corto.alto

A heady mix of improvisation, electronic production, broken beat bounce and bass-heavy dub from corto.alto's 7-piece band.

corto.alto is the moniker of Glasgow-based Liam Shortall - a Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. His debut album Bad with Names was released in 2023.

Shortall says Bad With Names is about ‘forgiving yourself’. It articulates themes of misspent youth, the passing of time, and the horrors of the accelerating news cycle. It brings together some of the UK’s finest young players with the flair of a string quartet, taking the corto.alto sound in a new direction.

The summer of 2023 saw corto.alto play Glastonbury, Love Supreme and Barcelona’s Jamboree Jazz Club. This was followed by a sold-out UK tour to promote his debut album, including a packed London Jazz Cafe and Glasgow QMU. He was featured in the recent 6Music Festival, and will be performing at Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here festival in summer 2024.