Rhys Morgan

Glasgow

Freelance Writer at The Skinny

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Articles

Self Esteem album review: A Complicated Woman

3 weeks ago | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: A Complicated Woman Artist: Self Esteem Label: Polydor Release date: 25 Apr Rebecca Lucy Taylor's third album as Self Esteem sharpens what’s always been at the core of her musical identity: the tension between frank vulnerability and pop maximalism. 'I’m whinging in a new way', she deadpans on I Do And I Don't Care – the album’s manifesto in miniature. Its thesis is less a declaration than a reluctant truth: 'Fuck me, is this all there is?
Rob Copland @ Old Hairdresser's, Glasgow: comedy review

1 month ago | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Rob Copland’s Gimme (One With Everything) never quite settles into itself tonight. A terse stage entry and an uncomfortable first third see Copland struggle to find his footing with a Glasgow crowd that is, for better or worse, quick to read a room and establish atmosphere. His signature frantic physicality – perhaps designed to inject energy or create a surreal edge – lands instead as tense and uncomfortable when not backed by a bought-in audience.
Lisa - Alter Ego

2 months ago | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: Alter Ego Artist: LISA Label: LLOUD/RCA Release date: 28 Feb Lisa’s solo debut album should arrive with all the makings of a major pop event. She's one quarter of BLACKPINK, the star-in-waiting of HBO’s The White Lotus, and an LVMH-anointed darling – on paper, Alter Ego should make meteoric impact. Instead, it lands with a dull thud. The album doesn’t feel like an artistic statement so much as lab-assembled and A&R-curated; sterile and unwilling to take risks.
clipping. - Dead Channel Sky

2 months ago | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: Dead Channel Sky Artist: clipping. Label: Sub Pop Release date: 14 Mar Equal parts thrilling and tedious, Dead Channel Sky is a cybernetic haze of industrial wreckage and conceptual overreach that occasionally forgets to have fun, mistaking clutter for complexity. The album leans into a Commodore 64-era cyberpunk aesthetic, even sampling John Akomfrah’s Afrofuturist film The Last Angel of History. Conversely, Mirrorshades pt.
FKA twigs album review: Eusexua

Jan 23, 2025 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: Eusexua Artist: FKA twigs Label: Atlantic/Young Release date: 25 Jan On Eusexua, FKA twigs’ third album, she – alongside co-executive producer Koreless – infuses her avant-pop sensibilities and commercial dance music, harnessed with devastating surgical precision.
Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes

Nov 11, 2024 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: Small Changes Artist: Michael Kiwanuka Label: Polydor Release date: 15 Nov Mercury Prize recipient Michael Kiwanuka, Sault’s resident maestro Inflo and the inimitable Danger Mouse reunite on Kiwanuka’s fourth album, Small Changes. The album angles to circumvent the temporal; a confident stride in classic songwriting and craftsmanship that gives way to yet another example of Kiwanuka and his collaborators upping their creative ante.
The House That Biffy Built

Nov 7, 2024 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Glasgow’s Barrowlands is more than a venue – it’s a proving ground, a hallowed space where Scottish bands don’t just perform but cement their legacies. At the end of October, Biffy Clyro returned to this iconic stage for A Celebration of Beginnings, playing their first three albums – Blackened Sky (2002), The Vertigo of Bliss (2003), and Infinity Land (2004) – in full, as a nod to the raw, unpolished origins of their career.
Confidence Man - 3AM (LA LA LA)

Oct 14, 2024 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: 3AM (LA LA LA) Artist: Confidence Man Label: Chaos/Polydor/I Oh You Release date: 18 Oct 2022’s Tilt brought eyes to the brilliance of Confidence Man; the Australian dance quartet lauded for their vital live performances. We need only look to their endless string of appearances at this year’s Glastonbury to observe how the music enthusiast community extols their shows. This heralds 3AM (LA LA LA), their third album.
Fat Dog - WOOF. album review - The Skinny

Sep 1, 2024 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

Album title: WOOF. Artist: Fat Dog Label: Domino Release date: 6 Sep ‘It’s fucking Fat Dog, baby!’ The South London outfit’s debut album is a veritable Frankenstein’s monster, stitching two-tone ska and 90s rave to a post-punk core. Fat Dog’s ethos is pure hedonism, "the polar opposite of thinking music", says keyboardist Chris Hughes.
Nadine Shah @ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh: live review

Aug 29, 2024 | theskinny.co.uk | Rhys Morgan

A seated audience doesn’t stop Nadine Shah from harnessing her boundless capability and visceral talent at Edinurgh's Queen's Hall tonight. Her voice is incisive and glistening with clarity, as the vertically hung speakers, practically right in front of us, saturate the space – it plays more like a showcase than a run-of-the-mill gig. We are sat flush to the band set-up, the seating of The Queen’s Hall removing any gig argy-bargy, for the better or the worse.