North Atlantic Oscillation’s new album Fog Electric was recorded & co-produced by Tony Doogan (Super Furry Animals, Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian), and follows up Grappling Hooks, the band’s critically regarded debut from 2010.

The title, taken from the lyric of the track Mirador, introduces a stormy theme that runs throughout the record’s sounds – in the crashing electronics, delicate lulls, mystery and hidden soul beneath the surface: a leitmotif also reflected in the typically stylish and dramatic artwork.

“It’s an album about doubt and loss, but there’s a counterbalancing sense of resignation and even optimism too,” explains singer Sam Healy. “One of the main themes is that of searching for meaning in a scientific, post-religious world. Science is absolutely a force for good, but after it showed us that the physical world is all there is, and that far from stripping experiences of their mystery this revelation actually makes them more mysterious, it sort of left us to our own devices in terms of producing the unscripted, improvised drama that is life-minus-god.”

North Atlantic Oscillation is the climactic phenomenon caused by fluctuations in the atmospheric pressure between the Icelandic low and Azores high; a clash of hot and cold. It seems a perfect tag. Fog Electric is an album of contrasts from a band of contrasts. Timeless Rock influences collide with the latest laptop technology, amidst a combination of dark foreboding tones and blissed-out serotonin-fuelled pastoral sweeps.

NAO are based in Edinburgh. They are Sam Healy (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, programming) and Ben Martin (drums, synths, programming). They are joined live by Bill Walsh (bass, vocals) and Chris Howard (bass & synths).

All copies ordered from Kscope will come with a code to download the album and the first 500 orders will come with an exclusive, limited edition 7″ single featuring the radio edit of Soft Coda b/w a cover of One Good Reason (by Bob Mould).