| 25 August 2011
Not all musical conglomerations can live up to the tagline of ‘supergroup’. However, this is not at all the case with the Burns Unit, and tonight’s Queen’s Hall gig proves this Scottish/Canadian group is a super one for certain. All accomplished artists in their own right, this ensemble of seven never abandon their own styles as they intertwine to form uniquely brilliant folk fusion. Mercury Prize nominee King Creosote, indie songstress Emma Pollock, multi-instrumentalist Kim Edgar, folkster Karine Polwart, pianist Michael Johnston, Caledonian artist Future Pilot AKA and drummer/producer Mattie Foulds are the extraordinary elements that make it all happen.
The evening unfolds as a free-for-all as the artists switch up song partners and instruments, Edgar being particularly impressive as she moves from guitar to accordion to piano. Accordion-backed ballad Since We’ve Fallen Out is a tear-jerker delivered by Creosote and Polwart, spine-tinglingly soulful, and poker-face failures Pollock and Creosote get adorably playful with Tupperware Pieces.
Keyboardist, Canadian and refreshingly upbeat emcee Johnston helps take a lead on a gleefully twee Closed for the Season, before the end draws near with a song that 3/7ths of them confess to be the one to take with them should the world end, and that song is, understandably, Simon & Garfunkel’s The Only Living Boy in New York.
Whether there’s two onstage or all of them, the thing that rules is harmony, and I can’t think of anything more super than that.
The Burns Unit, The Queens Hall, 24 Aug 2011, 8pm
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