Getting Between the Lines

Between the Lines, Music event at Eden Court, Inverness 3-4/7.2015. A review.

Brainchild of Steve Roberston, the inaugural Between the Lines event at the Eden Court launched this weekend and by all accounts seems to have come up trumps. Billed as a celebration of the singer/songwriter genre there was live music and workshops where you could get a more personal look into how artists and their songs develop.

The first night featured Karine Polwart with support provided by Inverness’ own Megan Blyth. Megan initially comes across as being very nervous, problems with strings and a last minute dash to the music shop compounding those jitters, but this ultimately doesn’t phase her too much. And she confounds the audience by performing with a power that belies her small stature and faltering introductions to each song.

I’d love to see the songs fleshed out with a backing band, on their own they’re good but the addition of a band could add to their power. Hints of Mazzy Star and even The Cure in their darker(!) moments here.

Karine Polwart is engaging and effusive from the start, if you’ve never had the chance to see her live before then be warned, she likes to blether! Admitting herself that her introductions quite frequently last longer than the songs themselves.

Other lesser artists would quickly lose the audience’s attention and patience but Karine is witty and her intros add to the songs rather than detract from the listening experience. She  elaborates on this during the songwriting workshop on Saturday, saying each song should tell a story and take the listener on a journey rather than the lyrics being ‘rhythmic filler’. “The lyrics should never be by the by.”

A keen birdwatcher, some of her songs have a distinct ornithological bent. ‘Corncrake’ was written during a visit to Eigg where she had hoped to catch sight and sound of the elusive avian. This particular track was written as part of project exploring last year’s referendum and will feature on the album ‘Songs of Separation’ released later this year. ‘King of the Sky’ is a folk tale about a competition between the birds to see who should reign supreme. Spoiler alert; the Wren gets the crown. We’re also treated to lovely cover of The Waterboy’s ‘The Whole of The Moon’ played on the tenor guitar.

During the songwriter’s workshop it was interesting to hear how she composes and constructs her songs. You get a flavour of this during the concert but afterwards it was interesting to hear that she doesn’t feel like she is a technically accomplished musician. Rather she sticks to folk tunings like DADGAD on the guitar (a great tuning if you want to get that folky drone that mimics the pipes) and tries to keep things simple.

She was initially far more comfortable singing solo and indeed the concert starts with her singing acapella. As a sometime guitarist whose last gig was many years ago it was reassuring to hear that she suffers from the same foibles and frustrations as the rest of us. Also interesting is the tradition with folk music circles of borrowing other writer’s melodies and putting them to music. Or vice versa, finding a poem and setting that to music. ‘Lot’s Wife’ by the poet Wislawa Szymborska explores her perspective (named Ado or Edith in Jewish texts) and why she may have glanced back towards her home as they fled . This became ‘Tears for Lots Wife’ on the Traces album and is based around a repeating two bar phrase composed by Karine’s brother. Proving that simplicity can pay dividends.

Saturday night’s event had a slot where a local musician was given a chance to support Withered Hand and Malcolm Middleton. This was decided during an open mic slot competition on Saturday afternoon in the Maclean Room at The Eden Court.

The winner was James Mackenzie, who is likely already familiar to you if you’re a regular gig-goer in Inverness.James doesn’t suffer from a lack of self belief and positively roared out his songs before descending into whispered lyrics and beating the hell out that poor guitar. There’s something quite visceral and honest about his performance and I think it turned into one of the best sets I’ve seen him play yet. He held nothing back and proved that he’d more than earned his slot.

Withered Hand is the stage name of Dan Wilson and the polar opposite to James, vocally sounding quite fragile. Indeed his voice was what initially held him back from performing because he felt it was too high, hence a relatively late start as a musician. But with that quietness comes wry humour and clever lyrics.

He declares early on that he’s now referred to as an acclaimed artist but, “I think that means you don’t sell any records.” Set opener ‘Cornflake’ was the, “first song where I felt like I’d actually written a song.”  He slots into the used and abused chuck anything in there that sounds a bit folksy Americana genre but the lyrics are far cleverer than your usual jilted lover mournful Americana gubbins.

‘No Cigarettes’ is a look at how being in a relationship is akin to being in a pantomime horse and how he’s at the back with his head up someone’s arse. ‘California’ runs with ‘You stole my heart, I stole your underwear’ and my personal favourite from ‘Religious Songs’ wondered ‘how does he really expect to be happy when he listens to Death metal bands’. Well I’m perfectly fine, seeing as he asks…

Malcolm Middleton is keen to get on with things and arrives on stage before most of the punters have finished at the bar during the interval. Axl Rose he is not. If I’m honest, he’s hard work. The songs are good, his guitar playing is excellent, apart from a niggly out of tune E string early on in the set, but it feels a bit flat. He’s got plenty of piss and vinegar but it feels forced and that he’d rather be anywhere but on stage at the Eden Court.

Perspectives are a funny but important thing and I heard others saying that they thought he was excellent and on good form. I guess I just wasn’t seeing or hearing it. Highlight was the unnamed song that he said he would have used if he’d been allowed to run the songwriter workshop. It’s apparently not going to feature on any new album but it would be a real shame to lose a chorus line of “One, two, fuck you. Three, Four, Never grace my door. Five Six, You’re a Dick”.

On the whole this new event is a welcome addition to Inverness’ music calendar. The songwriting workshop gave a valuable insight into the process of writing and gave many of the attendees (me included) plenty of food for though for the future and judging by the attendance of the events I got to and enthusiasm from punters I’d like to think we’ll see this event grow and develop in years to come.