INDIE
NORTHERN ALLIANCE 13th Note, Glasgow, Thu 19 Jul; Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sun 22 Jul
They've released just three albums in five years (two of them mini ones). and as yet never played a full band live show. What’s been the hold up for Edinburgh lo-fi indie slowcoaches Northern Alliance?
Kids. careers and studies. for starters. In fact. considering that singer/guitarist/songwriter Doug Johnstone has written his first novel during that time. while busily plying his trade as a music journalist for — among others — your favourite fortnightly Glasgow and Edinburgh events guide. it's a wonder they've found time for the rock at all.
‘The music stuff I find is a bit of a release actually.‘ says Johnstone. ‘That‘s how it got going in the first place. For a long time we just did it in our basement. bashing out tunes for a laugh. Then we put out a mini album and people started buying it. Then we had to take things a bit more seriously'
Much to everyone's gain. the three piece finally released their rather brilliant first full-length longplayer For the Grains of Sand last year on 458/Fence Records.
Another album is slated to drop this autumn. after they‘ve broken their full band duck with a pair of live dates this month featuring members of grungey fellow Fence signees The Red Well.
‘lt's going to be absolutely rocktastic,‘ says Johnstone of the gigs. ‘Like Dinosaur Jr meets Pavement. Big and loud.‘
Incidentally, how would a Doug Johnstone Northern Alliance review read. were he given the convenient chance to write one himself? He thinks for a minute. before replying. 'Shambolic. but their hearts in the right place.“ It seems appropriate. (Malcolm Jack)
60 THE US? 19 Jul»? Aug 2007
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ROOTS THE BE GOOD TANYAS City Halls, Glasgow, Sun 22 July
‘We approach music simply, very simply,’ says Sam Parton of Vancouver-based trio The Be Good Tanyas. ‘In terms of production, we don’t tend to stray too far from what our capacities are as a live band,’ she adds. ‘The most important thing we try to capture in the studio, more than a perfect performance, is the raw emotion of a song.’
Their latest album, Hello Love, grew slowly out of a wealth of recordings laid down over the course of just over a year and is their third full-length release after Blue Horse (2000) and Chinatown (2003). A warm collection of beguiling bluegrass, gospel and folk harmonies, it focuses on tradition, simplicity,
JAZZ MARTIN TAYLOR The Hub, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Jul
Guitarist Martin Taylor led his recently-foriited (and punningly-titledi Freternity band at the Glasgow Jazz Festival last month. but his concert at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival will feature him in what has become his signature format — solo guitar.
Martin is recognised across the world as one of the greatest virtuosos on his instrument in the current music scene. Jazz is his chosen medium. but his gift is recognised and admired by guitar fans. irrespective of genre affiliations.
He has taken the concept of solo guitar playing to a remarkable level. and his ability to conjure up simultaneous melody. harmony and bass on a single instrument has turned heads and exasperated aspiring guitarists the world over
He has changed his playing position on stage to one resembling (but not identical to) the classical rather than jazz guitarists norm. but otherwise reckons his approach has matured rather than altered over the years.
‘I was always fascinated by the way that pianists c0uld just sit there and play the whole thing. which seemed more difficult on guitar. It was very daunting at first. but as time has gone on I have become a lot freer with it. and I am able to put my ideas into practice more spontaneously in my sole improvising new. Originally I used to put arrangements together and improvise on them, but now I tend to set a lot of that aside and just see what happens.’ (Kenny Mathieson)
and, incongruously but effectively, a soporific cover of ‘When Doves Cry’ by Prince as a hidden track.
‘If I’m singing someone else’s song I really enjoy reinterpreting what they’ve done,’ muses fellow band member Frazey Ford. ‘But I have to connect with it as though those words were coming from me. I definitely enjoy inhabiting other people’s material.’
As for their own songs, Sam says: ‘We didn’t do any pre-production; we really didn’t discuss much what songs were going to go on the record. We went in and started laying things down as we felt them. It wasn’t necessarily the most focused approach to making an album, but it worked. Despite how long it took, and despite what didn’t make the cut, I think it’s a good album. It’s a pretty true statement of where the band is at.’ (Emma Newlands)