Since first rising with a run of information within the 2010s, Edinburgh-based producer Neil McDonald, higher generally known as Lord Of The Isles, has constantly blurred the boundaries between deep home, ambient, dub and kosmische experimentations. His music thrives on texture and environment, usually drawing listeners into expansive sound worlds that really feel without delay rooted and otherworldly. Together with his new album ‘Signals Aligned‘, McDonald sharpens that imaginative and prescient into a piece that’s each conceptually wealthy and sonically daring, positioning it as a threshold second in his ever-evolving discography.
The preliminary spark got here not from the dancefloor however from studying. McDonald discovered himself immersed within the writings of Jacques Vallée and others who problem the standard framing of anomalous phenomena as “guests from elsewhere.” As an alternative, they suggest one thing far stranger: a multidimensional presence woven into our actuality. This concept of “hidden layers” resonated deeply. “It’s one thing I’ve been fascinated with from an early age,” he explains. “I wished to discover how texture, distortion and environment can trace at one thing past the apparent.”
Not like a tightly scripted album, Alerts Aligned grew regularly, guided by recurring themes of distortion and notion. A lot of its character comes from accidents and extremes – moments the place gear was pushed previous its limits, or the place degraded samples revealed surprising harmonics. Granular processing grew to become a central approach, joined by tape machines and modular programs that behaved much less like instruments and extra like unpredictable collaborators. McDonald describes these programs as “alive,” able to producing outcomes that felt exterior his management. It’s an strategy that aligns completely with the album’s themes: the invention of which means by noise, the glimpsing of order in chaos.
The result’s a report that hovers between rational precision and mystical uncertainty. Ethereal experimental electronics and dub-heavy, it oscillates between readability and collapse, magnificence and unease. “Surprise and unease are two sides of the identical coin,” McDonald insists, and Alerts Aligned embodies that rigidity throughout its size. It’s not designed as a cushty pay attention, however as an encounter – at instances serene, at others disorienting, at all times pointing in the direction of one thing simply past attain.
That preoccupation with distortion additionally resonates with the current cultural second. Simply because the album wrestles with layers of noise, so too does day by day life contain filtering by misinformation, disinformation and countless digital bombarbment in the hunt for authenticity. For McDonald, this parallel underlines why bodily experiences matter greater than ever. “Holding a report, being in a room with sound, discovering one thing by probability – these are irreplaceable,” he says. Towards the algorithmic churn of the web, Alerts Aligned seems like a reminder of the worth of embodied listening.
Directly a continuation of earlier works akin to Geoglyph EP and a daring step into new territory, Alerts Aligned carries ahead McDonald’s fascination with environment and spacious design whereas increasing his conceptual attain. With additional releases lined up, a collaborative mission with poet Ellen Renton in movement, and a movie rating on the horizon, Lord Of The Isles reveals no indicators of slowing. As an alternative, Alerts Aligned seems like a marker — a second of alignment earlier than stepping additional into the unknown.
Interview by Tom Durston
"For me it was about creating soundscapes that hover between the rational and the paranormal. I wished the music to really feel like an encounter, typically stunning, typically unsettling."
What was the start line for Alerts Aligned – was there a specific concept or second that kicked issues off and acquired you again within the studio?
The spark got here from studying books by Jacques Vallée and others who view anomalous phenomena not as “guests from elsewhere,” however as one thing far stranger, an inter-dimensional enigma that’s been with us all alongside. That concept of “hidden layers of actuality” is one thing I’ve had a fascination with from an early age. It made me need to discover how texture, distortion and environment can trace at one thing past the apparent.
Did the album come collectively over a protracted time period, or did you dive into it with a transparent idea in thoughts from the start?
It got here collectively regularly, however with a guiding compass. I didn’t sit down and sketch an idea album, however I stored circling across the similar concepts of distortion and notion.
The theme “discovery by distortion” stands out – how did that concept play out whilst you had been within the studio?
Quite a lot of attention-grabbing moments got here from completely different gear mixtures, pushing these mixtures previous their limits, sampling degraded materials, working issues by processes that stripped away constancy however revealed surprising harmonics.
The album has an overtly granular sound that’s deep and dubby. Had been there any devices, bits of substances, or methods that grew to become central to shaping the sound of this album?
Granular processing grew to become an enormous a part of the palette, but in addition tape machines and modular patches that felt alive, unpredictable programs that just about had a will of their very own.
The press launch mentions that the report sits on the intersection of science, spirituality and the unknown – how did these themes discover their manner into the music?
For me it was about creating soundscapes that hover between the rational and the paranormal. I wished the music to really feel like an encounter, typically stunning, typically unsettling.
You draw on the concept of anomalous phenomena being multidimensional fairly than extraterrestrial – what about that perspective resonated with you, and the way did it form the album?
I consider our actual historical past and actuality is comparatively unknown and the true scope of nature is way deeper than we will understand.
"Holding a report, being in a room with sound, discovering one thing by probability, these are irreplaceable."
The report offers quite a bit with hidden textures, misinformation and distortion. Do you see any parallels between that and the best way we navigate the world exterior of music?
Undoubtedly. We reside in an age of overwhelming alerts, the place fact is consistently buried beneath noise, disinformation, misinformation, countless feeds. That sense of making an attempt to tune into one thing actual amidst distortion is on the coronary heart of the report.
There’s a mixture of surprise and unease within the album – was it vital for you that listeners really feel that rigidity once they hearken to it?
Sure. I didn’t need the report to suit neatly into consolation or concern. Surprise and unease are two sides of the identical coin.
I’m to be taught who minimize the album and the place it was pressed and manufactured?
The report was mastered and minimize by Andy Miles at Stardelta Mastering and it was pressed and manufactured at Seabass Vinyl in Scotland.
Which report labels and producers are inspiring you proper now?
Artists that come to thoughts instantly could be Mammo and Michael J. Blood in all their guises. The brand new Short Span label has had some nice first releases too.
How do you are feeling in regards to the present state of the digital music scene, each within the UK and additional afield?
There’s fragmentation, but in addition unbelievable variety. Whereas some elements of the scene really feel overly pushed by algorithms and hype, there are nonetheless pockets of true experimentation, the place persons are chasing sound for its personal sake.
With a lot of music tradition transferring on-line, do you suppose persons are shedding contact with the bodily aspect of music – information, gigs, that shared sense of musical discovery?
There’s a danger of shedding that embodied expertise, however I believe it makes the bodily aspect much more precious. Holding a report, being in a room with sound, discovering one thing by probability, these are irreplaceable.
Do you see Alerts Aligned as a continuation of earlier productions, or as a brand new chapter altogether?
Each. It carries ahead threads from earlier work just like the Geoglyph EP on Dusk Delay, environment, texture and spacious sound design but it surely’s additionally a step into a brand new territory, conceptually and sonically. I see it as a threshold: wanting again with one foot however dealing with ahead into the unknown.
Lastly – now that Alerts Aligned is completed, what’s subsequent on the horizon for Lord Of The Isles?
Ending of my subsequent report for Nightfall Delay now and I’ve signed off 2 prolonged gamers with two different labels that may come out in 2026. I’m engaged on new music for my mission with Ellen Renton and I’m additionally engaged on a rating for a brief movie.
Alerts Aligned is scheduled for launch on twelfth September by way of Nightfall Delay. Purchase a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. 0palescent
A2. ArXiv Mirage
A3. Re-ionization
A4. Astraglossa
A5. Alerts Aligned
B1. Arecibo
B2. UAP
B3. G-force LF0
B4. Binary Beam
B5. United Wire
B6. 0utro Code
Lord Of The IslesDusk Delay12 September 2025AmbientDub TechnoExperimental
