Gig review: Fatherson, Edinburgh
Fatherson, Sparrow and the Workshop, FOUND
The Caves, Edinburgh
* * * *
Here we all were, enjoying a free show featuring sets by three of Scotland’s finer bands and – in some cases – the free whisky provided by the sponsor paying for it all (Dewar’s, to give their due). It was nothing to complain about.
First on were FOUND, a group whose billing might have been higher were they not bedding in their new two-man line-up following the departure of Tommy Perman. Yet there was something of a sense of first among equals about all of the bands here. Glasgow-based internationalists Sparrow and the Workshop are a group on the up this year, following the release of their new album Murderopolis on Edinburgh’s Song, By Toad label, and the trio’s set was a brooding exercise in sticking to a unique and compelling musical aesthetic.
Advertisement
Hide AdIrish-Chicagoan singer Jill O’Sullivan is key to this – a woman whose strong, slightly country lilt is wont to journey through notes Tori Amos-style as her hands leave her guitar to do a bit of emoting, all against a measured, strident backdrop with echoes of the Bad Seeds.
Fatherson, meanwhile, are one of Scotland’s more effervescent musical hopes, that much was clear within a few minutes. Between heavily-bearded singer Ross Leighton’s compelling, yearning vocal and a musical style which caused even the band to throw themselves about the stage (the track Hometown was an energetic high) they remind one of a more muscular Frightened Rabbit or a plaid-shirted indie alternative to their fellow Ayrshiremen Biffy Clyro. Similar levels of success to the above hopefully await.