"The Bathers are literate, expressive and romantic – which in a tough town like Glasgow is pretty much the most rebellious thing you can be": Sirenesque by The Bathers, the best-kept secret and weirdest anomaly in Scottish music

Cover of the The Bathers' Sireneque album.

Even back when they formed in the 80s, The Bathers were one of the strangest bands in Glasgow. Back when your route to market was as either a duffle-coat-wearing post-Postcard indie band or a Caledonian-soul sophisti-pop band (Deacon Blue, Hipsway, Love and Money), Chris Thomson – who had a foot in both camps – chose to go his own way.

Thomson is The Bathers (singer, songwriter, only consistent member) and he’s been swimming against the tide for almost four decades now. Not for cash, not even for acclaim – The Bathers have been roundly ignored by the music media – doggedly pursuing his own grand musical vision while singing like a man with a broken heart and a mouthful of broken teeth.