November 6 2026 | Written by Carmel Corpe
Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Michael Cassidy’s new album The Nurse’s Son, out Friday 13 November via Vertical Records, pairs intimate songwriting with folk rock and theatrical arrangements. Written over four years yet recorded faster than his previous albums, it sounds carefully thought out throughout.
‘What a Perfect Way for the World to End’ is a raw entry point, and it playfully opens on an ending. The lyric “I want the world to be happier” sets apocalyptic imagery against a wish for something better, while bass and strings sway against each other, building into a dreamlike swell.
That longing carries into the title track, with heavy drums and a guitar line that gives the second verse real momentum. “I never doubted you even then, you let me down” sets trust against disappointment. On ‘I Hope You’re Somewhere in the Room’, the Beatles-esque warmth of the arrangement is a delicate backdrop to “I see the both of you but you do not see me.”
Cassidy’s folk roots surface on ‘Pile Up’, where the guitar work and repeated refrains recall John Martyn. ‘HIM’ shows his command of pacing: it builds to a crescendo as reverb stretches the repeated word into something increasingly haunting, before a disjointed ending.
‘Statue on the Hill’ widens the album’s lens beyond family and romantic relationships, taking on the voice of an anti-immigration bigot to expose the rhetoric around immigration in contemporary Britain. Back on personal ground, Rhona Macfarlane’s string arrangements and his father John Cassidy’s flute on ‘The Lonely Heart Columnist’ are the album’s finest instrumental moment, their interplay with the piano heightening the emotional force of the song. Then comes what is, for me, the standout chorus on ‘Lonely Night’: “And when she burns she burns for me tonight, it’s a lonely night.”
Speaking to BBC Radio in September, Cassidy called folk rock the closest fit but resisted being boxed into one genre. He draws on global events and the more immediate experience of family and relationships, and says honesty remains central to his writing.
That refusal to settle defines the record. The Nurse’s Son moves between folk, rock and social commentary, and Chris McRory’s production and Iain Hutchison’s mix keep it cohesive.
Michael Cassidy launches The Nurse’s Son at Cottiers in Glasgow on Friday 27 November 2026. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.