James Grant at Mad Hatters, Inverness 20/5/2016.
Singer songwriters can have a lonely furrow to plow – even singer songwriters with years of writing, collaboration and near local legend status. And tonight, in Mad Hatters, a decent crowd came out to see Scotland’s very own James Grant. Part of Glasgow’s heady days of 80s grandeur James has rubbed shoulders and shared pens with Scottish and international song writing aristocracy both as a solo artist and as founding member of Love and Money.
Performing two sets of his own material with just acoustic guitar for company could have been a challenge. This material was recorded and imagined for a full band and indeed if one checks his back catalogue, there is a sound stage chock full of ornamentation and backing vocals.I was intrigued as to how this would translate to the intimate setting of Inverness’ Mad Hatters.
James is a keen observer of the personal and introspective and it would be fair to say there is a power to his writing that can make repeat listening a challenging experience. Throwaway pop this is not. It’s rare that a singer songwriter this side of Leonard Cohen is accused of writing lyrics that can be spoken as poetry.
Yet, favourites such as Hallellujah Man, Jocelyn Square and Strange Kind of Love all came over as labours of James’ love for singing and playing guitar. Renowned, apparently, as a shy and detached man, he has an onstage persona of a confident and assured performer, quipping from Jeremy Hunt, to the drunkards of Inverness to insights into his family life with his Father. The introductions to the songs and repartee made for a counter point to the intensity of each songs performance.
And then to the man himself, his singing in turn resplendently baritone to soaringly soulful, he’s an easy man to warm to and his charismatic nature captured the crowd from the very beginning. The second set brought an engaging interplay between James and the audience when he opened the floor to requests.
For those new to much of James’ work, a fine place to start is his collaboration with friend and equally legendary Paul Buchanan of Blue Nile fame, available as a free download here .
Check out our photos of the evening below;
