From The Underworld

Another moment of chance epiphany, and further testimony to the power of loud music in cars. Driving home late last night I turned off the A595 at Moota: from the radio there came the sound of bells tolling, bass harmonies, trumpets and guitars that always makes the hairs of my back stand up straight: the opening bars of From The Underworld, The Herd's symphonically psychedelic reworking of the Orpheus & Eurydice myth. As concentrated expressions of loss, longing and memory go it takes some beating. In fact, it does just what great pop songs ought to be doing: taking complex, unmanageable emotions and cramming them into miniature, giving them voice using the simplest possible forms. Cineastes will also recall that the song's playing at the moment that Bill Paterson, stuck in a Glasgow traffic jam, first sets eyes on CP Grogan in her ice-cream van in the wonderful Comfort & Joy.