Words by Jim Ottewill

With a 12 year gap between solo albums, eclectic artist Dot Allison wasn’t sure she’d ever return to music. However, here we learn how an immersion within the world of Scottish folk has pushed her into exciting musical territory on new record, Heart-Shaped Scars.

“Don’t leave the world of music before you shock yourself with what you’re capable of. I’ve found creativity is something that flowers over time…”

Artist and composer Dot Allison is comparing the natural world to the music-making process. It’s a fitting metaphor as her recently released album Heart Shaped Scars, her first in 12 years, features 11-tracks of ethereal, dream-folk which shimmer with field recordings of birdsong, rivers and the ambience of The Hebrides where Dot has a cottage. 

With tracks asking ‘Can You Hear Nature Sing?’, the album’s earthy roots can be found in her upbringing by a botanist father and musician mother, a love for the world around us combined with a renewed desire to creatively return to a more organic aural palette.  “The verdant side of life has always been in my psyche,” she explains. “But in this record, there’s autumnal imagery, then ideas around spring and rebirth. These are concepts I believe shouldn’t be processed out of existence by humans and the record is a way of celebrating this.”

Dot’s initial musical forays came via an eclectic patchwork of influences and inspirations. Early attempts to work out classical pieces on the piano rubbed up against a love for starker, more synth-driven movie scores by horror master John Carpenter. Witnessing live performances from the likes of ballet dancer Michael Clark, the Fall and Depeche Mode at an impressionable age also fed into her creative urges. 

“I went to see Michael Clark when I was a teenager and Mark E Smith was on stage with him,” she says. “I ended up getting really into their records alongside albums by artists such as the Blue Nile and their ‘A Walk Across the Rooftops’.”

While Dot soaked up this rich kaleidoscope of sounds, it was through studying at Glasgow University where these seemingly disparate strands coalesced. Dot began a degree in biochemistry and started working in a bar on a Sunday night where she met Jim McKinven, formerly of Altered Images. The pair bonded, then she shared some chords with him which would eventually become the track, ‘Fallen’. The idea grew into what became the debut single from the freshly formed electronic ambience of Dot’s first group, One Dove. “‘Fallen’ was the song that led us to get signed,” she says. “If I hadn’t been able to play the piano then it wouldn’t have happened. Back then, I loved the idea of making music and was passionate about it but was also into science too. I ended up leaving in my second year to go full time in music - I describe myself as a recovering biochemist.”

Since those days in the early nineties, Dot’s musical journey has taken her on a variety of twists and turns in terms of genre, style and geography, moving between London and Scotland where she’s now based. A rich catalogue of solo records and collaborations has seen her forge creative bonds with everyone from dance music heavyweights Slam to My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, The Bad Seeds and Scott Walker (Sunn O))). Heart Shaped Scars, Dot’s most recent album released earlier this year, followed a significant break and was born out of the folk scene she found herself immersed within in Scotland. 

“I didn’t know if I’d ever release an album again, to be honest,” she says. “I’m quite shy as a performer, and part of me likes vanishing and hiding. I kind of cut off my network in London too.”

It was in folk music where the pleasure of composing and musical collaborations began to return and inspire new urges to write. 

“You’re always around this sound up here,” Dot explains of the scene. “I met Amy Bowman [who appears on ‘The Haunted’ on the new record] at a party where she performed. I asked her if we could work together. It was about the joy of music-making rather than anything else.”

The poem for ‘The Haunted’ already existed alongside a few chords Dot had put together. The pair worked quickly to come up with the track’s melody and gentle, yet eerie instrumentation. “I really love ‘The Wicker Man’ soundtrack, its darkness and how you feel like you’re in the room with them when some of the music is played. I wanted ‘The Haunted’ to have a similar spirit and making it made me want to do more.”

The track lit a creative touch paper leading to a whole body of work that would become Dot’s sixth album as a solo artist. She not only oversees all vocal arrangements but plays a range of instruments such as the ukulele, piano, 12 string guitar, mellotron and more. With contributors including folk musicians Sarah Campbell and Amy Bowman alongside composer Hannah Peel, it represents an evolution of her creative vision. 

“I might come up with a concept when I’m driving or start with an idea on the piano or ukulele,” she reveals on how she works. “I’m much more disciplined at revisiting what I’ve been sketching now whereas, in the past, I’d avoid going back. Now I’m replaying and recording everything and spending more time mining for ideas. The more familiar I become with the material, the more it untethers my voice to come up with sounds I didn’t know I knew.”

Dot cites ‘The Haunted’ as a highlight of the album for her, not only due to the vocals and melody but additional darkness within it. “I love the nuances in the song such as the creaking doors and sonic landscape of the production gels well with the imagery,” she says. “I love Amy’s voice and although it’s only two chords, there’s a complexity to it.”

Utilising new instrumentation such as the ukulele also opened up different creative avenues for Dot, allowing her to explore new musical ambitions. “I had never even played the instrument before but I wrote four songs on it for this,” she says. “The creative process is so weird, it’s like driving with dipped headlights, you think you know where you’re going but it’s not until you get to the blind corner that you’re like ‘oh, wait a minute’. The whole process kind of happens while making other plans.” 

At the heart of the record, is an appreciation for the power of nature amid the increasing technological obsessions of our digital world. For Dot, she’s pursued a lifelong fascination with the natural world. “I think there’s a real intelligence in nature which we probably don’t understand fully yet,” she says. “There’s so much to realise, yet we’re obsessed with technology like Artificial Intelligence. Have we considered the impact of this on the central synergy of nature that we’re all connected to?” 

Dot feels these are central themes that not only occupy the record but are something she continually returns to. “We’re all of the earth,” she says. “Many of us have this narcissistic perspective where we forget our impact on other species. Nature would have plenty of answers to things if we just took some time to understand them. I just don’t want us to spoil it.”

Dot’s musical career has taken in more than 25 years of music-making, meaning she is well-placed to offer advice for those at the beginning of their creative journeys. She cites protecting your ideas and staying on top of your songwriting splits as an essential. 

“As a composer or writer, it’s important to document your contribution to the creative process,” advises Dot. “Talk about the splits upfront with any collaborators and record what you do. Be all belts and braces about protecting your intellectual property.”

When it comes to the collaborative process, Dot believes that trust is a key element in bringing out the best from all contributors. “You’re exposing your soft underbelly of ideas so you need to feel comfortable letting someone into this inner self,” she says. “It’s like you’re forming a joint brain with your collaborator. Your ideas are precious and unique. Whoever you work with needs to take them and use them wisely.”

Her list of collaborators is an enviable one with the likes of Andrew Weatherall on the One Dove material and more recently Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre as particularly memorable. 

“With Weatherall, he was almost like a band member and it would be mind-blowing to hear what he had come up with,” Dot says. She feels that the making of Heart Shaped Scars - with the contributions from folk musician pals Sarah Campbell and Amy Bowman alongside Hannah Peel and Fiona Cruickshank - has spurred her onto new heights.  

“It’s lovely when working together takes you somewhere you wouldn’t have gone,” she states. “It’s given me a fire to really explore my capabilities and allow myself more room to grow…”

Visit dotallison.com for more information.