PINLIGHT Over and Over: Why Scottish Synth-Pop Keeps Coming Back
PINLIGHT Over and Over: Why Scottish Synth-Pop Keeps Coming Back
An Edinburgh Songwriter Who Started in Mono Joins a Long Line of Scottish Synth-Pop
Pop records are almost always mixed in stereo, with synths spread wide across both speakers. PINLIGHT went the other way at the start, and that choice is a good way into Over and Over. Jenny Laahs, the Edinburgh multi-instrumentalist behind the project, made her debut album in mono because of a hearing loss in one ear. The single followed on 21 November 2025, and it now sits on the album All Things Nice.
PINLIGHT’s music sits in the playlist below with this desk’s electropop and dance-pop picks, and the full history of the coverage is on the PINLIGHT profile. Over and Over reached ElectroPop.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Hit play, then read on.
From Alt-Folk Ukulele to Neon Synths, the Edinburgh Route That Led PINLIGHT to Over and Over
Scotland has a long habit of making synth-pop that sounds bigger than the rooms it was written in. Simple Minds and Associates pushed synthesisers into the charts in the early eighties. Later, CHVRCHES carried the idea into the 2010s from Glasgow, with bright programmed hooks and a clear lead vocal. Since then, independent artists have picked up the same tools at home, and PINLIGHT works that vein from the east coast.
Still, the route there was not a straight line. Laahs came up through classical piano, conducting and, by her own account, funk trumpet. First, she played with the Tinderbox Orchestra in Edinburgh from 2013. A year later she was on the city’s songwriter circuit, playing alt-folk on ukulele and piano. Then, in 2018, the sound turned electronic and the project took the name PINLIGHT, a nod to the Joanna Newsom song A Pin-Light Bent.
A Debut Made in Mono, a Home Studio and the Gigs That Built the PINLIGHT Live Show
Grow Slow arrived in December 2019. It was recorded in a home studio and launched with a sell-out show at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, backed by a seven-piece band. In 2020 the Tinderbox Collective described all of PINLIGHT’s music as made in mono to reflect her hearing loss. The Flavour Beats film below, shot in Edinburgh that year, describes her mixing tracks exclusively in mono, with an 80s flair. Fittingly, the approach suits songs built around a single, centred voice.
At the same time, the live record grew alongside it. PINLIGHT has picked up airplay on BBC Introducing Scotland and Amazing Radio. She headlined the Glad Cafe in Glasgow in 2020 and played the Pyramid Stage at Kelburn Garden Party in 2022. Meanwhile, the songwriting had outside input from Friedemann Findeisen of Holistic Songwriting. Her own bios list synths, keyboards and major seventh chords among her favourite things, which tells you plenty about the harmonic colour she reaches for.
Where Over and Over Sits Beside CHVRCHES, Kate Bush and the All Things Nice Album
Over and Over blends commercial pop instincts with contemporary and alternative production. At around three minutes, it keeps the shape tight. It arrived in November 2025 as a standalone single, then took its place on All Things Nice, the album PINLIGHT released in May 2026. Speaking to Loud Women, she described that record as an album about conflict and resolution, both internal and external. It was also made by a team made up entirely of women and gender minorities.
In fact, PINLIGHT’s own list of reference points is a useful map. Fans of CHVRCHES will recognise the combination of programmed synth parts and a vocal that stays front and centre. Fans of Kate Bush will hear a different link: a classically trained songwriter who treats pop as a place for big arrangements and personal subject matter at once. Passion Pit completes the list, a reminder that bright synth-pop can carry serious themes without losing its bounce.
ElectroPop.News curator team: “What makes PINLIGHT worth following is how much of the production comes from lived experience. A debut built in mono because of a hearing loss reads as a design brief. That clarity carries into the way Over and Over keeps its voice centred and its hooks direct.”
Where to Hear PINLIGHT Over and Over and Follow the Edinburgh Songwriter Everywhere
Overall, Over and Over is a good entry point into a catalogue that runs from the mono home recordings of Grow Slow to the collaborative polish of All Things Nice. It suits anyone building an electropop playlist with a Scottish thread. It also suits anyone who likes their synth-pop written by someone who can read an orchestral score.
Stream the single on Spotify, Apple Music or Bandcamp, and find everything else through the Linktree. Follow PINLIGHT across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, SoundCloud, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, and the official website.
About The Author
The Hyperpop Synth Sound and Where Noah Tonin Took It on LOSE CONTROL 
SynRize Make You Feel: Human Lyrics, AI Production and How to Hear Both 
Vera Soledad y Sangre: Why Eighties Synthwave Keeps Coming Back to Montevideo 
Shygirl Will Bring a Full Band to the Royal Albert Hall 
The Hip-Hop Dance-Pop Sound and Where It Went on Hold Me Close Now! By Gloria May Byron 
Why Chillwave Keeps Coming Back: Goodbye Gravity by Attaboy 
PINLIGHT Over and Over: Why Scottish Synth-Pop Keeps Coming Back