Scottish Artists Living The Best Day of All Time With Lush Cosmetics’ Covers Compilation

Lush don’t just do bath bombs on Buchanan Street. Co-founder Mark Constantine has been curating a series of covers compilations, and the fifth, The Best Day of All Time, revisits 2001–2011 with a handful of Scottish acts aboard. Some listeners might bristle at commercial tie-ins for their favourite indie artists, but there are worse companies to be in bed with than Lush.

We caught up with Luise London, the Glasgow-based artist performing as Broken Forest, to discuss her track on the compilation. She also runs the Wild At Heart Sessions, which have just wrapped up their first year at The Old Hairdressers, with the next one due around Imbolc, at the end of January.

‘I’m on the recent one, which is really exciting. We’ve kind of landed in the 2000 era, a really important one for me’, said Luise. ‘I was really getting into my songwriting and doing music. One of the songs on the list for this album was a Ben Howard song called ‘Promise’. I’m a Ben Howard fan, so it was scary and exciting at the same time, doing a cover of an artist you love.’

Anyone familiar with the Wild At Heart Sessions knows nature is integral to Luise’s music, an element she brought to her cover. She said, ‘One of the challenging things I had was what I love about Ben Howard’s sound, he loves playing with textures. I started from the piano rather than the guitar, and I brought in Megan McNally, who’s an amazing guitarist. She created all these really cool electric guitar layers in there. I’ve also got my friend Jack Houston on there adding some fiddle and viola. I love bringing more traditional folk into production.’

And that seemed like everything the song required, until a chance meeting in the Southside of the city led to a special guest appearing on the track. Luise explained, ‘I was going for a walk in Queen’s Park in Glasgow, and I heard this song thrush singing, and I just got my phone and I was like, ‘Okay, this is perfect. I need to put it on.’ It really fitted the vibe, and I love playing around with these recordings and especially bird song as well, and treating them as an additional instrument and melody in a song.’

When asked if she fancied a crack at any other song on the record, Luise said, ‘There’s definitely a couple. I love The White Stripes, for example. So Alice Faye did an amazing cover. I’m not sure I would have done it any better. It’s just amazing, I really love that one. I also like Noah Malcolm’s take on ‘Unwritten’, which has a warm feel to it.’

Unsurprisingly, Alice Faye covering The White Stripes is one of our top choices of the album. The current BBC Introducing Scottish Artist of the Year may be building up to her debut album, Vaudevillain, to be released in April 2027, but there’s something new for fans here. A cover of The White Stripes classic ‘Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground’ removes the crunching and wailing of the original. This is a sassier take, slower, with Faye’s instantly recognisable vocals snaking around and over the deft backing.

Sacred Paws, winners of the 2017 Scottish Album of the Year, pour Pop Rocks into Joanna Newsom’s ‘Peach Plum Pear’. The original was a waltz, and let’s be honest, led with a vocal delivery that splits opinion. Here, the band’s typical infectious rhythm and more laid-back feel works well, in a same-same but different way.

And yes, we think Snow Patrol have clocked up enough years, including the all-important formative ones to be tagged as Scottish. Their ‘Just Say Yes’ is polished up by Ben Murray, stripping the electronic feel, ditching the propulsive drumbeat, mellowing it. 

Of course, the Broken Forest cover of ‘Promise’ is as beautiful and as organic as you’d expect. There are plenty of other big songs and interesting takes on the record. If the 2000s was your jam, you’ll find tracks of your years on this collection.

The Best Day of All Time, featuring various artists, is out now

Listen to Broken Forrest and find out more.

Wild At Heart sessions