DESPITE being together for around 10 years, Admiral Fallow are still learning how to create music.

Early albums were largely written by frontman Louis Abbott before the band had the chance to work on and arrange them.

In the years since, they have developed a new style of working which involves more of a collaboration between each member of the five-piece indie folk band.

After taking a break, clarinettist and keyboards player Kevin Brolly, bass player Joe Rattray, drummer Philip Hague, flautist/vocalist Sarah Hayes and guitarist/lead singer Louis Abbott, who are all multi-instrumentalists created their most recent album Tiny Reward.

“That process was turned on its head a bit for the third record,” Sarah Hayes explains.

“Bits of music came from everyone from the outset, and Louis added his lyrics on top of the instrumental forms we’d made together.

“Our music has been described as orchestral-indie-pop, which seems to cover things nicely.”

To get to grips with the new way of writing the group took a few years out, which saw them travel up north for a ‘retreat’.

In turn, the time helped the band to focus and develop their sound, which by that point had garnered a bit of a cult following – especially in Scotland.

Sarah explains: “When it came to recording we were lucky enough to have access to what can only be described as a smörgåsbord of synthesisers, which we went to town on.

“Within the same couple of years we were also able to experiment a bit with some new collaborations, which definitely taught us a lot.”

Collaborations included writing music for 10 commissioned short films, as part of the Glasgow Film Festival and playing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Paisley Abbey.

Next up, the five-piece will

be co-writing an opera for ‘The Distilling Project’.

“We’ll be working with NOISE’s director James Robert Carson and composer Gareth Williams, setting music to a libretto by Sian Evans, all against the backdrop of a distillery.

“We’ve already had a productive week working with some of the opera singers and it’s an exciting – if slightly daunting – thing to be part of.

“We’ll be singing and playing in a ‘house band’ type set up and there might well be additional musicians too. We’re hoping to premiere it towards the end of next year.”

Also on the agenda for the band is the Scottish Album of the Year awards.

Since being established in 2012, the event has become known as one of the most important dates in the Scottish calendar but as one of the biggest parties.

As part of the unveiling of this year’s long list of nominees, Admiral Fallow will be performing at the 02 ABC alongside other SAY Award alumni, Steve Mason and Mungo’s Hi Fi ft YT.

Nominees for the 2017 award will be announced on the night.

The gig is something which the band were more than happy to oblige as an important part of the Scottish music scene.

Sarah said: “The Scottish music scene – and Glasgow in particular – has always been very supportive.

“When we first started out we felt part of a community of bands, playing at each other’s gigs and everything that goes with that,” Sarah explains.

“We’re still delighted when people turn out to see us, and more people do this in Scotland than elsewhere! It’s great the SAY Award exists in support of ‘The Album’; we’ve always tried to treat our records as whole entities.”

The band will also be heading out to play a number of festivals over the summer including Ireby Festival, Oban Live, Eden Festival and Cambridge Folk Festival.

“We’ve made a number of return visits to the Insider Festival, Aviemore over the years, and always had a total blast. Glastonbury was amazing as well...we went for the whole weekend.

“At festivals we usually tailor things a little so that it’s mainly the more up-tempo songs. We quite enjoy working out how to pace the setlist anyway, no matter what type of gig it is.”

lThe SAY Awards long list show will be taking place on May 24. Tickets are available from sayaward.com