Colin Moulding of Swindon’s legendary XTC band has linked up with US alternative folk/rock artist Mickelson on his new single, ‘Only Grey Matter Boiling In My Head’.

Scott Mickelson is an artist/producer from San Francisco, with his debut release ‘Flickering’ making the Grammy ballot for Best Folk Album and Best Roots Music Performance.

This latest single sees the San Francisco songwriter teaming-up with XTC legend Colin Moulding and provide the new track with its wandering bassline and production nous.

Hallmarked with the humour, wit and ambition you might expect from a meeting of Mickelson and Moulding’s minds, ‘Only Grey Matter Boiling In My Head’ offers a comical take on those moments of completely losing your cool.

“It is a humorous song dealing with anger management issues,” said Mickelson.

“This theme of self-depreciation shows up in my lyrics from time to time. I am also extremely honoured that Colin Moulding played bass. We had several chats about the song and he also offered some great production ideas.” 

Introduced to Colin by his son Lee, who performs in Mickelson’s live band, the chance encounter seemed to chime serendipitously with a new song Mickelson had been writing that bore the arch lyrical quips and off-kilter arrangements not so dissimilar to XTC’s vintage output.

Reaching out to Colin with the bare bones of the track, he consequently added his own distinctive stylistics.

Speaking about the how collaboration came to be Mickelson adds: “I'd just written “Only Grey Matter Boiling In My Head” and thought it would be a good fit as there are some unusual twists and turns in the song and to my mind, reminded me of XTC.

“We recorded the basic tracks and Lee sent it to Colin. I quickly received his bass track and was pretty blown away by it.”

Due to reunite with his bandmates next month, Mickelson will be returning to the UK for a stretch of live shows spanning England, Scotland, and Wales.

This highly anticipated UK tour will also include a final show set to be held at The Victoria in Swindon on Sunday, February 26, 2023.

Mickelson is already writing and recording his next studio album which will feature further contributions from Moulding.

If you are interested in going to the gig in Swindon, you can find more information here.