Twenty-strong indie and folk supergroup show us why Glasgow-born eccentric was far ahead of his time
A self-described “oblique musical philosopher”, Ivor Cutler was the Glasgow-born surrealist who wielded whimsy like a dagger. He bewitched everyone from the Beatles to John Peel with his absurdist eye and deadpan delivery, usually over the Bagpuss wheeze of a vintage harmonium.
Cutler was born in 1923 and died in 2006. Despite the lack of a round-number anniversary, his legacy was recently reaffirmed by a new double album, spearheaded by the drummer and academic Matt Brennan and saxophonist Raymond MacDonald. The Return to Y’Hup project brought together a murderer’s row of indie and folk talent to revisit Cutler’s earliest work set on his fantasy island – pronounced “ya-hoop” – where triple-horned creatures roam and green rain falls upwards.