8/10

merrowfolk's 'Understory' is an album about everything that grows beneath the obvious. Here, the Glasgow-based Irish-Scot collective take their title from the layer of forest life that exists below the trees; shrubs, mosses, lichens and smaller ecosystems that are easy to miss despite supporting so much of what surrounds them. It's a fitting metaphor for a debut album exploring overlooked people, quiet emotions and the small stories that often carry far more weight than anyone notices.

'Beckoning Back' opens the record with a shimmering blend of synths, folk melody and brass, using Irish mythology to explore the complicated task of bringing past, present and future selves into the same emotional space. While 'Let Me Be Yours' shifts into darker territory, drawing on John Cooper Clarke for a gothic love song that feels both intimate and theatrical.

From there, 'Scared of the Dark' turns fear on its head with a bluesy, guitar-heavy rush, celebrating dreams, growth, fire, stars, sex, birth and death. 'Green', meanwhile, transforms jealousy and insecurity into something closer to classic Scottish indie-pop, complete with a chorus built to be shouted back.

Their willingness to let silliness sit beside grief is one of the album’s greatest strengths, as merrowfolk never behave as if seriousness has to mean solemnity.

The seven-piece line-up helps enormously here. Clare McBrien’s songwriting is expanded by Freya Giles, Nicola Denman, Ali Hendry, Douglas Knight, Andrew Macdonell and Alexander Meyer into something genuinely collective, full of harmonies, brass, keys, crunching guitars and rhythmic shifts. Their wildly different musical backgrounds become part of the album's character instead of something that should be smoothed away.

There are moments that recall The Decemberists and Beirut, while the larger theatrical flourishes occasionally brush against the drama of The Last Dinner Party, but 'Understory' feels most convincing when those comparisons fall away.

'Understory' is ultimately a record about belonging. merrowfolk shine a light on the people, feelings and stories that sit just outside the centre, and make that hidden world feel wonderfully alive.