Do You Remember Sally Moore? You'll definitely remember Girl Scout
A torrential downpour couldn’t stop this midweek visit to Sneaky Pete’s for the brilliant up and coming Girl Scout, on their first headline tour and an added bonus of a great support act, in Marathon, from Amsterdam too.
I missed Girl Scout last year when they supported Coach Party here in Edinburgh as I stupidly opted for another beer in the pub before heading in (hindsight’s a wonderful thing as a pal of mine who plays in Edinburgh folk duo, Natural Order, tells me- he missed the support for The Buzzcocks at the Edinburgh Odeon by doing the same thing. It was only Joy Division, so that’s okay). The OAW gents I was here with were also at the Coach Party gig and as Girl Scout’s performance then was enough to tempt them out again, which is always a good sign of big things to come for this Stockholm quartet.
What struck me most about their enjoyable Indie sound was how they switched effortlessly from floaty, light and mellow indie to a thrashy, rock-ish hard and fast howl, quite different to their recorded material but no less enjoyable. At times it was like a Jekyll and Hyde coming together of The Sundays and Dinosaur Jr sharing turns to dial it up or down. Mellow music quickly flips into a howl. Lead singer Emma’s vocal range is as flexible as guitarist Viktor’s guitar playing is unbelievably energetic – incredibly fast and flexible, creating an excellent sound and live performance to boot. The range doesn’t stop there – I thought Bruised sounded almost Country & Western which, even if it is just me who thinks that, show the bands versatility. Plus, their new single, I Just Needed You To Know, kicked off with an intro Motorhead would be proud of.
Music aside, their appreciation of the crowd coming out to see their first Edinburgh headline show was obvious and some good banter with the crowd, from filming the audience for a future video to city nicknames their tour was playing (the origins of Pompey being an education even to Portsmouth-born DJ Gez) and glad to hear Emma get Auld Reekie right eventually (not leaving our fair city thinking it was Old Ricky, all though if anyone from Edinburgh tourist board are reading and in need of a city mascot, you’re welcome!).
Their set was quite short at just over a dozen songs in an hour, but worth every penny. If you get a chance to see them, go! And if you’ve not heard them yet, check them out for a real treat.
I’d never heard the support act, Marathon, a young band who hail from Amsterdam but with a singer who gave 110% and not dissimilar to an on-form Mark E Smith in front of a band that triggered memories of Loop, Spacemen 3 and Mudhoney (they opened with four guitars and only the drummer not thrashing away at strings), this was quite a mesmerising warm up for the main act. Their songs were a bit unconventional in sound and very enjoyable, so check them out too.
The rain was still lashing when we came out which sent everyone scrambling to head home instead of stopping for a post-gig beer but couldn’t dampen what was a tremendous way to spend a wet Wednesday in Auld Reekie!
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