Summerhall

The Big Moon – Summerhall

Live music, Music Review

If there was ever any question over the popularity of guitar bands in the last few years consider this; The Big Moon are on their second round of touring through the UK since releasing their sophomore record at the beginning of January. And they’ve only gone and sold the place out! Following on from a successful run of shows supporting Bombay Bicycle Club earlier in the month they return to Scotland on the very last – leap – night of February to headline Edinburgh’s Summerhall.

Anticipation is palpable with a queue snaking down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Fans are eager to get in early and snag a good position. They’re also keen to look the part and the merch table is already busy flogging t-shirts and albums; a positive sign for any artist in the streaming age but especially for new and breaking bands.

There’s a big portion of the audience already in place when tour support Prima Queen take to the stage. They don’t say much for the first few songs and only really get chatty before the end of the set when they mention that their bassist got dumped 20 minutes before soundcheck – “so rock’n’roll” – and that they put their band name on the drums because they forgot to mention it at previous shows. The mood is light and the band have a great chemistry on stage. Lead vocals are shared between guitarists Louise MacPhail and Kristin McFadden. They have that kind of effortlessly powerful command of harmonies, familiar to fans of boygenius and Alvvays, and with tones and melodies made for summer festival afternoons blissing out under blue skies. It’s a gentle kind of warm up set that closes out with “Milk Teeth” and “Mexico” and leaves the crowd slightly swaying, slightly nodding, ready for the main event.

From the moment The Big Moon appear there’s a buzzing warmth in the room. It’s not quite Beatles hysteria but it’s damn infectious! They meet that audience energy with the scratchy jangle of debut album opener Sucker which, despite its usual dynamic shifts, remains buoyant throughout. They follow up swiftly with the pulsing disco vibe of Don’t Think before settling into a lyrical groove with Take A Piece. The new songs are just as enthusiastically received as those from the band’s Mercury nominated 2017 release Love In The 4th Dimension despite being vastly different in both sound and subject matter. Of course in the live setting there’s minimal production to hide behind and every catchy chorus and driving guitar feels just as vibrant and raw as it should. Lyrically, Juliette Jackson’s direct and literal style is engaging whether lamenting youthful relationships, wrestling inner demons or staring defiantly into the void. Witty couplets cut through the repetitive choruses and reconnect the audience with the characters and emotions at the heart of each song. There’s flutes, there’s sing-alongs, there’s even a Fatboy Slim cover, either side of which Jackson is off the stage and down on the barrier leading “a gentle song with some yelling at the end” (Waves) followed by a riotous crowd favourite (Bonfire). The end comes around too quickly for fans who are vigorous in their applause and even after the last song, after the house music starts playing, are unwilling to accept that there won’t be an encore tonight. Naturally it’s disappointing for everyone who wanted to hear more from the band but there’s something so heartening about an authentic rock performance that elicits such an organic reaction from those present. It’s refreshing. It’s invigorating. It’s healthy. Guitar bands like Prima Queen and The Big Moon are good for the health of the industry.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Summerhall

Live music, Music Review

From beginning to end, the intimate authenticity of Courtney Marie Andrews’ live performance is astonishing. There’s a rare, indefinable quality in the room; it’s warm, it’s dark, and somehow the stage and crowd feel closer than close. It’s one of those instances where artist and audience are engaged in a perfect symbiosis that results in transcendent gratification. The experience seems not to be confined within the walls and high, angular ceiling of Summerhall’s Dissection Room, in fact it seems not to take place within any defined space or time.

Opening the show is Virginia native Twain, aka Mat Davidson, with a softly spoken stage manner that belies his intensely emotive songwriting and delivery. Reminiscent of early Bright Eyes or Jose Gonzalez’s more plaintive moments, he offers up his gentle soul to those gathered and is received with a mix of tender patience and awe. The audience is drawn in to his memories of youthful folly and reflections on the daily challenges of living in America right now. It’s a brief but sweet encounter that leaves the heart tethered slightly to the final note, hoping to hear just one more song for closure.

Since her last visit to Scotland Courtney Marie Andrews has released an album of overwhelming lamentation with patches of hope and humility. May Your Kindness Remain is an externalised view of loneliness, longing and regret delivered with heartbreaking conviction. Leading off where that album ends, the sorrowful hymn-like Long Road Back to You articulates precisely the solitary troubadour lifestyle Andrews has been living for the last decade. There’s an aching distance in her relationships with both people and places, and a weariness at independence. Two Cold Nights in Buffalo, Kindness of Strangers and bluesy Border each speak to the sense of community, co-operation and respect that underpins so much of Andrews’ songwriting, imbuing her music with an honest and defiant nostalgia.

In the haze of golden orange lights and barren desert imagery that emptiness and longing become physical sensations, resonant in the rumbling thunder of bass and drums in the confessional Near You. It’s getting very warm now. When Andrews moves to the piano for a set of three songs the intensity of emotion is almost too much to take. Two lines into This House sees the show halted dramatically as a man in the crowd faints right in front of the stage. After a brief interlude for medical assistance (we’re assured the man is alright, much to everyone’s relief) Andrews resumes her set and runs through song after song with minimal explanation, leaving her music and lyrics to do all the talking. Gospel-infused May Your Kindness Remain is as much a life lesson as any parent, ex-lover or friend could wish upon the object of their affection; everyone should be reminded that “a kind heart don’t cost a dime” now and then. It’s the perfect message to close out the set.

Courtney Marie Andrews has been called an ‘old soul’ on account of her wise-beyond-her-years songwriting, and it’s true there is a vintage familiarity to her. That angelic white dress worn on the cover of May Your Kindness Remain, and at every show of this tour, possesses sleeves fashioned out of your great grandmother’s lace curtains, and her comfortable conversation flows as if from a childhood friend. But beyond that she crafts deeply relatable, mature and endearingly human songs. She is often compared to classic country and folk singers of the 60s and 70s such as Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris but based on her recent albums and shows like tonight’s, generations of female artists will one day aspire to be likened to Courtney Marie Andrews.

“All I’ve ever needed was a little time to grow” she claims on Honest Life and tonight the young singer songwriter demonstrates admirably just how much she has.