ABERDEEN'S Colin Clyne has marked his long-awaited return with the haunting track Where the Ships Go to Die.

The alt-folk singer delves into the nature of contemporary relationships with his latest single, due out this Friday, August 28.

It is Clyne's first release since 2014 – completing a bit of a comeback to the scene.

"I honestly thought I was done and dusted if truth be told," the singer tells The Weekender. "I took a three-month break at the end of 2016 that lasted three years.

"There were several factors, really. I had hammered myself into the dirt playing, touring and promoting my last album. My voice was having problems and it turned out I had a vocal node.

"Quite honestly, I was tired of my own shtick and it felt good not having to, somehow, get around to promoting what I was doing.

"But my true passion is writing, creating music. I hadn't touched a guitar in months, but I had entire albums worth of lyrics and melodies hummed into my phone.

"No matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep that at bay for too long."

Clyne spent a lot of time working on ships throughout his days and it proved to be a muse when penning his latest song.

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Where the Ships Go to Die was born from a fateful sight he took in one day as he looked upon the decaying shells of vessels that had been discarded.

Clyne says: "I happened across scores of boats and vessels lying on beaches…Holes in their hulls, diesel spewing from their tanks, battered, broken and abandoned.

"These ships had no future, no hope, devoid of the safety, strength, buoyancy, independence and serenity we associate with ships.

"To see a graveyard of ships – it's quite something. It is an uncomfortable and haunting sight. Naturally, the blatant disregard for the environment hits you first.

"I always put a human element on things; that's how I try to process it, and as the song started to take shape it became apparent I could as easily be talking about a person lying on that beach at the end of their journey, all their stories and memories left with them.

"Friendship, family and love are also a haven for the heart. If we don't care for them, maintain them and respect them through the storms of fragility of these unprecedented times they too may end up dead and abandoned on a beach like those ships."

Clyne's latest release will be followed up later this year, with an EP to be unveiled in 2021.