Pictish Trail

Johnny Lynch aka Pictish Trail was born on September 28, 1981 in Edinburgh.

After graduating from the University of St. Andrews, the Scottish musician ran Fence Records from 2003 to 2013, before founding a new label, Lost Map Records.

In 2010, under the name Silver Columns, he released a thoroughly compelling dance-pop album with singer-songwriter Adem Ilhan titled “Yes And Dance”.

Johnny Lynch began performing under the moniker The Pictish Trail (with the article) in 2002, recording and self-releasing his first self-titled album that same year, initially distributed on plain CDRs and then issued on Fence Records a few months later.

Lynch recorded his proper debut album, “Secret Soundz Vol.1”, in September 2008, winning immediate critical acclaim, even though Lynch himself considered it pretty poor.

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. Some of the tracks, the best ones, were produced by the Manchester band Earlies, and through them shines Lynch's unmistakable flair and his boldness in displaying his leanings as a devotee of a certain brand of electro-acoustic pop streaked with wild, unlikely contaminations.

In 2010, The List magazine ranked him twelfth in the so-called “Hottest Scot”, a prestigious list featuring all the Scottish personalities who showed standout creativity that year.

Also in 2010, Lynch released “In Rooms”, an eccentric 12” vinyl release made up of no fewer than fifty songs of about thirty seconds each, put out as part of comedian Josie Long's project “100 Days To Make Me A Better Person”.

Lynch also supported Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall throughout her European tour in 2010 and 2011.

“Secret Soundz Vol. 2”, his true sophomore effort, was recorded on the Isle of Eigg, the wonderful spot in the Hebrides where Lynch has lived with his family since 2010, with the help of talented multi-instrumentalist Stephen Black aka Sweet Baboo. The album came out in 2013, earning a wealth of critical praise. In 2014, Moshi Moshi Records reissued it together with Vol. 1.

In July 2014, Eigg hosted the first Howlin' Fling Festival, with Lynch acting as organizer and, naturally, taking center stage as a performer. The lineup included, among others, Jens Lekman, Beth Orton, Sam Amidon, The Phantom Band, and various acts signed to his label Lost Map Records.

In September 2016, Pictish Trail (for the first time without the article) released “Future Echoes”, an ambitious pop project produced by Adem Ilhan (his old partner from Silver Columns) and Rob Jones, conceived as a sort of guide to coming to terms with death, insecurity, and the end of all things. Driven by the singles “Far Gone” and “Dead Connection”, the album kept steadily building the reputation of the versatile, oddball Scottish artist.

But it's with “Thumb World” (2020) that Lynch makes his definitive leap in quality. A record that puts human lives on trial, now ruled by our thumbs, perpetually glued to a PC or smartphone screen, and attempts to offer some useful pointers, at times even amusing ones, for trying to break free of it.

The pandemic, which forced an extended stay in the natural paradise of the Isle of Eigg, gave Lynch the momentum to produce “Island Family” (2022), for now the most complex and accomplished record of his career, an invitation to reconnect with nature and a search for that sense of belonging that has by now become decidedly utopian in today's world. The fusion of pop, electronics, hip-hop, psychedelia and even hints of industrial-metal has grown far more mature, tending to harmonize all these otherwise hard-to-blend flavors.

In 2026, “Pictish Trail” returns with “Life Slime”. Brought in behind the mixing desk, Mike Lindsay of Tunng adds mutant electronic textures that refresh the stylistic wardrobe, without diluting the Scottish artist's refined, naive edge.