Saturday 17 February 2024

Cahalen Morrison, Traverse

 Two solo Americans for this show, both Scottish domiciled.

Frist up was Edinburgh resident, and Arizona native, Cera Impala. Accompanying herself on guitar and ukulele she sang her own compositions about the troubles of life and the world. Her soft breathy voice is very pleasant, but made the announcements, and lyrics, hard to grasp at times. Add in the slowish tempo of all the numbers and, for all their worthiness, this got a bit boring. Some out of tune guitar work didn't help. Disappointing, as I know she can be better.

Cahalen Morrison, all the way from New Mexico, but now living in 'that place' (!) at the other side of the M8, was a clear step up in quality musically. An excellent player of guitar, banjo and fiddle. The former pair used as song accompaniment, and ornamentation, the latter to deliver a couple of tunes, and he also did some a capella singing.

His voice is haunting, with excellent variation in pitch and tone, and the songs were varied in subject and melody. But the pace was, for the most part, as slow as the first half of the gig, and I wasn't sorry when it all came to an end.

I should add that my rather negative views may have been influenced by a heavy cold and lack of sleep, which made it hard to feel positive or engaged!

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