A lo-fi psych-pop ballad about the moment love disappears and the guilt, shame and fear left in its wake, ‘Hold It’ is the brand-new single by isle of Eigg-based Scottish psychedelic electronic-pop ogre Johnny Lynch AKA Pictish Trail. The first new Pictish material since his acclaimed 2022 album Island Family is produced by Mike Lindsay (Tunng, LUMP).
“A song about trying to preserve a moment of love and connection – to capture a picture of it, before the opportunity passes. It’s about realising our memories, or even fantasies of our past, can disappear suddenly, before we’re ready to let go of them. It’s about the guilt, shame, and fear that comes with time slipping through our fingers… all the slimy stuff of life.”
Pictish Trail is touring around the UK throughout 2025, including the Green Man, Edinburgh Fringe, Fringe by the Sea and Smugglers festivals, as well as solo headline shows and support dates for Tunng.
Pictish Trail’s 2022 album Island Family, his third for London’s Fire Records, drew acclaim from The Observer, The Times, Mojo, Uncut, Loud & Quiet, and BBC 6 Music. It was followed in Autumn 2024 by Follow Footsteps – an EP of reworked Island Family tracks released via his own Lost Map Records label, in conjunction with Fire. Pictish’s earlier albums Secret Soundz Vols. 1 & 2 (2008, 2013) were gloriously eclectic slices of lo-fi folk-pop, later reissued on deluxe double-vinyl by Moshi Moshi in 2014. His third album Future Echoes (2016) received widespread acclaim and was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY Award), winning the public vote, before being reissued by Fire in 2018. A fourth album, Thumb World, followed in 2020, also via Fire.
Pictish Trail has toured the world as both headliner and support for the likes of Belle & Sebastian, Pavement, Mogwai, Sea Power, and KT Tunstall. He’s performed at major festivals including Glastonbury (Park Stage), Field Day, Camp Bestival, Deer Shed, Celtic Connections, Blue Dot, the Edinburgh Fringe, and every single edition of Green Man Festival to date (all 22 and counting). Outside his own music, Johnny is a lynchpin of the UK’s independent music scene. Through Lost Map, he has championed a diverse and idiosyncratic roster, helping to platform artists such as Rozi Plain, Alabaster dePlume, Seamus Fogarty, Bas Jan, Callum Easter, and Free Love.
More new music from Pictish Trail will follow in 2025.
LIVE DATES
August
08 Aug: PJ Molloys, Dunfermline
09 Aug: Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick
10 Aug: Leith Cricket Club, Edinburgh [SOLD OUT]
11 Aug: Leith Cricket Club, Edinburgh [SOLD OUT]
17 Aug: Green Man Festival, Wales [SOLD OUT]
28 Aug: Feather Star, Wirksworth
29 Aug: Rose Hill, Brighton
31 Aug: Smugglers Festival, Kent
October
24 Oct: Rockfield Centre, Oban
25 Oct: Community Hall, Knoydart
26 Oct: LAS Portree, Isle of Skye
27 Oct: Bowling Club, Pitlochry [ON SALE SOON]
28 Oct: Tolbooth, Stirling
29 Oct: Hug & Pint, Glasgow
30 Oct: Playhouse, Montrose
November
02 Nov: Waiting Room, Stockton on Tees
13 Nov: The Engine Room, North Shields
15 Nov: Parish Temp, Huddersfield
16 Nov: The Castle, Manchester
17 Nov: Blue Bird, York
18 Nov: Future Yard, Birkenhead
19 Nov: Wiltshire M.C., Bradford-upon-Avon *
20 Nov: Hare & Hounds, Birmingham *
21 Nov: Jam Jar, Bristol
22 Nov: Islington A.M., London *
26 Nov: Secret Show, London
* = supporting Tunng
