Jo Mango

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

Career

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]

Jo Mango band members

At the time of the release of the 2012 album Murmuration, the band named Jo Mango comprised:^[5]

• Jo Mango: lead vocals, rhythm guitar, kalimba, toy piano, concertina
• Jim Mango: bass player, backing vocals
• Alan Peacock: backing vocals, guitar
• Katherine Waumsley: flute, piano, kalimba and concertina
• Calum Scott: percussion

Discography

EPs

1. Antidote (2003)
2. Fluffy Brain (2004)
3. The Moth and the Moon / Black Sun (2010)
4. Wrack Lines (2016 – Jo Mango & Friends)
5. System Hold (2019 – Jo Mango & Friends)

Studio albums

1. Paperclips and Sand (2006)
2. Murmuration (2012)
3. Transformuration (2014 - Remixes of Murmuration)

Singles

1. "My Lung" (2007 - Download Only)