ifitbeyourwill Podcast #191 • Mull Historical Society

Some artists write songs. Colin MacIntyre seems to collect entire lives. For more than 25 years, the man behind Mull Historical Society has turned grief, small-town stories, oddball observations, and big melodies into one of Scotland's most distinctive catalogues. Along the way he's become an award-winning novelist, playwright, and the kind of creative who somehow makes writing a musical seem like a perfectly reasonable side project. His latest album, In My Mind There's a Photograph, takes memories shared by some of the world's best writers and transforms them into songs that are funny, moving, and deeply human. We talk about memory, storytelling, growing up on Mull, and why the best songs often begin with someone else's story.

http://mullhistoricalsociety.com/

http://www.colinmacintyre.com/

Building on from the critical success of In My Mind There’s A Room, Mull Historical Society take an interesting approach to this new album; combining lyrical contributions from world-leading authors (including Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith and Louise Welsh) with the lush musical creations of MacIntyre to produce 12 songs of interesting textures and emotional leaps. Standout Charing Cross Canyon is a pop perfect, Prefab Sprout-esque tune for 2026 and Wish We’d Taen Mair, with minimal electro over spoken words, showcase the range of ideas and sounds. With a new book out this year, and a musical in pre-production, MacIntyre really is on a creative high. Excellent. NARC