The Hanging Stars

The Hanging Stars at St Matthias Church (Stoke Newington)

London’s The Hanging Stars return with their sixth album, Just A Day – a dazzling collection of four-part harmonies, shimmering twelve-string guitars and chiming songs, touching on themes of longing, new beginnings and the fragility of the everyday. Recorded at Edwyn Collin’s legendary Clashnarrow Studios in the Scottish Highlands, the album marks a bold new chapter for the band, produced by Teenage Fanclub's Gerard Love and Dexy’s Sean Read.

A line-up change at the end of 2024 proved to be a galvanising moment for The Hanging Stars. “We needed to rethink things,” says guitarist Patrick Ralla. “A new leaner approach – bass, drums, guitars, four-part harmonies. Certainly worked for The Byrds, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub.” The result is a wonderfully energising record full of catchy hooks and a renewed vision. The songs are designed to take the listener away from it all… even if it's just for a little while.

Central to the record’s new direction was the involvement of Gerard Love – one third of Teenage Fanclub’s celebrated songwriting trio and the artist behind Lightships. Starting from demos exchanged between Glasgow and London, Love helped the band strip things back to their essence, ever so gently guiding them toward their finest work to date. He also joined the band for a week of recording, contributing vocals, arrangement ideas and by all accounts a mean vegan curry.

Just A Day is The Hanging Stars’third album to be recorded at Clashnarrow Studios, Helmsdale located in the most idyllic setting imaginable, thirty minutes south of John O’Groats and overlooking the Moray Firth. The studio, owned and run by Edwyn Collins and Grace Maxwell, is a place the band describe with reverence: “a sort of mixture between Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and the BBC’s Repair Shop”.

The band recorded the core of the album in a single week in February 2025, using Edwyn’s vintage gear – including the Gretsch Blackhawk he used in his Orange Juice days and the Barnes and & Mulli