Momus – named after the Greek god of mockery – is a cult Scottish musician and writer who has been releasing albums for over three decades on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan.
His first band, The Happy Family, saw him working with former members of seminal Edinburgh band Josef K, and he went on to release a series of albums on Creation Records that were an influence on bands such as Pulp and the Pet Shop Boys. More recent projects include The Book of Scotlands, a series of vignettes from surreal alternate versions of his home country, described by the Scottish Review of Books as “a considerate, deeply generous take on the life of this country and its possible futures”.
For this Faclan: the Hebridean Book Festival event, Momus will respond to the festival’s ‘Human Nature’ theme with an exploration of music’s power to explore the darker, more transgressive aspects of human behaviour – as demonstrated by his best-known song, Hairstyle of the Devil, whose 30th anniversary is this year.
‘Nicholas Currie is one of pop’s great shape-shifters. As Momus, he’s been an outsider and a crowd-pleaser, a mystery and an open book. Whatever his incarnation, Momus can be counted on to follow the path less travelled.’ The Quietus.
Momus will also bring his Unreliable Tour Guide – a surreal walking tour of Stornoway – to Faclan Fringe on Saturday 2 November.