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At age fourteen Mellin dreamed up The Mary Column from a name in a Kafka story. These public totems were raised in Europe at the end of plagues and civil strife. Kafka’s column in Prague honoured Bohemian victory over Swedish invaders. For Mellin, The Mary Column was an object of teen rock fantasy. It served as a vehicle for Mellin’s pop songwriting separate from axe-slinger duties in Glasgow’s underground.

Mellin’s interest in music was supported early on by his father, who showed him the basics needed to express himself on guitar. After a childhood spent roaming the city singing songs with friends, Mellin fell into Glasgow’s DIY scene.

Through the noise-rock workouts of Mr. Peppermint and Smack Wizards’ ceaseless exploration of the space between Beefheart, Mr Bungle and the Butthole Surfers, Mellin found a colourful community as dedicated to art as himself.

Mellin’s group Spinning Coin with co-songwriter Sean Armstrong and drummer Chris White was picked up by Stephen Pastel’s Domino imprint Geographic Music to release 2017’s Permo, in part produced by pop auteur Edwyn Collins. Their second album Hyacinth followed in 2020.

Mellin’s radiant talent as an axeman lead to work with the Pastels and Sacred Paws. A split release with Teenage Fanclub’s Gerard Love in 2024 on Errol’s Hot Wax / Watts of Goodwill precedes the release of Very Sparrow.

As a solo artist, Mellin has developed a prolific body of work in noise, improvisation and folk cycles, with a finger-picking style that evokes the American Primitivism of John Fahey and Robbie Basho. The Mary Column sets the indie pop of Very Sparrow apart from this discography as another strand of Mellin’s wide-ranging creative practice. The album is lovingly dedicated to the memories of Jack Mellin and Chris White’s fathers.

Photo Credit: Ali Sha Sha