FATHERSON are a hard-working band, an outfit whose heart-on-their-sleeve lyrical honesty and solid indie rock is matched by consistent output and a hectic touring schedule.

Sum Of All Your Parts, released last month, is their third long-player in just four years and the follow-up to 2016’s Open Book, a record which debuted at number two in the Scottish album charts.

Open Book earned the Kilmarnock-founded trio of vocalist/guitarist Ross Leighton, bassist Marc Strain and drummer Greg Walkinshaw tours alongside the likes of Biffy Clyro, Frightened Rabbit, Idlewild and Kings Of Leon. But rather than sound like a band hulled out by overwork, Sum Of All Your Parts is fresh and invigorating.

Returning to their adopted Glasgow home in April 2017, the band holed themselves up for weeks in an old telecomms building in Ibrox.

“It was just us and a guy who had a computer server room, and he was never there, so we had it to ourselves,” says Leighton. “It wasn’t a proper studio, it felt more like a glorified bedroom and that’s kind of how we treated it. It felt like we were kids again.”

In previous years, when the three would return from touring, they had to ask to return to their day jobs.

“We’ve had to have some very understanding bosses over the years,” says Leighton. “Whereas this was our first opportunity of just being in the band. We would spend four or five days a week working with each other and then go home. When you’re away on tour for a long time and you haven’t been back home, there’s a realism in people, especially in Glasgow, that’s very refreshing to come back to. I think the music encapsulates that quite well.”

Aside from the soaring pop of lead single Making Waves and sparks-flying rocker The Landscape, Sum Of All Your Parts was all written in that glorified Ibrox “bedroom”. There’s a couple of delightful surprise guests, with Welsh singer-songwriter Sarah Howells dueting with Leighton on the affecting Nothing To No One and Old Trafford-based poet Isaiah Hull lending some spoken word to the fragile Oh Yes.

New single Charm School, a slab of crunching, bass-driven indie rock, features Kris Platt and Danny Morgan of Blue Americans, the Paris/Dublin duo who are supporting Fatherson on their current tour. Platt, who has also played live with the band, is also responsible for the album’s artwork, a distinctive collage of a female torso emanating flowers.

“We had a conversation about the songs and what images it inspired for us and we knew that it was it,” says Leighton. “We’re lucky to be surrounded by amazing, supportive people and I think things like that shouldn’t come from the top down, they should come from the bottom up.”

You suspect the involvement of Claudius Mittendorfer was less to do with luck and more with connecting to the band’s raw talent. The multi-Grammy nominated producer, whose work spans multi-platinum selling artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Fallout Boy, got in touch with the band seemingly out of the blue.

“I’ve no idea how Claudius got involved, really,” says Leighton of the New York-based engineer and producer. “We got this email from guy with a Soundcloud link for his stuff saying he really liked what we did. We checked him out and we realised this guy has made some amazing records. He said it would be great to work with us on the record, and if it didn’t work out, to keep sending him demos as he thought we had something special. With the stars aligning, it all worked out.”

Leighton adds: “When Claudius came over we’d been in each other’s company for about 700 days or something. We were pretty much speaking our own language by that point. So for a German-American guy to fly over, and for him to just fit in, it was great.”

Sum Of All Your Parts was recorded live and in chronological sequence with Mittendorfer at The Chairworks, a residential studio in Castleford, Yorkshire.

“It’s an absolutely sublime studio,” says Leighton. “We lived in it for about a month. We hung out, played pool, drank wine and made music. Nothing was a hassle for Claudius and everything about him was super-calm. We’ve all got a friend for life, I think.”