Chances are that you weren’t in Lima, Peru last weekend, so you might not have seen Scattered Songs proudly lying in the local record shops. It is the debut album of The Occasional Flickers, which is Greek turned Scotsman George, a friend of ours, now residing in Edinburgh, who recorded the record on his own. I had heard the album before –George is a nice friend– and was listening to it again on the train to Oxfordshire yesterday morning. Now one is supposed to like their friends’ bands anyway, which might sometimes blur the actual opinion a bit, but I realised (again) that this boy does actually write some pretty decent pop songs. (That’s a euphemism.) It put me in a much-needed good mood for most of the afternoon.

Here is a video of A medal won in 84, my favourite song of the album, performed live in Edinburgh. Another song, Visions of Christine, is available through the website of Plastilina Records, who are those kind Peruvian people that will make sure your favourite record shop or mail order will have the album available for you.