What is it about Edinburgh and live music venues? From the extortionate bar prices, to absolutely no advertising whatsoever, to the, by now, infuriating 10/10:30pm curfew. It seems the live music scene is just a slight distraction before the main money-fleecing begins; the club night.
Cabaret Voltaire are among the main culprits in our beloved capital, which is a shame really, because it's, probably, the best live music venue in Edinburgh at the moment. The subterranean setting puts me in mind of how The Cavern would have looked in it's heyday, but, unfortunately, minus the screaming hordes.
And last night's gig was no different. Headliners UNKLE BOB have been causing a small stir in the Scottish music press as of late. Here to promote their brilliant new single 'The Hit Parade', the band were playing the last night of an 8-date Scottish tour, although judging by last night's turnout their promotion machine desperately needs a service.
First up last night though, was THE PICTISH TRAIL. An integral member of Fife's musical eccentrics The Fence Collective, The Pictish Trail weaves his strong haunting voice, lovely fretwork and intelligent lyrics to create an immediate attention-grabbing sound. His short half-hour set included old favourite's 'Chinese Whispers' and 'Going Down To The Water', from his 2002 debut album, but it was the more recent material that shone the brightest. 'Into The Smoke', 'I Don't Know Where To Begin' and his version of fellow Collective members The Red Well's 'Make Your Way Inside', prove that, if nothing else, The Pictish Trail is maturing nicely as a singer/songwriter.
The main attraction of the night, Glasgow-based indie-folk heroes Unkle Bob, appeared a little after nine. Recently, their blend of laid back, organic folk/pop has seen the local music press falling at their feet, but don't be fooled into thinking this band are hanging onto the coat tails of fellow West coast bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian.
Dispensing with the conventional backbone of drums and bass, Unkle Bob weave their magic with an electric double-bass, tablas, djembe, cymbals, piano, guitar and banjo, with the odd melodeon thrown in for good measure. Vocally, frontman Rik Webster comes across as a mix between Ben Ottewell and Nick Drake, while their overall sound retains the songwriting sensibilities of Gomez and The Beautiful South.
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Opening with 'There's A Reason', followed by the stunning 'Hold It Down', the band captivated the small crowd which had, by this time, swelled to about 50 or 60. Think intimate rather than empty. There was lovely banjo work from Stuart Cartwright on 'Too Many People', but the highlight of the evening was the airing of two of the songs that make up their new single.
The atmospheric ballad 'This Way', and the lead track 'The Hit Parade', really showed the assembled 'mass' what all the recent press fuss has been about. In keeping with the long standing tradition of the witty, itelligent British pop song, 'The Hit Parade' is a lovely piano-infected number with great lyrics such as: “I wanna get laid, I wanna get played, I wanna walk down the Hit Parade”. It's surely destined for a wider audience.
The touching 'One By One' was another peak of a tight set, and the band seemed genuinely touched when called back for an encore.
Frontman Rik Webster was quoted in a recent interview as saying: “...that everything is so objective. If you listen to good reviews and believe them, then you have to believe the bad ones too.” Going on performances like this, coupled with the standard of songwriting the band have set themselves, I don't think he's got much to worry about in that department.
(www.unklebob.com)
(www.fencerecords.com)
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