up something rather exquisite. Their one-off Christmas 2009 release In Excelsis Deo was simultaneously heartmelting and heartstopping, and deserved to stand alone as one of the best songs to be heard that entire year, never mind the festive period. In February 2010, visiting Austrian video-bloggers They Shoot Music Don't They filmed them playing another two impressive new songs on a Glasgow rooftop. There Were Fireworks were kind enough to accommodate my request to pop into Old Mill Studios in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, and watch them putting the finishing touches to their second album, as yet untitled, which they have been working on for the past two years. The first recording they let me hear is being called The Mandolin Song until they can come up with a proper title. Imagine the epic pull of The National, but more uptempo and with a mandolin obviously. It's a mammoth song. I'm watching the band for a reaction. Nicky is looking up the Celtic score on his laptop. Gibs walks into the room and logs into Facebook. David is sat with his eyes closed, head slightly bowed, thumping his left hand onto his right arm in time to the beat. Then it comes. The song catches its breath for 25 seconds, a chorus of celestial harmonies strike up, and it explodes into its finale, a cacophony of guitars and crashing cymbals vibrating the studio speakers. One song in and There Will Be Fireworks have already blown everything they've done before out of the