Jo Mango is the stage name of a British alternative folk and acoustic singer and songwriter from Glasgow, otherwise known as Jo Collinson Scott, a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland. [1] Jo Mango has also been the name of her band.
Jo Mango is the stage name of a British alternative folk and acoustic singer and songwriter from Glasgow, otherwise known as Jo Collinson Scott, a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland. [1] Jo Mango has also been the name of her band.
Born in Yorkshire, [2] Scott grew up in rural north-east Scotland. [3] As a teenager she became involved in Aberdeen's music scene; her first band was called The Mangomen and included her twin brother. [4] [3] In 1999 [5] or 2000, [6] at the age of eighteen, she moved to Glasgow to study music and psychology, aiming to become a music therapist. [5] [6] [7] There she also developed her skills via open mic nights at the Glasgow bar Nice 'n' Sleazy's, [6] and by playing in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and a folk band named The Old Blind Dogs. [5]
Scott's first album, Paperclips and Sand, emerged in 2006. [6] [8] 2006–7 saw Scott touring internationally as a member of Vashti Bunyan's band, and in the UK on the Zero Degrees of Separation tour alongside Bunyan, David Byrne, Adem, Juana Molina, and Vetiver. [9] [3] [10] At this time, Scott named key influences as 'Emiliana Torrini, Stina Nordestam, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Bjork, Kate Rusby, quirky indie acoustica'. [8] [11] Other collaborations in the years around 2010 included work with Teenage Fanclub and Admiral Fallow. [5]
The Scotland Herald described Scott's 2013 EP When We Lived in The Crook of a Tree as "[a voice] so hushed and precise, that it sounds as if it were recorded inside your own head". [12] [13]
In 2012, Scott completed a PhD in musicology, [3] [10] with the thesis "Experiments in schizoanalysis: a new approach to analysis of conceptual music". [14] By 2015, she had become a lecturer in commercial music at the University of the West of Scotland. [15] She has also taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. [16]
In the mid-2010s, Scott's work focused on promoting ecological sustainability in music festivals, [17] leading to her EP Wrack Lines, [18] [19] and a project called When Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday. [20]
In the years around 2020, Scott was undertaking creative work relating to prisoners' rehabilitation, leading to her EP System Hold, [21] [22] : 5 [23] : 9 characterised in The Scotsman as 'featherlight piano balladry with subtle electronic beats' providing 'a chill-out meditation on themes of incarceration, monitoring and suspension of liberty'. [24] The work also involved Scott in a music festival called Distant Voices highlighting the music of people who had experienced the criminal justice system, and her composition of a multimedia piece named A Giant on the Bridge. [2]
At the time of the release of the 2012 album Murmuration, the band named Jo Mango comprised: [5]
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