Fourth Moon, TradFest, Summerhall

A band that came into being when a Frenchman, an Austrian, an Italian and a Scotsman met up in Ireland, so there's a real hotchpotch of influences going into their music.  The result feels fresh and ofttimes exhilarating.  With a nod towards the pioneering spirit of Lau in showing how traditional musicianship and instruments can be used to produce a truly original sound, Fourth Moon take a mixture of tunes, many of them self penned, and put together sets that play around with styles and tempos and deliver the unexpected.  Guitar, fiddle, concertina and flute and whistles are a reassuringly trad lineup, but serving a very contemporary form of music.

They're a cheerful bunch on stage, showing obvious delight in playing together, and joking with the audience and each other.  Scot Mohsen Amini, who did most of the talking between numbers, was informative and funny, but all four are comfortable chipping in to add variety.

Whilst there are some beautiful slower passages, it's the fast stuff that bring both band and audience fully to life and gets the pulse racing.  These are seriously talented musicians who have found in each other a chance to experiment and extend their own musical experiences.  It's a shame there was no CD to take away, this music would benefit from further listening to better appreciate the complexities, so I hope there will be an album in the near future.  Definitely a band I want to see again.

Here's an example of what they can do.

Final thought.  Fourth Moon are a living allegory for the benefits of Scotland being closely integrated with our European friends.  Just sayin'....

Wayward Jane, TradFest, Storytelling Centre

A young four piece Edinburgh band who describe their music as 'old time Americana a bit mashed up'.  Their source material is largely from the back catalogue of US folk music, with some self penned tunes and a bit of Hank Williams, filtered through their own influences and tastes to arrive at their own unique arrangements.  Fiddle, flute, banjo, guitars and double bass provide the music, with all four contributing to the vocals, and I've no complaints to make about their abilities.  All four show considerable talent and the primary lead singer has a wonderful voice.

As a live act, there's still something missing.  The first half set was pleasant enough, but lacked any real excitement.  It all felt a bit one-paced, some tunes went on longer than seemed ideal, and the introductions were laboured and lacked confidence.  The high spot came when they brought up an older musician to the stage to add a bit of Dobro to the sound.

And if I'd left during the interval that would have been my review.  But this turned out to be something of a Jekyll and Hyde evening.  There was an irony during the interval when over the speakers came Dallahan, the band I'd been to see the previous evening and noted purveyors of high energy performances.  Maybe some of that energy transferred itself to Wayward Jane....

The second half felt like it came from a different gig.  Some traditional tunes from this side of the Atlantic brought some life into the proceedings, followed by some singalongs and a better mix of tempos.  The intros remained shambolic, and needed an injection of personality, but suddenly the event moved beyond 'pleasant' and became genuinely enjoyable.  When they manage to spread that enjoyment across a whole gig they'll be a good band to watch.

Dallahan, TradFest, Summerhall

Having reviewed Dallahan gigs last year and the year before there isn't much to add to my earlier words.  A new bass player has added a jazzier edge to the backing sound, and Jack Badcock's vocals seem to get better every time I hear him.  The band have just that bit more stage presence, a touch more confidence perhaps, after successfully touring in the US.  There's still the same energy, inventiveness and the lushness of Jani Lang's Hungarian fiddling.  Dallahan just keep on getting better and better.

My only carp would be over the lack of new material, as much as anything because that means their third album must be some way off.  Talking to Ciaran Ryan afterwards he says plans are in place and there should be a new release next year.  Something to look forward to in 2018.  Dallahan remain one of my all time favourite bands, and a thrilling live act.

Safe Place, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Traverse

It's 4am and someone is knocking at Martine's door.  A stranger, a young woman seeking shelter and a safe place to be.  But why is she so reluctant to reveal details of her past, and what drew her to seek out this particular door?

Martine is a veteran of feminist activism, a weel kent figure in the national media, and write of an article in which she said she'd happily shelter women in her own home if they were escaping danger.  Rowan has a copy with her, challenging the older woman to live up to her rhetoric.  But she poses other challenges too, which will force Martine to confront and examine some of her own beliefs.

Then there's Nina, Martine's agent, who feels her client should be acting in the interests of her 'brand' as much as her beliefs.  Martine's going to have to decide where she stands....

With much of the script being used to explain the background to the conflict there's a sense of earnestness that pervades.  Nevertheless it's an entertaining fifty minutes that raises a lot of issues which deserve to be seen by a wider audience.

It's impossible to write more without giving away the main plot twist so SPOILER ALERT.  If you plan on going along you may want to stop reading now.

Martine is being labelled as a TERF and finding that her once prominent voice is being sidelined.  Rowan is a transgender woman who feels Martine's attitude denies her right to be considered a 'real' woman.  With Nina exemplifying commercial considerations there's a three way conflict of interest.  As suggested above, the writer, Clara Glynn, feels audiences may need an introduction to some of the issues being tackled, and that leads to too much of the dialogue sounding polemical.  It all feels a bit too time constrained to properly explore the subject and this really should be the seed of a full length drama.  But for now it does it's doing it's bit in promoting openness, understanding and acceptance, and gives a hint at how difficult life can be for trans people.

Jennifer Black is a wonderful Martine, both defensive and inquiring, conscious of her status in the feminist panoply, smarting from her recent rejections.  Shane Convery, in his first professional stage role, excels as Rowan, a self centred teenager who wants to change the world.

Defintely worth seeing, if a little frustrating to watch.

Lankum, TradFest, Traverse

One of the less positive outcomes of the folk revivals of the fifties and sixties was the image non-folkies had of the performers, with the idea of 'four old guys in chunky pullovers' becoming the standard cliche.  Thankfully that notion is pretty well dead and buried, and if you needed further evidence then Lankum are a good place to start.  Looking like a heavy metal band that picked up Rasputin's wee brother along the way, they quickly demonstrate that they're the real deal, with a deep knowledge and understanding of Irish traditional music underlying everything they do.

Brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch combine with fiddler Cormac Mac Diarmada and multi-instrumentalist Radie Peat to produce fresh interpretations of Irish standards and Dublin street songs, with a bit of Americana and their own writing thrown into the mix, and all delivered with accomplished and imaginative musicianship, three strong lead vocalists and impressive harmonies, and a lot of humour.  Even in singing a lengthy murder ballad, or playing a simple fiddle tune repeated with minor variations in the arrangement, they have the talent to keep the audience interested throughout.

There's no flashiness to the playing, just well conceived arrangements and a common understanding of their craft.  It's rare to hear the harmonium played as well as this (by Peat), so that it's much more than just a background noise, and Daragh's guitar added some beautiful single note accompaniments.  The siblings aren't just quality musicians and singers, but genuine entertainers, and the stories they tell to introduce each number strike a good balance between information and comedy.

Rousing, irreverent, respectful, funny, Lankum delivered a memorable evening of music and laughter.  Highly recommended.

Redwood Mountain : Transatlantic Crossings (Dean Owens and Amy Geddes), TradFest, Summerhall

Well established Leith singer/songwriter Dean Owens was given a 1960s collection of  American Folk Songs.  He was so taken with some of the lyrics that he wrote his own melodies for them and set about recording the results.  He's been joined in this project by long time collaborator Amy Geddes to form the new duo, with this gig marking their debut.  Guitar, fiddle, harmonica and two excellent voices combine to bring these old songs to life.

Owens spent time explaining the background to the concept, and also to each song.  He's an engaging, amusing speaker and the anecdotes added to the sense of exploring the past.  The patter's not quite slick enough yet, but that will improve with time.

The lyrical subject matter is often on the gloomy side, with plenty of lost love, death and grinding out hard lives.  But the melodies frequently belie the content and there are some very catchy and memorable tunes in the set.  It certainly helps that Owens encourages the audience to join in a number of the choruses and brought a sense of fun to the proceedings.  His voice is as smooth as ever, and just about passed the test of some surprisingly low notes in a song about the mass slaughter of the buffalo, a genocidal campaign to starve the native Americans.

Geddes' understated fiddling enhanced without dominating, and she provided sympathetic vocal backing.  Sharing the lead on one of Owens' own composition was reminder of what a beautiful, if not terribly strong, singing voice she has, and her  musicality was shown to the full in a couple of haunting tunes, one penned by Owens, the other a traditional piece from her own Galloway.

The crowd would happily have stayed for more by the end.  A mix of fun, history and excellent music.

I couldn't resist buying the CD, and it lived up to the expectations generated by the gig.  Redwood Mountain deserve to be heard widely.

Voices in her Ear, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Traverse

Betty's on stage and pleasing her audience.  Siobhan's voice is in her earpiece, guiding her through the audience members this very controlling assistant's done the research on.  In the first ten minutes we're treated to the tricks of the trade, the con behind the sincerity.  But Betty's not letting Siobhan run her life, she's still the boss, and thinks of retirement.  She's made her money, she's had enough now.

But Siobhan has arranged for one final, desperate punter to see Betty after the show, looking for comfort and reassurance after the death of his young son, and she reluctantly agrees.  However Mark turns out to be more than Betty had been led to expect, and she finds herself being challenged to defend her profession.  Who comes out on top?

Very funny, very Scottish, this is glorious entertainment.  There may not be a lot of depth to the script, but it does test out the assumption that these fortune teller acts are nothing more than harmless fun.  It certainly manages to introduce a few twists in a flying fifty minutes, and there's a surprise question mark residing in the ending.

Good performances from all three actors, with Neshla Caplan the standout as the wheedling, bullying, pushy Siobhan.  An interesting set too.  Voices maintains the high standards we've come to expect from the PPP series.