Iain was born in Plean (a little village near Stirling), and grew up in Glasgow. He studied composition at Glasgow University with George Newson and Lyell Cresswell. His first job was pianist/composer with a theatre group, then he taught piano in schools. He now lives in Edinburgh.

Performances of Iain's music in the UK include Bath Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Spittalfields Festival. Performances in other countries have taken place in France, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

Iain has written for many ensembles including chamber groups, orchestra, vocal and keyboard. Recently Iain has been commissioned to write music as a birthday gift, as a wedding gift, and to mark the birth of twins.

Iain writes concert music in the classical tradition. Most of his work is based on some aspect of time, the medium in which music happens. It doesn’t represent programmatic ideas: instead it explores memory, and invites listeners to notice the ways in which time passes.