This latest trip to the always excellent Leith Depot for Fraser Anderson's first Edinburgh gig in a long time isn't one I'd usually come to but thanks to Stuart Blance (who provided an excellent and perfect-fit support set), who told me about this and I'm really glad I came along. Not my typical type of gig (not indie, goth or punk) but Fraser's soulful and laid-back folk-style was an ideal way to spend a Thursday evening. A relaxed and engaging set, sung and played perfectly (even with a borrowed guitar) and with such great conversation in between songs it felt more like an evening with old friends, and a welcome bit of gig respite from the usual gig-madness after eighty-odd shows this year (did I mention I gig a lot? ).
Throughout delivering a stack of well crafted poetic and poignant ballads, it's clear to hear how much he gives of himself and what his life as a musician means in the way he introduces each song. The backstories - always entertaining and insightful - before, after and sometimes during his songs (he even interrupted himself to come back to a thought he had while tuning strings beforehand). He shares a lot about; his life (selling his house to fund his second album and moving to France); what he puts of himself into some songs (the opening number written about when he was young; writing songs in vineyards oblivious to the poisonous snakes there; and songs written about divorce); how he's navigated his musicianship (recently winning an award at the Worcester Film Festival with the video for Cold Eyes).
As well as his openness, Fraser's a natural entertainer too, having the audience laughing along to stories about almost meeting The Proclaimers thanks to his babysitting aunt, before giving a great rendition of one of their classics; the backstory to his tune Davy Shanks Mum, which translated darkly in Canada and not something you'd think would be celebrated with a song; and a remembered well-intentioned but confusing introduction to a song during an Italian concert, to name a few of these interludes.
The first hour or so of his set was solo, but towards the end he brought Ali Ferguson on to join him for The Wind And The Rain adding another layer of sound with added guitar and harmony. Another arrival on stage to share some new material from Fraser's next album was Bex Baxter adding beautiful vocals, with Northern Star and other songs about human connection (another slight detouring funny anecdote about it before starting).
Despite the size and layout of Leith Depot (there's nowhere to go after coming off-stage except into the audience) Fraser did manage to work in an encore, and gave us a stunning spoken word version of With You All, which I think might be the best single song performance I've seen this year. The recorded version (from his album Under The Cover Of Lightness) is good, but not as powerful as his live solo delivery here tonight.
A great set from a great musician and with a new album on the horizon hopefully a return to Edinburgh soon.
And let's not overlook the perfect set up to Fraser's main set from Stuart Blance, who battled through illness (and only hours before had no voice) with a few remedies including pints of pineapple juice, ever present at his side on stage throughout.
Stuart's also an engaging storyteller when it comes to his songs, similarly sharing the background and inspiration for his music. Opening with Slower Than The Flow, which is about realising the scale of homelessness in London, it's a tune that put me in mind of the sounds of late 1960s West Coast American folk, with a strong Haight-Ashbury feel to it. His other material covered a variety of emotions - singing about empathy, memories of his late father, helping each other in times of need and hope. He also played some songs he's not sung since he and Fraser were learning their song-writing craft together in Perth over twenty years ago and a cover version of The Circle by Ocean Colour Scene. By he'd come to his last number (written about the Clutha tragedy) the crowd were engrossed.
A bit of a cold might have given Stuart something of a Dylan-esque drawl to his singing tonight, but the ever-present glasses of pineapple juice helped get him through this enjoyable set and he's another artist to look out for on the local Scottish music scene, whenever and wherever he's playing.
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Great review of one of my favourite gigs I’ve played and been part of