common thread Pippa Blundell

• 1 say 05:33
• 2 patience for the people 03:24
• 3 lay in my land 04:24
• 4 crave 02:54
• 5 wasted 03:54
• 6 will to take 05:28
• 7 instrumental with james 01:44
• 8 doing good 04:10
• 9 common thread 04:21
• 10 love her 03:59
• Total Runtime 39:51

Info for common thread

A deep creative journey towards understanding what love is, written in the sky during countless flights between Marseille and Glasgow.

Glasgow, Scotland is the gift that keeps giving. Emerging from a vibrant pool of artists and creatives based within the city, Pippa Blundell is a rising singer-songwriter already recognised by the Scottish Album of the Year Awards in their ‘Sound of Young Scotland’ nominations across 2023 & 2024, and by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway as one of his ‘artists to watch’. On Friday 6 June, she’s set to share her debut album ‘common thread’, via Bridge The Gap.

Drawing influence from the storytelling lineage of folk music, whilst also bringing in ambient sounds and classical vocal influences, Pippa’s music takes inspiration from the likes of Anna B Savage, Laura Marling, This Is The Kit and The Weather Station, with lyrics exploring themes of love, grief and womanhood. Since releasing her debut EP ‘sisters’ in 2023, she has supported the likes of Mercury Prize-nominee corto.alto, Rachel Sermanni, Kaia Kater and Nubiyan Twist.

Her debut album ‘common thread’ documents a deep creative journey towards understanding what love is, with the 10 tracks balancing a celebration of the highs of a relationship, whilst also being a coping mechanism for her lows. She shares:

“These songs explore the many ways we love. From the toxic kind, such as addiction and dependency, to the freedom of loving the simple and the mundane parts of our everyday life, the land, the nature and of course the people, and in the final track on the record – the self. common thread is the title because of this running link, all our experiences are woven together to make us who we are – the ugly and painful with the beautiful and loving.”

Written in the sky during countless flights between Marseille and Glasgow, the lead single and first track on in the record’s tracklist ‘say’ sets the tone beautifully. Rooted by double bass and Pippa’s earthy vocal, it introduces the sound of her music in a band context for the first time. Decorated by brush strokes, piano flourishes and tasteful harmony, Pippa delicately deconstructs the emotions around a long-distance relationship, and the difficulty of saying goodbye after the comfort of time together. This expanded sound continues on ‘crave’, which adopts a gentle, swaying country undertone that sits in ironic contrast to lyrics that explore the impact of a heavy night of overindulgence.

Elsewhere, title track ‘common thread’ strips things back, with its peaceful, finger-picked guitar patterns and glistening piano countermelodies reviving the soundtrack of her partner learning finger-style guitar whilst on their travels. Lyrically, Pippa explores feelings of connection between herself and her environment during the crisp, waking hours of the morning, when the shining sun melted away the frost of the night.

She shares: “In those moments, I found such a pure connection between myself and my environment, existing peacefully as I was, amongst all the other little creatures and organisms. It made me realise how interconnected we really all are, all our experiences, surroundings, we are all very different beings, yet, tied together in one big and beautiful common thread.”

Emily Pilbeam (BBC Radio 6) - ‘When I listened to this I thought it was breathtaking. It was one when I was listening to it I was just a bit open mouthed. I think her voice is just really, really special and commands your attention’

Roddy hart (BBC Scotland) - ‘beautifully delicate’

Vic Galloway (BBC Scotland) - ‘beautiful’

Tallah Brash (The Skinny) - ‘Landing somewhere between ANOHNI and Liz Green’

Andy Reilly (Snack Mag) - ‘A touching and inspiring tribute’

Pippa Blundell

Pippa Blundell
Drawing influence from the storytelling lineage of folk music, whilst also bringing in ambient sounds and classical vocal influences, Pippa’s music draws inspiration from the likes of Anna B Savage, Laura Marling, This Is The Kit and The Weather Station. Pippa Blundell is a rising singer-songwriter already recognised by the Scottish Album of the Year Awards in their ‘Sound of Young Scotland’ nominations across 2023 & 2024, and by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway as one of his ‘artists to watch’. Utilising songwriting as a form of therapy and connection to herself, her lyrics draw on themes of love, grief and womanhood. Since releasing her debut EP ‘sisters’ in 2023, she has supported the likes of Mercury Prize-nominee corto.alto, Rachel Sermanni, Kaia Kater and Nubiyan Twist.

Pippa graduated from the Royal conservatoire of Scotland in 2022 with a degree in Mezzo-Soprano voice, initially aspiring to be an Opera singer her passions naturally led her to song-writing and composition. She found her true belonging in the pubs, clubs and venues of Glasgow’s thriving contemporary music scene. Her debut EP, "Sisters," was launched in September 2023 as a set of four stripped back and reflective tracks. Pippa writes, "Sisters is about my constant journey of understanding what womanhood means to me. It’s an interrogation of the women in my life, and the intricacies of being a young woman in her early 20s. It's about how my mother raised me, how she upset me, how she loved me. It's about friendship, understanding love, and being a woman in love. It’s an ode to the messy, and the beautiful. It's about sisters.” In May 2024 Pippa she released her single “That’s Fine”, a love letter and reflection of her home city of Glasgow, about how the people of Glasgow support each other through struggle with humour, community and togetherness. She recently collaborated with new Scottish producer ROKI on a remix of her track ‘reason’ from the debut EP. Fusing new wave bass electronica with lyrical alternative folk.

This album contains no booklet.