PREVIEW ”3/.”
SCOTTISH GUITAR QUARTET
The Lot, Edinburgh, Fri 24 Apr; City Halls (Recital Room), Glasgow, Sun 26 Apr
Tm; Urmt'rxiz Gur'ar Quartet ban: been around for the best part of a decade. and Sllll feature the SétllI‘: four players
Malcolm Maciarlane, Ged Brockre. Kean I\/I;rr,l<e'I/rr: and Nigel Clark - that laurrrgrrerl the band at Mérhi‘arlarre", behest back HI 1999.
The; plal, ‘;Illll‘:I‘, on lrghfl, amplified anorrmfrr, grrrtars. .rsrng both nylon and steel strung instruments that Include the ‘JISIIHII‘, rntrrgrrrrtg Frarrre‘r/Ork gurfar‘; rrrarle b, l rank Crocker rn Germany Al, Maul arlane explarns. therr orientation leans toward JEV/ wrthout berng restricted by strict genre categorres.
‘We all have a jEl// background. but none of us are lrrnrfed to that.' he says. "There is; no one stylrstrc brref Withrn the band. rt's more a matter of what's; possrble Wrth the four gurfars. If a piece has a classical rnfluence or folk rnfluenr:e or rock Influence or flamenco rnfluerrrte. then that's frrre.'
lhe band have ssued several albums over the years. but have been keeprng a lower profrle recently. Thrs return to acfron wrll reveal some subtle shrftt; rn therr approach, incorporating both ensemble and solo features.
‘Our current focus rs nrore organrc and rnfurfrve, and features new rnusrc and a generally looser approach. rather than the completely arranged and rrotated preces we've done up to now . essentrally a lax/rer approach —— although the music still draws on lots of influences, like Latin and. of course. Scottish music. We'll throw rn a few old favourrfes as well.’
(Kenny lvlafhreson)
PREVIEW DANCE CALVIN HARRIS Oran Mor, Glasgow, Tue 28 Apr
Followrng successful dallrances wrth Drzzee Rascal. Kylie and, umm, Sophre Ellrs- Bextor. Calyrn Harrrs rs back wrfh a brand new bunch of hrs own tunes. And by golly they're sounding good. You may have heard 'l'm Not Alone' already — rt's the first Slbgle to come from hrs long-awarted second offering due thrs summer — and even for the famously uber-eclectrc tastes of Harrrs. rt rs a sonrc departure.
Drrven by acoustrc gurtar and Sublime hushed harmonies. rt kicks off all melancholy before pulsing house beats and chrrprng electronrcs explode rnto lrfe, transformrng the track rnto one of the Dumfrres-born chap's trademark dancefloor-frllers wrthout the often rrrrtatrngly oyerbearrng lyrics whrch put many off hrm rn the past.
It should go down a stem at thrs totally sold-Out and rather rntrmate forthcomrng lrve date. where he wrll prevrew a smatterrng of new materral alongSrde firm fan fayOurrtes ‘Merrymakrng at My Place'. 'Colours'. ‘The Grrls' and breakthrough bop- along Acceptable rn the 803'. Of course ‘Dance er Me'. one of last year's most rrdrculously catchy and brggest sellrng Srngles. shOuld also sneak rts way rnto the set rt we're lucky. and we can expect a typrcally energetic and colourful show from the
former M85 shelf-stacker made good.
On the strength of all of thrs. these next few months are shaprng up to be another krller spell for Harrrs. hOprng to convert a plethora of new people to hrs elecfro pop cause. The wacky shades. however. remarn thankfully optronal. (Camrlla Pray)
64 THE LIST 16-50 Apr 2009
PREVIEW INDIE POP CAMERA OBSCURA Barrowland, Glasgow, Sun 26 April
This Glasgow band's status as much-loved outsiders was amusingly encapsulated by a headline on the front page of The Guardian in 2007, linked to a feature inside summarising what readers thought to be unfair omissions from the paper’s list of 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die: ‘What, no Camera Obscura?’
Lately they’ve come in from the cold. After going 13 years without a UK label proper, Camera Obscura have signed to 4A0, and currently sit on a fine fourth album in My Maudlin Career. It successfully crowns the band’s steady transition from whimsical, library book indieists into purveyors of a self-assured strain of soulful, ornate, classic sounding and very dreamy pop.
The under-the-radar thing wasn’t strictly reluctant, according to bassist Gavin Dunbar. ‘I guess we never really pushed ourselves forward to labels and just did what we thought was right, made the kind of music we wanted to make,’ he says. ‘But it’s difficult to up your game if you don’t have a label to help you.’
4AD were just the backers they’d been waiting for. ‘They’re up there with the very best independents,‘ says Dunbar. ‘We‘ve all got records that they’ve released over the years, so it’s a nice home for us.‘
Bringing the reverb again on the new record — after the lush job he did on 2005‘s Let’s Get Out of this Country - is Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen. He took the band right to the heart of Scandinavian pop by booking them into Atlantis Studios, Stockholm, ABBA‘s hit factory during the 19705.
‘It was pretty amazing to go into this massive studio which was full of vintage gear, a lot of which used to belong to ABBA,’ says Dunbar.
A perky, possibly even ABBA-esque ethos permeates My Maudlin Career too. Yet, the characteristically bittersweet streak in singer and songwriter Traceyanne Campbell’s words and voice has intensified too. ‘Most of the tracks, musically, are more upbeat but the lyrical content is darker,’ says Dunbar. ‘So it’s a strange marriage. There’s still a couple of moments of musical miserablism, but we don't want to be making people cry. Not all the time.’ (Malcolm Jack)