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Sep 01, 2014 By Christopher Roberts God Help the Girl

This Friday the film God Help the Girl is released in America. It’s the feature film writing and directing debut of Stuart Murdoch, the frontman for beloved Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian. The film takes place in Murdoch’s native Glasgow and involves, among other things, the formation of an indie pop band. Partly in honor of the film’s release we’ve decided to have a special theme on Under the Radar‘s website this week which we’re simply calling Scotland Week.

All throughout the week we will be posting interviews, reviews, lists, and blog posts relating to Scotland and in particular Scottish music. This week we will be running interviews with Murdoch and all three main God Help the Girl cast members (Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Hannah Murray), as well as interviews with other Scottish artists, reviews of recent albums by Scottish bands, guest blog posts written by Scottish musicians, and Scotland-related lists. We’ll be talking to bands about their favorite Scottish albums and their thoughts on the Scottish Independence Referendum, in which in a few weeks the people of Scotland get to vote on whether or not to secede from the United Kingdom and have Scotland become its own country.

The Scottish music scene has ebbed and flowed, but been generally healthy since the 1980s when the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Orange Juice, Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds, and Primal Scream came on the scene. The 1990s and 2000s saw the birth of indie pop bands such as Belle and Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, and Camera Obscura; post-rockers Mogwai; electronic legends Boards of Canada; and the establishment of Chemikal Underground Records by members of The Delgados. More recently Scotland has produced such artists as CHVRCHES, We Were Promised Jet Packs, Casual Sex, and The Phantom Band.

Some of the artists taking part in Scotland Week include We Were Promised Jet Packs, Bis, The Vaselines, actor James McAvoy, Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison (aka Owl John), Casual Sex, James Yorkston, and others. We won’t be posting as much Scottish content today, due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S., but more will be coming later in the week.

Look for the Scotland Week tag throughout the week.