Johnny Lynch has never been afraid of a strange idea, but Life Slime might be his most open and unguarded record yet. Released under his Pictish Trail alias, the album arrives with Sorry Eyes, a glam-flecked electro-pop track that moves confidently through the awkward territory between guilt and self-pity.
Out January 13th, Sorry Eyes introduces Life Slime, Lynch’s forthcoming album, released April 10th via Fire Records and Lost Map Records. Written during a period of personal upheaval, the record is, as Lynch puts it, “a breakup record”. “It holds a lot of the hardship, guilt, pain and confusion that come with that kind of upheaval,” he says. “Although all my albums are rooted in my own experience, Life Slime feels like my most personal collection of songs to date.”
Produced by Mike Lindsay (Tunng, LUMP) at his MESS studio in Margate, Life Slime balances heavy subject matter with warmth and playfulness. Built from lo-fi alt-pop, analogue synths and soft psych textures, the album avoids self-pity by leaning into colour, humour and texture. One of its defining fixations is slime — both as image and metaphor. “I’ve spent a slightly alarming amount of time over the past few years watching ASMR videos of people making slime,” Lynch admits.
The album opens with Hold It, a lo-fi psych-pop ballad about the moment love disappears, leaving guilt and shame behind. The title track Life Slime reflects a quiet acceptance of time moving forward and relationships ending, capturing the feeling of life slipping through your fingers “like so much slime”.
At its centre is Another Way, an eight-minute track that slowly builds into a motorik krautrock crescendo. Elsewhere, Infinity Ooze brings a baggy nineties pulse and shimmering harmonies, while Torch Song offers a sad, swaying ballad with a lo-fi twist, nodding to classic anthemic torch songs from Magnolia Electric Co.’s Hard To Love A Man to Radiohead’s Karma Police. Closing track Werewolf Ending moves from hushed acoustics and vocoder-soft vocals to a cinematic finish.
Alongside a fan-first, tour-exclusive Primordial Blue-In-Pink Goo Edition, Life Slime will also be released as an exclusive shop pressing on Toxic Blue Lagoon vinyl with new artwork. Pictish Trail will play his first show of 2026 at St Luke’s in Glasgow on January 17 as part of Celtic Connections, followed by a newly announced full-band UK tour.
Lynch has toured internationally as both headliner and support for artists including Belle & Sebastian, Pavement, Mogwai, Sea Power and KT Tunstall, and has appeared at festivals such as Glastonbury, Field Day, Blue Dot and every edition of Green Man Festival to date. Beyond his own music, he runs Lost Map Records, supporting artists like Rozi Plain, Alabaster dePlume, Seamus Fogarty, Bas Jan, Callum Easter and Free Love.
Life Slime doesn’t try to clean up heartbreak or explain it away. It sits with the discomfort, lets things stay unresolved, and finds something human in the mess.
The album ‘Life Slime’ is out April 10th and the single ‘Sorry Eyes’ is out now
words Al Woods
