from the press release, edited by Ben Hogwood

Dot Allison releases a new album, Subconsciousology, via Sonic Cathedral on 25 July. It’s a full reworking of 2023’s Consciousology, by electronic producer and machine-maker Lomond Campbell, who, as the title suggests, has made it deeper, darker and dancier.

The first single,Weeping Roses, has been twisted from its original incarnation as a Tim Hardin-style folk lament into the most unlikely acid house banger.

“It began on a guitar with the two verse chords and grew from there,” says Dot of the song’s germination. “I wanted it to have a deep heartbreak and rawness, and now I love the surreal and beautiful, light and dark clash of worlds and sounds that Lomond has created from the roots and stems of the original.”

“It was the last one I remixed, possibly because it was the only track I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with,” explains Lomond. “At the risk of sounding obvious, I decided the best thing was to work on it somewhat subconsciously. I like that some of the bonny twists and turns of the original song haven’t been entirely corroded away by acid.”

Watch the stunning visualiser by Studio Sparks – using the artwork of Maria Mochnacz and Marc Jones – below:

While the original Consciousology was all ornate avant-garde folk and psychedelic explorations, this new take is as hard-hitting as it is heavenly, as beat-driven as it is beautiful.

Crucially, it finds Dot re-embracing the electronic music with which she first made her name in One Dove.

“I think electronic music will always be a key part of my music-making DNA,” she explains. “I see all instruments as possibilities with which to voice ideas, so I’d never want to cloister myself in a genre or feel I couldn’t return to any genre. Whether the sound source is from vibrations or a voltage, I don’t really see any limitations or rules.”

It was this open-minded approach that led to Dot and Lomond working together in the first place. After being introduced to his music by Hannah Peel, Dot asked him to remix Ghost Orchid, a track from her previous album, Heart-Shaped Scars. In the meantime, he’d already been listening to the album and had noticed the similarities between it and some of his own music.

There was an element of synchronicity, which extended to them both having mutual friends where they hang out in the Highlands and islands in the west of Scotland. The remix was also so good that it inspired Dot to ask Lomond to rework a whole album.

“I knew Dot would be encouraging of experimentation as I strayed pretty far off the mark with the remix of Ghost Orchid and she loved it, so I felt I could be playful,” explains Lomond. “However, I’ve never remixed an entire album before and was keen to make it work as a standalone piece with a vibe of its own. Dot’s vocals are so impressive that I felt anything could work around them, even atomising the recordings into abstract micro samples. It also amazes me how much grime, distortion and dense sound you can throw at Dot’s voice, yet it remains so bright and salient. I loved all of Hannah Peel’s string arrangements, too, so I made heavy use of them.”

“I love that he has brought a rich musicality and has created wild universes around the elements he has chosen to retain in the various songs,” adds Dot. “It reminds me of working with Andrew Weatherall in a way, where the mixes were bold and reinventive departures.

“I wanted an album through the looking glass, in a way. In my mind, it was going to be a mirror version of Consciousology. The whole concept of the original record is about interconnectivity and the electromagnetic aspects to consciousness, so the remixed version should be like a diffracted version of the original, like a rainbow diffracted from a beam of light!”

The end result is the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow – everything sounds and feels at once familiar but different – from the chugging electro of Unchanged and Bleached By The Sun, to the almost absurd, Aphex Twin-like shock of 220Hz.

“It’s landed exactly where I hoped it would,” says Lomond. “I like that each track has its own identity yet there’s a clear thread running through it all. Dot has a real knack for creating striking melodies that hit quickly and stay with you. I tried to build different chord structures around these vocal lines, re-harmonising to take it to darker places.”

The good news is that they are planning on working together again in the future, and have already collaborated on Lomond’s new album.

“I think it would be remiss of us not to build on everything that we’ve done so far,” concludes Lomond. “Stay tuned!”

You can explore ordering options from the Sonic Cathedral Bandcamp page.

Published post no.2,560 – Tuesday 10 June 2025