentioned Van Morrison, Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and Radiohead. And you know what? The Bathers can withstand all those comparisons because they really are that good.
Get Sweet Deceit and more from The Bathers
Sweet Deceit has been half-speed mastered and pressed at Seabass, and ships from 6 November 2026. Pandamonia, Unusual Places and Summer Lightning are also available.
Sweet Deceit (half-speed mastered vinyl)