www.list.co.uk/music Record Reviews Music
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LIVE-ONLY ALBUM KING CREOSOTE My Third Bit of Strange in 14 Years (Fencerecords.com) ●●●●●
Imagine that you’re here beside me. We’re flanked by people crying quietly. At the front of the room is a modest man singing exquisite songs, re- evaluating pop, and infiltrating rock mythology.
It is Anstruther, noon, the 13th of March. This is not your regular album. King Creosote – Kenny Anderson – is upturning aural consumption via My Nth Bit of Strange in Umpteen Years: an unreleased, brand-new, live-only album that audience members must tape and may circulate freely. This is the third intimate performance (hence My Third Bit of Strange . . .) in an ongoing – and evolving – series. We know it will be special from the prior recordings we’ve heard online (just search the Fence website); and because it’s taking place at Anderson’s treasured festival, Homegame.
We don’t anticipate, however, our pre-show nerves, the pin-drop tension, or the sense of responsibility we bear as witnesses, chroniclers, participants. We don’t clap between songs. We try not to cough. We smile and dry our eyes in silence. The room is enkindled by canny visuals, a vintage KC backing rabble, and a spontaneous harmonica cameo from an attendant Bluebell. Experiencing these acoustic arias and homespun odes to love and hope as they were intended is a revelation. As is the understanding that we will never be here again.
At least we have our souvenirs: the songs in our ears; the tapes in our hands; the oscillation in our hearts. And the ‘Fence blend’ whisky miniatures that commemorate something so precious they bottled it: welcoming, potent, mesmerising. Warm as home and bright as sunshine. (Nicola Meighan)
JAZZ TRAVIS & FRIPP Live At Coventry Cathedral (Panegyric) ●●●●●
Guitar legend Robert Fripp and jazz saxophonist Theo Travis explore an intricate and atmospheric soundscape on this live set, the last of four UK dates they played in May 2009. The duo recorded a well received studio album, Thread, in 2008, and push forward their improvised explorations on this evocative set. Travis’s looping, floating melody lines on alto flute or soprano saxophone (but not his familiar tenor, set aside for this collaboration) interweave in subtle fashion with Fripp’s idiosyncratic guitar work, intermingled with delicate shifting electronics.
You will gather that you should not approach this album expecting a rocking – or swinging – in-your-face experience. It is quiet, resourceful music that requires (and repays) attention to tease out the intimate detail and buried nuances the two musicians weave into their on-the-spot creations. If it is to your taste, more concerts from the tour can be downloaded from www.dgmlive.com (Kenny Mathieson)
ALT.FOLK WOODPIGEON Die Stadt Muzikanten (End of the Road) ●●●●●
An agrarian folk troupe with a penchant for alt- rock, Woodpigeon are a loose collective fronted by Calgary-via- Edinburgh harmonist Mark Hamilton. Their abundant third
long-player is a complex, picturesque tapestry of pirate tales, half-remembered fables and fertile, orchestral serenades. It variously recollects Sufjan Stevens fronting The Arcade Fire (‘The Street Noise Gives You Away’) and Hamilton’s bygone cohorts eagleowl, who star on chamber-pop lullaby ‘Strength in Numbers’. The Teenage Fanclub revelry of ‘My Denial in Argyle’ and the jangling hosanna of ‘Morningside’ speak volumes: Hamilton’s roots are in Austria, and his home is in Canada, but his heart belongs to Scotland. (Nicola Meighan)
FOLKY ROOTS-ROCK WOODENBOX WITH A FISTFUL OF FIVERS Home And The Wild Hunt (Electric Honey) ●●●●●
Is it me, or does every fresh-faced Scots act have to sound like patter-merchant, Paolo Nutini? Woodenbox (aka singer-songwriter, Ali Downer) and the Spaghetti Western- monikered Fistful of Fivers at least sound as if they’re having as much fun. Whether all their raucousness registers with the listener . . . ? Well, it seems it does, judging by the response the flourishing Edinburgh-based sextet are receiving via nationwide shows. Taking reference from soulful folk legends, The Band (enhanced by Van Mo’s horn section), Woodenbox and co carry that weight by scintillating numbers such as ‘Heart Attack’, the single ‘Draw The Line’, ‘Hang The Noose’ and ‘Besides The Point’. (Martin C Strong)
RETRO-POP SHE & HIM Volume 2 (Double Six) ●●●●● Brimming with classic 60s girl-pop and California country-rock,
ALSO RELEASED
Love.Stop. Repeat Remembering (Make Your Own Adventure) ●●●●● Their first LP sounds like something you’d hear in an enchanted forest. Hauntingly pretty vocals from Lindsay West, and David Millar’s delicate strumming create an intricate, upbeat set of gentle folk songs.
Scouting For Girls Everybody Wants To Be On TV (Epic) ●●●●● The commercially successful Brit band return with a second vacuous offering. While catchy songs may be in abun- dance, substance is not, with the songs still centring purely on crushes. Lali Puna Our Inventions (Morr) ●●●●● The quartet (sister group of The Notwist) return with a fourth LP of exper- imental electro-pop. 37 minutes of sincere, sublime electronica exploring futuristic themes with enlightened elegance.
JJ Bull Ou Sont Les Elephants (Unsigned) ●●●●● Acoustic indie self- funded debut from an Aberdeen lad. Guitars and violins make a promising wholesome sound, only to be dampened by predictable lyrics.
Iain Morrison Trust The Sea To Guide Me (Proper Distribution) ●●●●● Morrison combines songwriting with his skill as a piper to produce enigmatic, heart-wrenching folk songs held together by elusive title story ‘Trust The Sea’. John Butler Trio April Uprising (On Because) ●●●●● Teamed with new bandmates, dancehall, roots and rock all find their place in this musical voyage into Butler’s ancestry. (Katy Balls)
1–15 Apr 2010 THE LIST 65