Pictish Trail

Pictish Trail is the musical alias of Johnny Lynch, a songwriter, producer and founder of Lost Map Records, based on the remote Isle of Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides. Across six albums, he has developed a distinctive strain of psychedelic pop, moving between lo-fi folk, warped electronics, motorik rhythms and soaring melodies. His songs balance emotional directness with restless experimentation, often finding humour in the darker corners of human experience.

His 2016 album Future Echoes won the public vote at the Scottish Album of the Year Awards, and was followed by Thumb World (2020) and Island Family (2022), both released through Fire Records and earning acclaim from MOJO, Uncut, The Observer, The Times and BBC Radio 6 Music.

Released in April 2026, his sixth album Life Slime is an exploration of heartbreak, transformation and emotional disintegration, channelling deeply personal experiences through an increasingly adventurous electronic sound. It’s a record about things falling apart, and the strange forms they take when you try to put them back together. Its title-track video involved 200 litres of slime, earning a Guinness World Record in the process.

Pictish Trail’s live shows strike a balance between emotional intimacy, offbeat humour and bursts of electronic euphoria. Lynch has toured alongside Belle & Sebastian, Pavement, Mogwai, Sea Power and KT Tunstall, and has appeared at every edition of Green Man Festival. Through Lost Map Records, he has also helped nurture a community of independent artists, releasing music by the likes of Rozi Plain, Alabaster DePlume and Free Love.