Welsh ‘outsider’ shares first single ever – from 40th album
Stephen Price
Despite recording 40 albums over a career spanning decades, one of Wales’ most enigmatic musicians has never released a standalone single – until now.
Released this month, Do-List is the first official standalone single from Eilir Pierce – an artist and filmmaker with more than 30 years of music-making, 39 self-released albums and over 500 songs under his belt.
While most artists begin with a single, Eilir Pierce has defied all expectations and waited until his 40th album.
Eilir Pierce is a Welsh ‘outsider’ musician, songwriter and filmmaker based in Glasgow. Over three decades, he has self-released 39 albums and made more than 500 recordings spanning lo-fi pop, electronic music, post-punk, antifolk and spoken word.
His 2008 release Degawdawns, a 100-track retrospective drawn from his first decade of recording, received support from Jarvis Cocker, Huw Stephens, Bethan Elfyn and Adam Walton. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, XFM, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru.
Having spent much of his career operating outside conventional music-industry structures, Pierce recently moved from Wales to Glasgow to begin his most ambitious project yet.
His forthcoming 40th album, Half-Time, is a synth-pop musical about moving to a new city and attempting to become a pop star in middle age.
Featuring guest appearances from Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap and Mercury Prize-nominated artist Gwenno, the project will also become a live stage show and film, with Pierce performing a full run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.
Do-List captures the overloaded mind behind those plans.
The song races through tasks, ambitions and unfinished ideas as Pierce tries to impose order on everything he believes he needs to achieve. Each completed tick provides a smaller reward. Meanwhile, the jobs continue to multiply.
“I make lists because I’m overwhelmed,” says Pierce. “Then the list becomes another thing overwhelming me. I tick something off, feel satisfied for about three seconds and immediately notice the other 27 things I haven’t done.”
He adds: “I also refuse to call it a ‘to-do list’. The ‘to’ is completely unnecessary. That kind of inefficiency is exactly how lists get out of control.”
Built around tense piano and an increasingly agitated vocal, Do-List developed with Glasgow producer Gavin Thomson into a darker arrangement of drum machines, synth textures and strings.
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Its clipped, spoken verses carry the blunt repetition of The Fall and the deadpan detachment of Dry Cleaning. The chorus opens into something more exposed, with echoes of early Daniel Johnston and the eerie consolation of the Lady in the Radiator from David Lynch’s Eraserhead.
At the centre of the song is Pierce’s hope for an afterlife free from unfinished admin: “Heaven is a place with no list.”
For a moment, the song escapes the pressure of constant productivity. Then another task arrives.
Along with a clip from a soon-to-be-released visual, Pierce shared a personal reflection on the song’s release which sadly followed the recent death of his sister.
He wrote: “My first single “Do-List” was already scheduled to stream today, long before we lost my sister last week. I don’t really know what to say or feel about the release anymore. The chorus says, “heaven is a place with no list”, and today that line feels very different to me.
“So this one is dedicated to Elain.”
Do-List is Pierce’s attempt to write a direct pop song after three decades of working largely on his own terms. It is also the first item in an increasingly unreasonable plan involving an album, musical, film, Fringe run and bid for middle-aged pop stardom.
Perhaps Pierce was born in the wrong era.
Or perhaps releasing a debut single after 39 albums is exactly the point.
Eilir’s 40th album, Half-Time is released on 23 October 2026. He is set to perform at Edinburgh Fringe from 7–30 August 2026
Keep up to date with Eilir at his website and Instagram and hear more on Spotify.
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How is anyone an outsider musician having been played on national radio and collabing with mercury prize nominated artists lmao
The pretension is dripping off this. “operating outside conventional music-industry structures”. Come on