The first recorded collaboration between Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert was Car Song, a track on Hubby’s solo album, Thirteen Lost and Found, released on Chemikal Underground back in 2012.
Fast-forward six years, and the duo got together again to record what turned out to be two albums and head out on a live tour. The first release was Here Lies The Body on Rock Action Records in May 2018. It’s a very fine piece of work – the blend of Hubby’s talents as a classical guitarist and Aidan’s masterful storytelling turned out to be irresistible. As one reviewer said, it was ‘ a bittersweet masterclass in narrative songwriting’.
The positivity of the reviews helped spur the duo onto another project later in the year, in December 2018 appropriately enough, with the release of Ghost Stories For Christmas, an album which is a real antidote to what is normally the standard fare of that time of the year. Ten songs exploring and exposing the sadder and darker side of the festive season, including two ridiculously melancholic yet beguiling cover versions (Lonely This Christmas by Mud and Only You by Yazoo) while two other numbers involved Aidan’s reading of words originally penned by Hans Christian Anderson and Charles Dickens.
It’s further evidence of what I’ve long argued, namely that Aidan Moffat is the 20th/21st Century equivalent of a national bard here in Scotland. He has an ability to make people laugh out loud and cry in almost equal measures, often in the same song. RM Hubbert is an extraordinary talent on guitar, someone who has sort of gone AWOL in recent years. His battles against mental illness over the years have been well-documented, and it is somewhat telling that he hasn’t released any music since 2019 shortly before COVID changed the way we had to live our lives. I hope we hear from him again soon.
In the meantime, here’s the single which came out just in advance of Here Lies The Body
mp3: Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbart – Cockcrow
It’s one to which Siobhan Wilson adds her not inconsiderable talents on co-vocal and cello, and it concerns the breakdown of a romantic entanglement; you know, the sort of thing that David Lewis Gedge is a master of writing about.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I’m not a fan of Aidan Moffat’s music – well, as much as I’ve listened to. I was a staunch suppporter of RM Hubbert’s music long before he was RM Hubbert but didn’t enjoy RM Hubbert quite so much – just bits here and there. What makes both of these artists quite so beguiling to me is that they are thoroughly decent men.
I don’t know Mr Moffat at all but from second-hand stories he is a man passionate about many things and able to articulate those passions – sometimes in music, sometimes just socially – in a way that engages others – spurs people on. It’s quite the gift.
RM Hubbert is so blended to humour most would find it hard to believe his struggle with mental ill-health. I can’t think of an evening I spent in his company (I use company in a peripheral sense) where he has not made me smile – or laugh out loud. He’s a man I have a great deal of respect for. I always will.
I do try to listen with an open mind to the output of both and with a new Arab Strap LP imminent my ears will be open, again. Hubby, I hope will return with a new release while continuing to shun social media.
Both successful. Both revered. Both charmingly down to earth.
Flimflamfan