Joe McAlinden formed the band Superstar in 1991, who were signed to Creation Records by Alan McGee. Superstar released six albums until 2000. He is a former member of The Groovy Little Numbers and BMX Bandits, and has also worked with artists such as Teenage Fanclub, Rod Stewart, Edwyn Collins, The Boy Hairdressers amongst many others.
Since then McAlinden has released a range of solo material, some under the moniker Linden. In 2020, he released Edit on LNFG's Komponist label. Originally conceived in 2014 Edit - Tide backwards - is an almost entirely instrumental piece tackling grief and loss. Composed and performed on a water powered pipe organ. The piece was originally the musical portion of a multimedia collaboration between Joe, artists Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, writer Martin McCardie and arts producer Katie Nicoll. The complete work premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2014.
