Nadia Reid with support Lorkin O'Reilly - Sneaky Pete's

It's three years since I was supposed to see Nadia Reid play live. Covid meant a long delay to watch the creator of 'Out of My Province' in a live setting.

It was worth the wait as Nadia has recently recorded a new album so there were some well received glimpses of that album featured in the show. It was also a sold out show so a welcome return to Nadia who had finished her last UK tour at the same venue in 2017.  

I always know I've been at a memorable gig when I wake up in the morning with a tune stuck in my head. This one was 'Heart to Ride' which, like all of her songs combines beautiful melodies and singing with a bit of world weariness and a rhythm that subtly drives the songs. Her voice carries the songs effortlessly and powerfully with a plaintive shade of regret. 

All in all this was an assured return that while pleasing the crowd with a range of her best known songs - 'Richard', 'Oh Canada' while pointing to the future with four or five songs from the as yet unreleased fourth album. I'm glad to have caught Nadia Reid live after that long Covid gap and the wait was worth it as i think that new album will be on heavy rotation.

Another hook for the show was the mordant troubadour that is Lorkin O'Reilly as support. Sharp eyed readers will know I shouted his praises last year when he supported Charlotte Cornfield at he same venue. Frankly anyone that writes songs namechecking Hart Crane, the Simpsons, Columbus and Townes Van Zant is worth hearing in my book.  

https://www.nadiareid.com/

https://lorkinoreilly.bandcamp.com/

Tuesday night gig: Charlotte Cornfield with support from Lorkin O'Reilly, The Orange Trees

 Small venue gigs are the ones for me really. It's the intimacy with the act you've gone to see nothing beats it really. That and the wonder and surprise of discovering wonderful support acts who you might not have discovered otherwise. Those damn streaming algorithms don't always come up with the goods. Music is from the heart not numbers after all.

 It was Tuesday night at Sneaky Pete's and there were three acts to see. I bought my ticket to see the headliner Charlotte Cornfield and knew nothing of the support acts Lorkin O'Reilly and The Orange Trees. 

The latter were first up, a duo with a bossa nova influenced set of pop songs with a darker tinge but that jazzy lightness that transported me back to the early 80s when there were similar sounding bands popping up with engaging bittersweet lyrics. That's what we had tonight and yes, I fell for that light jazzy style and the lyrics with a twist. 

Lorkin O'Reilly I have to admit I'd never heard of before seeing the bill. Originally from Leith now living in New York he was a revelation. well picked guitar and a gritty world-weary voice told tales anti-social neighbours, dysfunctional relationships with a unique poetic take on these vignettes of frustrated lives. The lyrics like pins startling you with their sharpness. Echoes of Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley but this was something altogether different and captivating. I could have listened to him forever. He was joined on stage by Melanie MacLaren for an unscheduled duet (she'd flown in from NY) on 'Clearance Aisle'. I'll be listening to a lot of Lorkin O'Reilly from now on. 

I always like it when those singer songwriters from afar who I've found on streaming services (the algorithms sometimes work) play a gig in my hometown. It makes this big world seem much more of a village. It brings us closer; the troubadour is in town. Charlotte Cornfield hails from Toronto and here she is with a drummer and bass player on a small stage in Edinburgh playing songs from her album 'Highs in the Minuses'. They've been touring for a year, and this was the last night of that long tour, so the band dynamic was tight as they've lived inside these songs for so long. There were so many standouts on the night and here's some 'Skateboarding by the Lake' (or skate, kick thing...listen to it!), 'Headlines', '21', 'Drunk for You'. These are well drawn lyrics, and they are matched with melodies and tunes that dig into your psyche. And you wake up next morning with them embedded in your head. If you haven't heard Charlotte Cornfield, then you should. Better still catch her live.

All too soon it was over, and I was out into the night mulling over what I'd just seen. Small gigs, small gigs. They are the best.

Memorial/Elanor Moss/Jack Hinks - Sneaky Pete's

 A Tuesday night gig in my favourite Edinburgh venue Sneaky Pete's. I'd been waiting to see Memorial again ever since their support slot with Courtney Marie Andrews in Glasgow at the tail end of last year. 

As is often the case at Sneaks there were two support acts. There were lots of acoustic guitars.

First up was Jack Hinks, I think formerly of the Jack Hinks Band, but tonight solo. I missed the beginning of his set and only caught the last three songs. One was about Los Angeles and how even though it's big it is also small. I liked that and the idea behind the song. I'll look out for him again, I think he's local (though maybe not to Los Angeles).

I'd never heard of Elanor Moss before. I don't know why. It's a complete mystery to me what with my liking for women's voices and sad girls with acoustic guitars. She was a revelation. Very assured songs, a beautiful voice and cheery between song chat. She's right though the songs are sad and it takes a brave performer who finishes their set with a song about a serial killer, in this case an Italian woman who only killed men who'd wronged her. Seems fair. I'm going to stick my neck out and say we'll be hearing more of Elanor Moss. I certainly want to hear more and probably will.

Memorial could be a goth band but they're not. It's the name. They're two blokes who sing and play acoustic guitars so not goths though the songs are sad. They have a way with harmonies and the interplay of their voices at times conjures up both the brightness and the melancholy of Simon and Garfunkel. That likeness doesn't dominate but is there and I was intrigued that they were going to play a cover of a song by 'Garfunkel' one where he hadn't used harmonies but they had added harmonies. Unfortunately that song remained a mystery as the venue informed them they were over time and had only one song to go so they switched to one of their own. They have a album to sell and their own songs to sing. They do that extremely well. I don't know if Memorial are going to be big but if you like keenly observed lyrics and really lovely harmonies then this is for you and anyone who likes the same. Which should be a lot of people. I'll be keeping my ears open for more of their music that's a certainty.   

Promised Land Sound – Sneaky Pete’s 4/02/2017

Nashville’s Promised Land Sound are a band that are hard to describe. Don’t get me wrong they have a ‘sound’ big, compelling, and distinctive. And that’s it – distinctive – I struggle to find them like anything else I’ve listened to.

I’d heard the comparisons to the Byrd’s and Big Star but never really got that despite the soaring harmonies. What good are comparisons anyway when you’re listening to a band as good as Promised Land Sound?

Showcasing songs from their new album ‘For Use and Delight’ they cook up a muscular and sophisticated sound topped with high harmonies and squalling guitars. At times driving and then languid as on ‘She Takes Me There’ the band create their own sound.

The crowd in Edinburgh’s postage stamp sized venue/club Sneaky Pete’s were treated to an evening of melodic effervescent rock from a band that rocks out when it suits and throughout display a range of colour and tone that suggest that there is more to come, much more to come from this young band.

Catch this band if you can, they will repay your attention.