Making music shouldn’t be an isolating situation
Edinburgh has always been a city split down the centre. Old Town, New Town. Hibs v Hearts. Jekyll and Hyde. Two of the capital’s distinct music traditions clash in this very issue; but the result of that battle simply shows that both past and present can exist in a coherent and creative twinning.
In the 80s and 90s, club nights such as Going Places and Misery were (for rather different reasons), the talk of that town. The man behind them, Fred Deakin, was enjoying a proper purple patch before moving on to make beautiful electronica music with Lemon Jelly. Now he’s back, reclaiming all that history and turning it into an immersive theatre/club experience at Summerhall.
That joyous spirt of endeavour and innovation can be detected in the very ethos and practices of Hidden Door. We’re very lucky to have this burgeoning multi-arts festival which each year takes over a disused space in Edinburgh and turns it into a thriving cultural hub for five exhilarating and eclectic days and nights. For 2023, bands such as Porridge Radio and Pillow Queens, and solo acts like Berta Kennedy and Billy Got Waves have a chance to make their mark, and put a stamp on the capital which might reminisce fondly on them in decades to come.
But of course, we have more than an eye on what’s going on way out west. In Paisley, there’s an artistic buzz happening in Sculpture House, where three artists have turned another once-forgotten and neglected building into a haven for creative types and local interests. Casting further afield, we speak to South African dancer Johannes Radebe and French filmmaker Eric Gravel about their steady attempts at trying to make the world a better, more considered place with their art. We also attempted to speak to Burnistoun’s Biscuity Boyle but we suspect the chat might have turned out a little less ethics-based.
Other delights across this issue include a Q&A with Ultravox icon Midge Ure, and chats with investigative journo/podcaster Jon Ronson and awardwinning writer Peter Ross, while we review highly anticipated new works by Alberta Whittle, The National, Scottish Ballet, Tan Twan Eng and John Kearns. The results are, it’s accurate to say, mixed. But that’s what culture is about: differing opinions, some good stuff in close proximity to the not-so good. The past informing the present. An arena where Fred Deakin and Frozemode can happily co-exist. This issue we celebrate those differences and connections.
Brian Donaldson EDITORPUBLISHING
CEO
Sheri Friers
Editor
Brian Donaldson
Art Director
Seonaid Rafferty
Sub Editors
Paul McLean
Megan Merino Designer Carys Tennant
Writers
Ailsa Sheldon, Becca Inglis, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, Claire Stuart, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Eddie Harrison, Fiona Shepherd, Greg Thomas, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jay Thundercliffe, Katherine McLaughlin, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Mark Fisher, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Neil Cooper, Paul McLean, PJ Moore, Rachel Ashenden, Suzy Pope
Social Media and Content Editor Megan Merino
Senior Business Development Manager
Jayne Atkinson
Online News Editor Kevin Fullerton
Media Sales Executive Ewan Wood Digital Operations Executive Leah Bauer
So, CD is making a comeback. I didn’t realise it had ever been away, but this has me thinking more about the better documented vinyl revival and the multifarious reasons music lovers can give for choosing this less-than-perfect format over more convenient download/streaming options.
For some it’s ‘the sound of vinyl’, the feeling that analogue records somehow have more musicality than ‘cold digital’. For others, it’s a preference for a physical artefact, though this could apply equally to a digital CD, just with smaller artwork and lyrics to peer at.
So is choice of format about sound or psychology? I remember noting that Bill Drummond’s meditation on recorded music, 17, makes clear that he far preferred his wall of LPs to his iPod, yet with no attempt to explain just why.
The Blue Nile’s 80s albums (all analogue, no computer audio involved, thanks) were funded by Glasgow turntable manufacturers Linn Products, who believed that well-made vinyl could continue to compete with the new-fangled digital CD (tagline ‘Perfect Sound Forever’) and the analogue/digital debate has trundled on since then. Most recently, audiophile vinyl label Mobile Fidelity admitted that their ‘pure analogue’ process does in fact have a digital stage
Musician and Blue Nile legend PJ Moore probes vinyl fetishism, the analogue vs digital debate and whether choice of format is really about sound or something far more emotional
in the signal chain. It’s to a very high spec, but still involves digitising the music along the way, when their USP had been ‘no digital anywhere in the production process’.
Still, there’s no doubt that even ordinary vinyl has a character, due to the physical limitations of the medium, and it might well be that working within these limits gives a warmer playback sound compared to more revealing digital formats. But I’d say ‘character’ rather than ‘sound’ of vinyl, because different cuts of the same music can sound really very different.
Meanwhile, though CDs have improved some since 1982, the file size hasn’t increased one bit (haha). Imagine you still carried around an 8Mb USB stick rather than 32/64Gb, now cheap as chips (haha again). Beyond physical copies (CD/ LP) for last year’s release of When A Good Day Comes, we opted to sell three levels of download (MP3/CD/HD) direct from our own site to keep control of the file quality. But from this month we’re up on all the usual digital channels with an array of file sizes to choose from. Knock yourselves out, please!
When A Good Day Comes by PJ Moore & Co is available from pjmooreandco.com as well as the usual digital services; @pjmooreandco on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In this series of articles, we turn the focus back on ourselves by asking folk at The List about cultural artefacts that touch their heart and soul. This time around, Becca Inglis tells us which things . . .
Made me cry: I’m still not over Dafne Keen’s farewell monologue in the His Dark Materials finale. We’re not just talking a couple of tears leaking out: this was full-on ugly crying, complete with chokes and hiccups and tissue mountains. Lyra and Will live rent free in my heart forever.
Made me angry: Suella Braverman’s insinuation that kids loitering in parks is a bad thing. What else are parks for? And what else are young people supposed to do, given the decline of youth clubs? Perhaps adults should spend less time being afraid of teenagers and take a leaf out of their book instead; we could all use some more time outside dossing about with pals.
Made me sad: Chaos agent Four Tet giving off prankster-dad energy when he dropped the cataclysmic face-scruncher, HOL!’s ‘Country Riddim’, not once but three times in his Times Square set with Fred again.. and Skrillex. You know what they say: if it’s nice, play it thrice.
Made me think: Dave Grohl’s definition of a good drummer. On the Hot Ones YouTube series, he said that if you can tell who the drummer is after 15 seconds of playing, regardless of technical skill, that’s the sign of a solid percussionist.
Made me think twice: Revelations that OG influencer Paris Hilton was actually playing a bit to cover up a traumatic childhood. Everything I knew about noughties’ pop culture continues to be a lie.
Treat yourself to the sweet sounds of this issue, featuring Hidden Door performers Porridge Radio, Billy Got Waves, Berta Kennedy and Pillow Queens, as well as James Acaster’s new project Temps, Terra Kin, The National, Midge Ure and many more
Scan and listen as you read:
Covering songs can be many things: sweet (think young child at a talent show); necessary (to a new band in need of filling a setlist); memorable (when thrown into an established act’s live tour); or completely excruciating (karaoke). But contrary to these specific situations, there’s something distasteful about established artists covering an entire album of someone else’s work and releasing it with an expectation of reverence.
I can’t deny my love for famous covers like ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’, or the work of Ella Fitzgerald who made a career of covering songs from The Great American Songbook. But these artists’ reinterpretations contain the ingredients necessary to justify such an action: mind-boggling tekkers and a firm grasp of musical composition. Everyone else ought to ask themselves, are we adding something new here? Or is it simply a convenient way to avoid writing original material?
Perhaps my cynicism stems from the commercial appeal of cover albums. In the world of pop, familiarity and fondness are inextricably linked. Not sure if a song will be well received? Simply pick one that already was and get a big star to put their name on it. Ka-ching!
As a cracked mirror reflection of our back-page Hot Shots, this slot is all about the publicity pictures that have pinged into our inbox recently and made us go . . . what’s that?! Oh dear . . .
Four men, identified as cult 90s rock act Dodgy, were found in the middle of a country road today with life-threatening injuries after being hit by an articulated lorry. The band, famed for their Tesco Value Britpop sound, were believed to have been posing for a press shot to promote their new tour when the accident occurred. This explains why photos found on bassist Nigel Clark’s iPhone 2 depict the men looking like an over-40s delegation of Hollyoaks extras. According to police, the sight of this terrible collision was the largest crowd Dodgy have courted since 1997.
Once again, we sit Megan Merino and Kevin Fullerton down in front of a contentious bit of current culture and ask them to write about it straight from the heart. With a Nick Drake tribute record on the horizon, they come to metaphorical blows over cover albums: worthwhile revisionist exercise or a sure sign of creative atrophy?
To misquote the Roman poet Juvenal, ‘cover artists cover songs, but who covers the cover artists?’ It’s a philosophical quandary which becomes more pertinent as covers supplant originals. Is a new version of ‘Hallelujah’ a cover of Leonard Cohen’s template or the more frequently played Jeff Buckley interpretation? Do most people nowadays even realise that Pet Shop Boys’ superlative ‘Always On My Mind’ is a cover of an average tune by Elvis Presley, which was in itself a version of Gwen McCrae’s brilliant original?
Pop songs are part of a tradition which allows their meaning to shift depending on the performer and the time they live in, sometimes for the better.
Example: when I hear Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt’, it feels like being handcuffed to a mopey teenager’s bedframe while they recite tortured poetry at me. When I hear Johnny Cash’s version, found on his excellent covers album American IV: The Man Comes Around, I’m a weeping mess.
For every great cover album, there’ll be thousands of cynical clunkers, but that’s true of all collections. And sometimes a bad cover is a treat. Ever wanted to hear Scarlett Johansson sing 11 Tom Waits songs incredibly poorly? Thanks to her Anywhere I Lay My Head, you can; and the results are hilarious.
New year, new venue, but some things don’t change. Hidden Door is back for five days straddling May and June with yet another programme platforming the best in grassroots culture. As indie darlings Porridge Radio prepare to headline the first night’s music line-up, Megan Merino caught up with frontwoman
Dana Margolin to discuss playing in Edinburgh venues that are either haunted or weirdly shaped
Strong images pour out of Porridge Radio singer Dana Margolin, whether in the form of poetry, paintings (seen on album covers, band merch and in original works) or vivid lyrics heard in the band’s raw and rousing discography. From their formation in 2015, this Brighton quartet have risen through the DIY ranks with three albums, the second of which (Every Bad) earned a Mercury nomination in the pandemic-plagued 2020 awards. ‘I still really love that album,’ says Margolin, who’s enjoying some downtime when I catch up with her strolling through sunny north London. ‘I’m proud of the songs but also excited about the new stuff that is, in my mind, better. I think everything we do gets better than the last thing.’
The pandemic gave Margolin and bandmates Georgie Stott, Maddie Ryall and Sam Yardley time to write their latest, most sophisticated album to date, last year’s Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, which they’ve not long finished touring around the UK and Europe. ‘I was a husk of a person when we finished. We played so many shows. So I’ve just spent a few months resting and trying to come back into myself, remembering how to be a person and enjoy my life.’ This involves spending time in her studio or out and about, usually accompanied by a notebook and pen. ‘I’ve been writing a lot of poems actually, and painting the
poems. I always wanted to be a poet before anything else. I think of my songs as sound poems. Lyrics are always the bit of the song that I’m most attached to and spend most time on.’
Margolin’s lyrical prowess is evident in the sophisticated indie/post-punk of their most recent album, painting complex pictures of relationships and uncertainty for the future, using broad brushstrokes and leftfield metaphors. In lead single ‘Back To The Radio’, she sings ‘I’m trying to help without breaking or shattering’, while ‘Birthday Party’ opens with the disconcerting line ‘a fear of death/a fear of dying/why won’t the dog pick up the stick?’ before she laments ‘I don’t want to be loved/I don’t want to be loved’.
Citing acts like Deftones and Charli XCX as major influences, Margolin also shares a great admiration for Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting. ‘Her lyrics are incredible, so beautiful, so evocative, and so kind of weird, weaving together all these amazing stories. She’s got her own unique style but they are really universal lyrics. People really connect to them. I have my classic cliché writing traps that I fall into, of course,’ she laughs, when asked about her own approach to crafting such visceral lyrics. ‘It doesn’t really matter whether or not it makes sense or is gonna hit someone else, as long as it carries meaning to you. A lot of the time, the things that we feel alienate us are actually the things that connect us.’
If live shows are anything to go by, Porridge Radio’s music certainly resonates. But it’s the vivaciousness and theatricality of their performance that makes seeing this band live a real experience. Last May they played Summerhall as part of The Great Eastern festival: ‘I think we played somewhere that used to be a horse dissection room! We all thought it was really haunted and did not enjoy that aspect of the show,’ she jokes. Now they return to play Hidden Door in The Complex, an equally interesting but hopefully less creepy setting. ‘I don’t think we’ve ever played in a hexagon. I’m excited! We’re a very intense live band. We thrive off the energy of being in a room together. Our chemistry makes everything expand and feel really powerful. I’m excited to share that with the people of Edinburgh once again.’
With a debut album in the pipeline and a major award under her belt, Berta Kennedy is going places. The Greenockborn, Edinburgh-based singer tells Fiona Shepherd about being a musical auteur and how her taste was heavily influenced by family members
Berta Kennedy is an enthusiast and a realist. The alt.pop singersongwriter has been performing since her mid-teens but first hit wider recognition when she was named as the SAY Award’s Sound Of Young Scotland winner for 2022. It’s an accolade she describes as ‘probably the most monumental thing to happen in my career so far’.
Yet at the same time she provides the reality check. ‘Any up-and-coming artist is probably waiting on at least three applications for something coming back to them, putting yourself out there, trying to get a wee step ahead with a bit of funding or a bit of status or an opportunity. I just got that one.’
Likewise, her auteur abilities as writer, performer and producer of her own material is an impressive calling card, but for Kennedy it’s purely practical. ‘I’m not saying someone should do all of it themselves; it’s not a pride thing, it’s a financial thing, just to put that out there,’ she says. ‘I love working with and for people, and I know how important perspective and inspiration and communication is. Making music shouldn’t be an isolating situation; but for the sake of financial ease I chose to do it on my own.’
Kennedy spent much of lockdown honing her self-sufficient production skills, but prior to the pandemic she was very much plugged into the community which comes from studying music (in her case popular music composition at Edinburgh Napier University). She’s been based in the capital ever since. ‘I just think Edinburgh’s lovely,’ she says. ‘I don’t know if you’ve been to Greenock but you tend not to move back . . . ’
In the same breath, she acknowledges that her first musical opportunities came via Greenock music-mentoring charity GAIN while her path was also shaped by her sisters’ contrasting tastes in rap and rock. ‘I love chunky riffs but I like putting beats on top of it and it’s all down to growing up with that. Also, everyday life inspires me. Usually, if I’m writing it’s about how I’m feeling day-to-day. Now, I’m not that precious about songs I wrote. I just love making stuff; I would work with anyone and give a song to anyone.’
The Sound Of Young Scotland Award exists to fund a debut album. Kennedy was due to start recording hers the day after we spoke and is eyeing a late 2024 release. In the meantime, she plans to debut some new material at Hidden Door. ‘I’ve been as an audience member and it’s bloody great,’ she says. ‘It just makes you feel so creative and inspired while you’re there, and I can’t wait to play it.’
Expect high emotion and even higher energy at local artist Billy Got Waves’ homecoming gig, says Danny Munro
Billy Got Waves coined his stage name after the late fashion icon Virgil Abloh left a wave emoji beneath an old Instagram post. Like Abloh, he doesn’t settle for mediocrity when it comes to his art.
‘I create music that I feel, in my own head, is ahead of its time,’ asserts the young Edinburgh rapper. ‘I like to create music that kind of gives me that feeling of nostalgia, but at the same time is something that I’ve never heard before.’
His latest release, ‘Heaven’, is the first single from upcoming EP, Rocket Boy 3/3. ‘The song is about me first meeting my now ex-girlfriend, and is basically about being so encapsulated by somebody that you’re just like “wow, this is a goddess in real life”.’
Due out on 26 May, Rocket Boy 3/3 completes a trilogy of EPs, and Billy Got Waves predicts that his live showcase at Hidden Door will do more than enough to enthral the crowd. ‘To be honest, my show is very emotional; it tugs at different emotions throughout the whole thing, because I perform Rocket Boy kind of from start to finish, so it goes from EP 1 all the way to EP 3, in the linear way that I meant it to be. It tells a story, but also there’s a live band, loads of synths encompassing everything, crazy electric guitar, trap: it’s a whole experience.’
If his endearing confidence and unfaltering self-belief in the power of his project is anything to go by, Billy Got Waves’ set will be an essential fixture of this latest Hidden Door.
Kevin Fullerton reckons London-based trio Frozemode have what it takes to raise the roof with their hardcore hyperactive sound
Bringing a DIY spirit to alternative rap, Frozemode have crash landed with excitable hooks and the attitude of a band ready to hit the stratosphere. Comprised of IV GATLIN, Lisong and Cho-Hollow, their combination of lightning speed delivery, propulsive guitars and scrappy production will entice anyone who loves slowthai or Jamie T. Frozemode’s mix of punk, garage and drum & bass has a lairy edge to it, a rambunctious flair that’ll cause havoc at house parties and provoke moshpits more hardcore than a WrestleMania slobberknocker. It’s the kind of music that should make half of their Hidden Door crowd bellow ‘oi, oi, oi!’ in between songs.
While it’s still early doors for the band, they’re already enjoying plaudits from highprofile sources. BBC Radio 1 presenter Jack Saunders has been one of their most strident champions since the release of debut single ‘Maybelline’ last December, featuring it on the Next Wave segment of his show and earning them a cult following that continues to blossom.
Their second single ‘Simon Says’, a lo-fi banger about holding a crowd in the palm of your hand and embracing chaos, shows that this is a band who might just live up to the hype. How they’ll build on these promising foundations is yet to be seen, but they’ve already cracked translating their hyperactive sound to a live setting. Expect Frozemode to get the party started when they bound on stage at Hidden Door.
This time last year, Pillow Queens were neck deep in a worldwide tour of their sophomore album, Leave The Light On. They crossed Europe, the UK and USA (making a second appearance on James Corden’s The Late Late Show), scored a nomination for the Choice Music Prize Irish Album Of The Year, and bagged a supporting slot at Phoebe Bridgers’ sold-out Glasgow shows. It’s been a wild ride. But now, at last, they’re home.
‘It feels like necessary rest time,’ says Sarah Corcoran, covocalist and guitarist, over the phone from Dublin. ‘We’ve purposely not been saying yes to gigs or big travel commitments. It’s nice to have this time to reflect and write something new.’ The band is currently holed up in their studio every day, fuelled by cups of tea and a collaborative Spotify playlist, which coalesces their music tastes. Corcoran rattles off names like Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, boygenius, Kings Of Leon and St Vincent: an impressively broad range. ‘It’s ridiculously long at this stage, but it’s my go-to playlist,’ she chuckles. ‘I can’t wait to hear our next record.’
We’re well past the days of lockdown, when Pillow Queens debuted their first album, In Waiting, minus a live audience; but hearing fans sing their songs back to them hasn’t got any less strange. ‘When you go to Portland, Oregon, people sing in a Dublin accent with their American twang about issues that are happening in Dublin,’ Corcoran explains. ‘Like “you can relate
to this as well”. It makes it feel worthwhile.’ In the past, that ‘Irish lens’ emerged more blatantly: ‘A Dog’s Life’ addressed Dublin’s housing crisis, while ‘Handsome Wife’ reconciled Catholic imagery with queer marital bliss. But with Leave The Light On, the connection is subtle. ‘You’re grieving an old place you used to love,’ says Corcoran, referencing the rising rents and a creeping anti-immigration sentiment across Ireland. ‘It doesn’t feel settled right now. It feels like there’s a rumbling chaos. I think that ends up in your soul, so it ends up in your songs.’
Given LGBTQ+ anthems like ‘Gay Girls’, it’s unsurprising that they’re widely touted as a feminist queer band. Corcoran acknowledges the barriers they still face as four non-male musicians (‘when we’re asked to join a festival line-up later in the day, we do wonder if it’s just to balance things out a bit’) but insists there are reasons for optimism. ‘The exciting moves within music, particularly indie rock, are not with masculine music. Not anymore.’ Between the rise of groups such as boygenius and Wet Leg, are we witnessing a new golden era for non-male guitar bands? ‘Yes, and they’re all over TikTok!’ Corcoran exclaims. ‘You’re 12! How are you in a band? I love it. I wish I was in a band when I was 12.’
Music plays a big part at Hidden Door, but there’s so much more to explore at the five-day multi-arts fest. Neil Cooper rounds up some of the event’s other highlights for this year
Tground level and beyond. The hive-like hexagonal shape of Glover’s construction, which opened in 1976, lends itself to all manner of underground interventions.
This should be clear from The Environments, a series of six immersive voyages through zones that invite the audience to experience the likes of Hill, Wasteland, Garden and Forest. This leads to the less-familiar sounding terrain of Aphotic Archaeology (the aphotic zone being the portion of a lake with little or no sunlight) and Holocene (or current geological epoch).
Dance is to the fore in The Environments, with new works by choreographer Róisín O’Brien and composer Rowan McIlvride; dancer Kai Tomioka explores conflict with artist Zoe Gibson; there’s Chinese folk dance from Yuxi Jiang, and dance theatre by Tess Letham featuring costumes from Cleo Rose McCabe. Elsewhere, opera singer Stephanie Lamprea collaborates with dance artist Penny Chivas, composer Tom W Green and visual artist Oana Stanciu to examine themes of extinction.
Moving deeper into the building, audiences will find artist Alliyah Enyo’s seabed zone before ending up in the earth’s depths, care of electronic musician Exterior. With the shadow of real-life volcano Arthur’s Seat looming over The Complex, this should preview an all-too-fitting excavation.
Beyond The Environments, Hidden Door has expansive programmes of visual art, spoken word and poetry hiding in every nook, cranny and corner. More than 30 visual artists will be showing their work, with 20-plus poets and spoken-word artists programmed to perform.
Much of the visual work seems to fit with its surroundings, as artists focus on notions of environment, psychogeography and space in its broadest sense. Ideas drawn from ecology, geology and obsolete fax machines point up relationships between ancient and modern in a carefully selected range of work that creates narratives and environments of its own.
Scotland’s ever-fertile poetry and spoken-word scenes, meanwhile, will show off a diverse array of artists, breathing life into their words and bringing the venue alive; reclaiming bricks and mortar in an artistic eruption that lays down the foundations for future happenings inspired by a seismic past.
n Hidden Door, The Complex, Edinburgh, Wednesday 31 May–Sunday 4 June.
EDINBURGH BEER GARDEN
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BOOK A TABLE OR BEACH HUT AT 13 BRISTO SQUARE, EDINBURGH, EH9 9AJ
If you went clubbing in Edinburgh during the late 20th century, there’s a good chance you were on the dancefloor of a night created by Fred Deakin. As Neil Cooper discovers, the artist, professor and one-half of beloved electronica duo Lemon Jelly is attempting to honour those heady days in a new interactive show
hen Fred Deakin started putting on a series of clubs in the 1980s and 90s, he never expected that decades later he’d be auditioning actors to help tell his story. Yet this is exactly what the promoter of such iconic nights as Going Places, Misery, Devil Mountain, Thunderball and Impotent Fury has been doing in the run up to Club Life, a quasi-autobiographical show-and-tell which celebrates an era of Edinburgh clubbing when imagination mattered. Introducing elements that went beyond the music to become total environments, Deakin’s nights were social sculptures in a democratic creative playground where fun and games could be had by all.
From early days promoting nu-jazz night Blue at the original Gilded Balloon bar, Deakin and his assorted collaborators moved operations into venues such as Wilkie House (now Stramash), and Designer Frames Gallery on the site of what is now La Belle Angele. From here, Deakin’s canvas expanded to take in the Fruitmarket Gallery, Murrayfield Ice Rink, the ABC Cinema on Lothian Road (now the Odeon) and Stirling Castle, selling out the entire Assembly Rooms en route. And let’s not forget The Cooler, a basement dive on Calton Road where Misery, ‘the worst club in the world’ (his words), held court in a self-created fly-tipping zone.
Crucial to all this were the extra-curricular activities of the nights themselves. As Going Places rode the easy-listening wave with a sense of well-dressed irony, nights included karaoke and screenings of classic films. Misery’s themed cornucopias of terrible records, meanwhile, became a form of self-destructive anti-theatre with a set of broken fridges and dirty newspapers, while the dry ice was so deliberately thick it caused the club upstairs to complain.
All of these events were flagged up across town by Deakin’s distinctive poster and flyer designs, which promised a good night out of quality and distinction that might just take a turn for the epic. ‘Clubs are an artform, and they should be respected,’ says a post-audition Deakin. ‘One of the real premises of Club Life is that we’ve heard the stories of The Haçienda and Studio 54 many, many times, but let’s get some actual stories from the coalface. I wasn’t running clubs to get famous or to make money or to do drugs or anything like that. I was doing it because I knew a bunch of people who loved what I was doing, and I loved doing it for them.’
For Deakin, it became a kind of micro community where he learned everything he ever wanted to know about creativity, passion and joy. ‘I didn’t want anybody else to know about it. It was just for me and those people. It was a community thing. For me, that spirit is what running clubs is about. We were making it up as we went along, and that was the joy of it. It was a very fertile time, when we could take over the whole of the Assembly Rooms, whereas now it’s a lot more corporate.’
Working with theatre director Sita Pieraccini, Deakin is trying to recapture the spirit of his clubs in a whistle-stop tour through a back catalogue that began as a south London teenager growing up with punk, before putting on nights while a student at Edinburgh University. ‘I could have just done this show as a club night: get a room and play a bunch of old records. But that felt too easy. This felt like it deserved more of a narrative thread. Another option would be for me to do a one-man show, where everybody sits down and listens to me tell funny stories and show some pictures and videos. But what if it’s neither or both of these things? So the concept is for a different kind of show.’
The result of this is a hybrid that will feature five performers recreating various clubs in between Deakin’s chat, inviting the audience to join in as they go. ‘What I don’t want,’ he says, reassuringly, ‘is for people to feel like they have to get on the dancefloor and dance, because there’s always a moment at the beginning of the night when you’re playing tunes and people just hit the bar. They’re not quite ready to dance yet.’ As with the nights being lauded, Club Life might be styled as immersive theatre, a more participatory experience in which the audience plays a more active role in proceedings than merely sitting in the dark.
Deakin channelled some of his more playful ideas into Lemon Jelly, the Mercury Music Prize-nominated electronic duo he formed with Nick Franglen in the late 90s. For their live shows, a support act would be replaced by the audience taking part in a mass game of bingo. By this time, Deakin had set up ground-breaking digital design studio, Airside, before spending seven years as Professor Of Digital Arts at University Of The Arts London.
His 2007 mix album The Triptych was hailed by The Guardian as the greatest mixtape ever, while 2019 sci-fi rock opera The Lasters was compared to vintage Doctor Who. Deakin currently runs FANDCO, a studio specialising in creative technology and performance. Beyond such futuristic sounding endeavours, Club Life is more of a prodigal’s return.
‘In 20 or 30 years time, all this will be gone from living memory, so Club Life is about honouring those times,’ Deakin says. ‘We all put a lot of sweat and blood into running these clubs; and for the people who came, again there was that sense of community. I really want to say thank you, for teaching me how to have fun, and for showing me this creative groove I might never have had otherwise. If I hadn’t had these experiences with these people, I would have been doing something completely different. Everything I’ve done since came out of these weird random clubs that have been lost in the mists of time. I just wanted to tip my hat to them.’
Club Life, Summerhall, Edinburgh, Thursday 25–Sunday 28 May.
www.eca.ed.ac.uk
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Friday 2 June to Sunday 11 June 10am – 4pm daily
Wednesday 7 June & Thursday 8 June
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Led by a trio of sculptors, an exciting new project is transforming a disused socialwork office in Paisley into a vibrant studio and workshop space. Greg Thomas drops by to learn about their innovative plans for helping artists and the wider community
There’s a cloudless blue sky above Paisley as I make the 20-minute walk west from Gilmour Street Station to the suburb of Ferguslie Park. St Mirren Park football stadium is visible across a stretch of bare grass to the north, while contrails from departing planes make white scorch-lines above me (Glasgow Airport is only a couple of miles away). My destination is Craigielea House, a grand stone villa dating to the turn of the 20th century, which artists Laura Aldridge, James Rigler and Nick Evans have recently refurbished and opened to the public as Sculpture House, an artists’ studiocum-community workshop space.
When I arrive to meet Aldridge, the local postman is chatting to her in the front yard. There are planting boxes dotted around, ready to be filled with herbs and shrubs for a ‘dye garden’, while several apple trees sit in big plastic tubs around the porch. These were donated by local resident Angela from the garden of her soon-to-be demolished house. She’s moving into a new-build right behind Sculpture House and first visited the venue to get a better view of her home under construction.
‘This is only going to work if we bed ourselves in,’ Aldridge tells me later, as we sip coffee on the front steps which are covered in multi-coloured encaustic tiling by ceramicist Joanne Dawson. ‘We can’t be this distant, aloof presence. We want the house to become a record of the things people do here and the gifts they give us, so they can walk past and say “I made that”.’
But how did they end up here in the first place, nestled on the edge of a large housing estate which remains something of a tabloid byword for post-industrial decline (in 2012 and 2016, Ferguslie Park was named the most deprived area in Scotland)? First of all, Aldridge points out, the deprivation tag has been unhelpful and stigmatising for residents of the area which, she says, has brilliant community spirit and a history of selforganising to improve public spaces. ‘I first did a series of craft workshops here funded by Renfrewshire Council in 2020. I was struck by how much people were taking things into their own hands, like the Pals Of The Privies, who restored the local park. They were used to being let down by the authorities so they just got on with it.’
Around the same time, she began talking with fellow sculptors James Rigler and Nick Evans about how precarious contemporary artists’ lives could be. ‘That model of burrowing yourself away in your studio and then occasionally selling artworks for millions of pounds to very rich people . . . that’s just not how it works for most of us,’ she says. They also talked about feeling ‘cut off from the world’ in normal, warehouse-type studios, and the
unquestioned hierarchies of value which mean that some artists see educational and community activities as secondary to making and selling work. ‘It’s unhealthy and old-fashioned,’ Aldridge says. What if things could work differently? What if the three of them could pay their studio rental on an in-kind basis by offering creative activities to locals and maintaining a building that the community could use?
One day during her 2020 residency, Aldridge was walking past Craigielea House, then a vacant council property (it had formerly been used as a social-work office). ‘The person I was with pointed out what a great building it was and said “it’s just lying empty. It’s crazy!” I said “yeah, that would make a great residency space”. A few years later, here we are. It’s weird to think back to that conversation.’ The three friends formed Sculpture House Collective and initially tried to secure a deal with Glasgow City Council (‘but we got no response at all’). However, Leonie Bell, now Director of V&A Dundee but previously Strategic Lead for the Future Paisley Partnership at Renfrewshire Council, jumped at the opportunity.
The trio were shown several spots, including a former police station and a vast factory site, but the ex-domestic residence, close to the local community, seemed ideal. Rent is officially £1 per year on a 20-year lease. In reality, the group estimate they’re offering the equivalent of £17,000 per annum in time and labour, not to mention pouring capital in to fix the place up. ‘The council agreed they’d make it watertight but the rest was up to us,’ recalls Aldridge. Collapsing roofs had to be repaired, interior walls knocked down and grates removed from windows. ‘It was a bit of a fortress when we moved in; I think there’d been some vandalism. Because it had been used for social work, local people didn’t necessarily have the most pleasant associations with the place.’
The first creative project at Sculpture House involved seven students from The Prince’s Foundation Building Arts course, which teaches traditional craft skills. Joanne Dawson’s beautiful front porch is one result of this, while Oliver Pitt and Lara Preiti made a stunning stainedglass surround for the interior entrance. It’s not just visiting craftspeople who have made the space feel like home, though. The Pals Of The Privies’ pre-teen ‘adventure group’ have moulded little glazed ornaments for the spots above the coat hooks. Eventually, the team hope the house will be full of things made by local people. The light-filled front room is free for nearby residents to book and is already in regular use, as are the ceramics studio and kiln room behind it.
Sculpture House is also a functioning studio for several artists. While public spaces occupy much of the ground floor, to the rear lies a spacious wood and plasterwork area (there’s a hint of the TARDIS about the place). Most of the studios are on the first floor, including the print room of Laura Spring, who will work with local schools to create and use dyes from the plants grown out front.
‘We didn’t believe this would come together until the day we signed the lease,’ Aldridge says. And the group still has moments of doubt because of the untested nature of what they’re doing. ‘But when you’re an artist, there’s so much that doesn’t make sense financially that you develop this kind of blind faith.’ There are planned capital bids for restoration work, and lots more, but people from Ferguslie Park will remain central to all plans for Sculpture House. ‘We’re not looking to own this building,’ states Aldridge. ‘We’re developing a community asset which we hope will be here for a long time.’
Sculpture House, Paisley, sculpturehousecollective.com
With a unique blend of big names, secret gigs, acoustic sets and new sounds, Connect returns to the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh from 25 to 27 August and is the place to discover your next favourite artist. The festival celebrates an eclectic array of musical talent with Primal Scream, Fred again.., boygenius and Loyle Carner at the top of the bill.
Making his Scottish festival debut and his third show in Scotland, Fred again.. will be headlining the main stage on Saturday. Hot on the heels of a sold out show at Madison Square Gardens and a hugely praised Boiler Room and Tiny Desk Concert, Fred’s set is hugely anticipated by fans and is a must-see if you haven’t heard his impeccably produced electronic hits. Just like Fred’s rise to fame, there are many more acts making their festival debut, creating an unforgettable experience for festival-goers this summer.
International talent will touch down in Scotland’s capital on Saturday as Los Angeles-based trio, MUNA, brings a refreshing blend of darkpop and synth-wave to the lineup. If you like CHVRCHES, you’ll love MUNA’s infectious melodies and captivating live performances which have earned them praise from critics and fans alike - if you haven’t heard of them already, they could be your next obsession.
Hailing from Ireland, Biig Piig is rising to fame in a similar way to Arlo Parks. She’ll take to the stage on Saturday, making waves with her genredefying blend of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B. Her honest lyrics have gained her a fast-growing following, making her one of the most anticipated acts at the festival.
TAAHLIAH is fast becoming one of the biggest names in the UK’s electronic music scene. The Glasgow DJ will bring her powerful stage
presence and floor fillers that are bound to leave a lasting impression on festival-goers this summer.
On Sunday, boygenius, the indie supergroup composed of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, will be playing one of their debut UK shows. The group has rapidly gained a following since their self-titled EP in 2018 and have continued to push boundaries in the indie-rock scene, with their debut album reaching number one in the Official UK Albums Chart.
If you like Fred again.., you’ll love Public Service Broadcasting. On the closing day of the festival, the innovative group will take to the stage, weaving together samples from old public information films, archive footage, and propaganda with live instrumentation. Their distinctive sound and performance make them a standout act at Connect.
This year, families can enjoy a great weekend together with tickets available for children aged 0-12 and a full programme of children’s activities to be announced soon.
Adding another award to chef-patron Calum Montgomery’s collection, Edinbane Lodge on the Isle Of Skye took home Restaurant Of The Year at the recent Scottish Excellence Awards. When Skye native Montgomery took on the 16th-century hunting lodge, it was derelict; but he and his family transformed it into a casual ne-dining restaurant with rooms. Over ve years, an ultra-local menu caught the Michelin Guide’s attention and the lodge won four AA rosettes before being crowned Restaurant Of The Year for 2023. Sea-fresh oysters, mussels and hand-dived scallops on the tasting menu keep the food miles minimal, and pictureperfect dishes are avoured with the likes of foraged meadowsweet and scurvygrass.
(Suzy Pope)
Old Dunvegan Road, Edinbane, Isle Of Skye,
The List have partnered with the Ideal Home Show Scotland offering readers 1000 FREE tickets to attend any day of the four-day show, which will be packed with inspirational ideas.
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Leith hotspot Heron’s Michelin star may be making all the headlines in Edinburgh this spring but the team’s latest venture has just taken flight in Stockbridge. Suzy Pope reckons they’re on to another winner
Descending the steps to this basement spot on Stockbridge’s St Stephen Street, you’re immediately cocooned in ink-black walls. Thick curtains soak up quiet conversation and tables glow in the candlelight. It’s like stepping into a cabaret bar where the evening’s headliner (proudly displayed on a chalkboard of wine specials) might be a Georgian saperavi or white burgundy. Skua was born when Heron bar manager Seoridh Fraser (along with chefs Sam Yorke and Tomás Gormley, and chef de partie Aran Lowry) decided to ‘take the ethos behind Heron, but translate it to a more casual environment where our hospitality friends could unwind and get a good feed without breaking the bank.’
The small plates menu, wine list and cocktails were designed with hospitality-level wages in mind and the late kitchen hours are to fit the schedules of porters, waiting staff and sous chefs. ‘We run late because the food offerings in town can be quite limited,’ explains Fraser. ‘We want hospitality peers in town, and any night owls, to be able to visit when they have time and be looked after properly, with warming food and drink you can afford with tips.’
Fraser manages the beverage programme across Skua and Heron, and at the former he’s curated a wine list that’s accessible and eclectic. For the indecisive or those on a budget, you can order anything by the glass.
Cocktails, like the dangerously drinkable Tokyo Calling, are mixed and balanced with the precision of a chemist, yet they’re not the double-take prices we’ve come to expect. Old Fashioneds start at £5 and the glass is full to the brim. Fraser doesn’t believe in ‘paying a premium just because you’re drinking cocktails’, especially when the New Town is already awash with plush bars serving over-sugared martinis costing more than a tenner a go.
The dining model is small plates, served up as pretty as any dish you’ll see at Heron. With options starting at a fiver, you could easily eat your way through the whole menu without being out of pocket. Sea bream ceviche in soy and citrus, or sticky, sweet Koji chicken skewers with a gooey egg yolk dip embrace South-East Asian flavours. And if you love this medley of sweet and salty, the miso sticky toffee pudding could be the best £3 you’ll ever spend.
Skua set out to cater for their hospitality friends (‘we wanted to create a place where the burden of decades of national mismanagement can be forgotten with a £5 Midori Sour and a generous bowl of fried chicken’) but what they’ve achieved is close to time travel. It’s like going back 20 years when the bill at the end of the night wouldn’t make your eyes water.
Come dine with us in a spacious, bright interior. Serving Indian street food, tandoori grill, curry’s, fresh mocktails and more.
10 Antigua Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3NH
WWW.KAHANIRESTAURANT.CO.UK
7 South St David St EH2 2BD
We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Jay Thundercliffe continues his picks of Great Western Road, taking us from Kelvinbridge to the Botanic Gardens on this second leg
David Kirkwood reports on the latest news and openings as Michelin ratings bring starry success to Scottish restaurants
The 2023 Michelin Guide is out, and two Edinburgh restaurants join the club this year, with Timberyard and Heron both getting the gong. It’s also encouraging that nowhere in Scotland lost its status, so we’ve now got 12 Michelin-starred restaurants and 13 stars in total (Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles has two).
The Mash Up festival returns to Holyrood Distillery in Edinburgh on 2–4 June. Whisky and beer collide, with a ‘half and half’ pairing menu available at the indoor bar and outside courtyard. Alongside the hosts, global distillers High Coast (Sweden), Kyro (Finland) and St Kilian (Germany) are confirmed, with local craft beer favourites Pilot, Otherworld and Barney’s.
BREAD MEATS BREAD
Back when Glasgow went burger crazy, Bread Meats Bread rode the wave, expanded (three apiece in Glasgow and Edinburgh), and kept on riding while others disappeared from the meaty scene. BMB’s success is rooted in top-notch ingredients, not-rip-off prices, and a crowdpleasing sandwich selection.
CAIL BRUICH
For years, this lone player in the Charalambous brothers’ now multi-venue portfolio couldn’t quite hit the Michelin heights. Then chef Lorna McNee arrived and clinched the big gong (retained for 2023). It was a shining light before the star, now it’s even better, offering a surprise tasting menu of culinary prowess.
COTTONRAKE
One of the trailblazers of Glasgow’s nouvelle bakery scene. This corner bakery-café may be more shop with a few perches, but elbow your way in and you’ll find a world of goodies, from breads and bakes to savoury and sweet pastries, sandwiches and cakes galore.
MORNING GLORY
When the owners of small-plate specialist Five March said they were opening a brunch café a couple of years ago, everyone knew it’d be great. Its familiar offerings are elevated by superb sourcing, inventive ideas and exceptional execution. Good luck getting a seat at weekend brunchtime.
PAPERCUP
This stripped-back heaven for coffee lovers has been hitting us with caffeine since 2012. A wholesale roastery (recently moved to SWG3) means there are plenty of beans on a menu that also features cold brews. Local sourcing dominates a brunch menu that drifts enticingly into lunchtime.
In Glasgow, Chaw Pet Noi are doing Northern Thai street food in the Southside space that was Julie’s Kopitiam. Just up the road, seven21 x Hinba is an exciting offering that sees Hinba Coffee Roasters running the day shift, before becoming a small plates tasting menu affair from the team behind Eighty Eight in the evening. In Edinburgh, Tim’rous Beastie is a trendy new bar down in Leith where Ooh Mami used to be; the Buzzworks group have announced a third Herringbone bar and restaurant (this time in Abbeyhill) with 20 jobs advertised; while on the flipside, boutique venue Eòrna is coming to Stockbridge offering ‘chef and sommelier fine dining’, we’re told, but with no other kitchen or front-of-house staff at all.
Finally, some sad news, as Edinburgh favourite 21212 confirmed that, after the death of chef-proprietor Paul Kitching, the restaurant is no more. It was greatly loved and will be sorely missed.
Blink and you’ll miss Argile restaurant on the edge of Marchmont. Seating a maximum of eight people, it’s the epitome of an intimate dining experience. And ‘experience’ is the word; the dining bar wraps around a gleaming chrome kitchen with a surprising amount of sparkle.
The soundtrack to your meal is the bubble and hiss of pots and pans as dishes are prepared in front of you, along with some friendly chatter about ingredient sourcing (the duck is from Strathaven, the mussels from St Monans). Plus, there’s a bit of storytelling between courses from chef Jack Montgomery, formerly of The Peat Inn over in Fife. A seasonal tasting menu is the only option, and due to the venue’s intimate nature, most dietary requirements can’t be catered for. Dishes are accompanied by the curated wine list which is all Old World, with a particular penchant for France (zesty Languedoc picpouls and grenache from the Southern Rhone).
The menu has evolved since Argile opened last summer and experimentation has led to a selection of diners’ favourites. A bite-sized mimolette gougère is a delightful start, and egg yolk jam and salty little beads of trout roe atop a crisp rosti are another mouthful of joy. Mussels in smoked butter steal the show with a curious spice from black lime that lingers long after the last bite. While spelt porridge is earthy and delicious, the presentation doesn’t do it justice (and a ‘yeast reduction’ never sounds particularly appetising on a menu). Ending with the childhood nostalgia of rhubarb and custard in a pimped-up variation is a triumph. Overall, it feels like the kind of place those in the know will wax lyrical about. (Suzy Pope)
n 21 Argyle Place, Edinburgh, argilerestaurant.co.uk
Glasgow’s Big Feed recently celebrated six years of its Govan street-food market, where nomadic chefs set up stalls or park trucks and fire up their ovens. Last year, they opened Big Feed Kitchen in designer shopping centre Princes Square, and now two bricks-and-mortar operators, Baked and Rafa’s, have moved in permanently.
Decor is retro surf-bum meets punk skater, with vintage boards, baseball caps and band posters, and staff fittingly chilled and casual; it’s a bit of balance to the buttoned-up blingy vibe that dominates the centre.
Rafa’s specialise in tacos, honed in their Hidden Lane shack. Grilled meats including nicely done flat-iron steak and chicken thighs are enjoyable headliners, though they’re pipped by the citrus punch and corn crunch of a cured-salmon tostado special. Benchmark guacamole is good, though the chilli taco sauce is for the faint-hearted and heat lovers might prefer it pepped up.
Duke Street’s Baked are experts in pizza al taglio (Roman-style pizza baked in large rectangular pans and served by the sliced-up square). It’s all about the dough, with a few days’ proving giving the base a lovely light, bubbly interior, yet it’s robust enough for generous toppings and holding in your hand. Options include straight-up marinara or delicious nduja, while smaller handstretched pinsa Romana are also available.
The whole set-up gels with the centre’s day/night duality, helped by a family-friendly space with tables next to the kid-magnet courtyard. At night the cocktail bar gets grooving, with margaritas the stars, and a tempting ‘test the bar’ option. (Jay Thundercliffe) n Princes Square, 48 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, big-feed.com
Across a year and a bit of this column, Kevin Fullerton has sampled many beverages and let you know exactly what he thought of them. With last orders being called on his slot, Kevin finally gets round to talking about . . . digestifs
Like a dinner party held hostage by its once gracious host, it’s time for me to put down the bread knife and let you all file out of my dining room one by one, frightened but secretly thrilled by the debauch you’ve endured. That’s right, this is the grand finale of Drink Up, and what better way to celebrate its voyage to Valhalla than with digestifs?
To mark the occasion, I’ve prepared a four-course meal in the manner of a man on death row and sat down to enjoy my final drinks for this column. Which ones will soothe my bilious soul and aggressively gassy stomach?
First in the sipping slaughterhouse is Caru brandy liqueur, a mini masterpiece distilled in Essex. Decadence lies at the heart of this one, starting with a whiff of chocolate orange on the nose. The taste is delicate, not a hint of burn, lining your throat with ice-cream sweetness. This big brandy hug will wrap around you with delicious arms and hands, like a six-packed dreamboat cradling a kitten. Perhaps I’m that kitten and Chris Hemsworth is staring down at me with his kind eyes, his stomach muscles a sexy cheese grater. Meow. Anyway . . .
Edinburgh Old Poison Amaro is less of a hug and more a carpet bombing of the senses. Skull and crossbones are emblazoned across the packaging of this Italian herbal affair. Cool. Taste-wise it’s a lot to take on, loaded with the bitterness of bile. As the terrifying insignia indicates, this is a challenge when drunk neat, akin to those curry houses selling an 18+ vindaloo that comes with a long and legally shaky health warning. Best used to inject a megapowered kick to an elaborate cocktail.
Our final entrant in the Booze Hound Thunderdome is Rubis Chocolate Velvet Ruby, a fortified wine that’s rich with a capital RICH. It’s another chocolatey mixture but more garishly so than Caru, the difference between a lover sensually sliding a Milk Tray betwixt your lips and a championship wrestler breaking your nose with a frozen Toblerone. On that liver-emaciating note, please leave . . .
Creative folks reveal their favourite watering hole
COMEDIAN MARK NELSON
As a touring comedian I could write 10,000 words on mental boozers next to train stations that I’ve had a quick pint in. However, my favourite pub is one closer to home, both domestically and comedically: The Old Schoolhouse in Woodlands, Glasgow.
Situated next door to The Stand, it has been the location of countless panicked scribblings by myself; trying to reword a bit I want to try onstage that night whilst taking the nerves away with a pint of Guinness. Cracking food, brilliant atmosphere (particularly on rugby days) and the nicest staff you could ever ask for. Belter of a place.
n youtube.com/@MarkNelsonComic; Mark Nelson’s Edinburgh Fringe show is at Monkey Barrel The Hive, 1–27 August.
Researched and compiled by The List’s food and drink team, tipLIST suggests the places worth knowing around Edinburgh and Glasgow in different themes, categories and locations. As an incentive to make the most of any early summer sunshine (it might be all we get, after all), this month we’re tipping a selection of favourite beer gardens, terraces and outdoor drinking spots in both cities
COLD TOWN HOUSE
4 Grassmarket, coldtownhouse.co.uk
Pub views don’t come better than this. Perched high above Grassmarket, this roof terrace offers cocktails, refreshing pints of Cold Town Beer, hot pizzas and loaded fries, with unfettered views of the castle. It’s a popular spot when the sun shines so this is one to book.
19 St Leonard’s Lane, holyrooddistillery.co.uk
Handily placed for a pint after a stroll up Arthur’s Seat, the sunny courtyard bar at Holyrood Distillery is also striking distance from the city centre. Find crisp Pilot beers on tap, Vault City Brewing sours by the can, and cocktails using the distillery’s award-winning Height Of Arrows gin.
LOST IN LEITH
82 Commercial Street, campervanbrewery.com/lostinleith
Run by Campervan Brewery, this place has European canal-side vibes and gets plenty of sunshine. Alongside their own brews aged onsite, there’s an eclectic global selection of lowintervention wines and beers. Order from Pizza Geeks across the road straight to your table.
SUMMERHALL
1 Summerhall, summerhall.co.uk
Not just for the Festival, the Summerhall courtyard is a cultured spot for an alfresco pint year round, and there’s always an exhibition worth checking out too. Barney’s Beer and Pickering’s Gin are produced on-site and there’s a hearty pub-food menu to fuel your afternoon.
1a Dock Place, teuchtersbar.co.uk
This tented riverside beer garden has local beers on tap, including Paolozzi lager and Moonwake IPA (brewed just 160 metres across the water). Heat lamps and warming mugs of stovies, not to mention a fine whisky range, will keep you snug if the weather turns.
BREL
37–43 Ashton Lane, brelbar.com
Brel has done a lot to raise its game in the last couple of years; a multi-faceted masterclass of wooden beams and spotlights that sweeps up the hill behind Ashton Lane. It gets all the sun and has loads of shelter when needed, as well as firepits and a top-notch sound system.
INN DEEP
445 Great Western Road, inndeep.com
Backing onto the Kelvin, you can sup as you look over the water at this pub. While the larger, seated area (undercover in an old railway tunnel) might not get heaps of sun, that doesn’t deter the masses in warmer weather. It looks the part and backs it up with 20 lines of craft beer.
STAG & THISTLE
778 Pollokshaws Road, stagandthistleglasgow.com
Southsiders flock here when the sun breaks out. Its proximity to Queen’s Park helps, and there’s a sensitive layout to the seating, protected from the whizz of traffic by big, solid overhangs and foliage that blocks the elements when required.
WEST ON THE GREEN
Templeton Business Centre, 15 Binnie Place, westbeer.com
The credentials are perfect: an independent Glasgow brewpub, making beer according to the German purity law, located on Glasgow Green. The garden has 35 picnic-style tables and a dedicated ‘wunderbar’ van outside to keep the pints flowing quickly in the summer months.
WEST SIDE TAVERN
162 Dumbarton Road, westsidetavern.co.uk
There’s something exciting about hidden urban beer gardens. Step out the back door here and find a hefty, two-tier patio that can be covered or uncovered, with a bar, summer barbecues and the same cool vibe that it has indoors.
BENTOYA
13 Bread Street, bentoya-edinburgh.com
Bentoya has had a facelift, lightwood Japanese zen successfully clashing with J-pop tunes. The menu is a fusion of classic sushi and experimental twists, plus ramen, udon and donburi. Reservations essential.
THE HANGING BAT
133 Lothian Road, thehangingbat.com
It’s a mecca of craft beer in Edinburgh but don’t be too intimidated, as friendly staff will help you decipher between a rich porter or zesty IPA. There’s hearty burgers and hot dogs too.
HEY PALU
49 Bread Street, heypalu.com
A great spot for pre-show drinks and a little snack. One of the owners hails from the Amalfi Coast, so the negronis are particularly good, along with charcuterie plates and cheese drizzled with honey.
TING THAI CARAVAN
55–57 Lothian Road, thingthai-caravan.com
Spicy coconut curries and umami-rich noodles are served in street food-style boxes here. Fast cooking and service have the convenience of takeaway, but the vibe is laidback. Walk-ins only.
TOPOLABAMBA
93 Lothian Road, topolabamba.com
There’s soft tacos, spicy carnitas and blow-your-face-off jalapeño poppers designed for sharing, so Topolabamba is a great choice for larger groups. Plenty of veggie options here too.
From big corporate advertising to starting an independent Scottish surf brand, Megan Merino speaks to the minds behind Staunch Industries to learn how the sea powers their creativity
Multi-hyphenate spaces are becoming more and more common on our high streets. Why limit yourself to being a clothing shop, for instance, when you could add a gallery, café, venue or record shop into the mix? Staunch Industries Design, a boutique creative agency founded by designer Will Beeslaar along with partner Janeanne Gilchrist, are embodying this trend with their new studio/showroom/shop in the heart of Leith.
After working for large advertising firms for many years, Beeslaar was seeking a more playful and expressive environment where he could bring together his love of the outdoors and multidisciplinary design.
‘I didn’t feel fulfilled working with big corporate clients anymore,’ he says. ‘I grew up influenced by comic books and youth culture; surf brands, clothing brands, very colourful kinds of graphical stuff. When you work in corporate stuff, you just don’t necessarily always get to do that. I wanted to create my own Scottish outdoor surf brand, something that would represent our surf culture here in Scotland. I’m from South Africa; I had never been here and I was sort of completely blown away that you could surf, ride on mountain bikes and go skiing here.’
Alongside designing for brands like Hot Wheels, Edinburgh Zoo and local brewery Pilot, this passion for surfing and diving has given Staunch Industries’ original brand a strong
nautical theme, embodied by the kelpie in its logo. ‘The kelpie has always been haunting me. It’s a mythological Scottish creature that’s always calling you into the water to drown you. The more I’m living my life surfing, diving and losing myself in that kind of environment, I realise that there’s maybe a deeper meaning to this sea stallion spirit that is completely untameable. That’s basically Staunch in a nutshell.’
T-shirts, caps, hoodies, soaps, candles and mugs are the canvases for signature prints which feature waves, marine landmarks and wildlife. Gilchrist’s own water photography, which she’s presented in numerous solo exhibitions, line the walls, alongside more technical clothing and accessories for water-sport enthusiasts, including limited-edition bags made in partnership with Montrose Bag Company.
‘All of these outdoor activities are how I find my creativity,’ says Beeslaar, who hopes the new showroom will draw in customers with a similar curiosity for Scottish surfing and diving culture. Eventually the pair hope to host workshops to share their expertise on how to make the most of our coastlines. ‘That’s why we started the company,’ adds Gilchrist, ‘to celebrate the great places we have on our doorstep.’
CDS
There is always a CD in the bottom of my bag, often found months after being placed in my hand. We get given them at gigs all the time and our shelves are groaning with them. This one is super-special as it’s from one of my favourite folk bands, Leveret. And the sweetest cover. I love hares. They remind me of blissful holidays on the Isle Of Coll.
S’WHEAT WATER BOTTLE
As Edinburgh’s celebration of traditional music continues into May, Tradfest producer Jane-Ann Purdy lets Megan Merino take a quick peek inside her backpack before cycling off to the next gig
Wobbly Digital
This is a new addition to the side pocket. Developed by a local company based in East Lothian, it is made from a unique combo of wheat straw and bamboo (a big improvement on my old metal bottle). A herbal tea in here before a gig is essential. Particularly good if you are doing many nights in a row. Edinburgh Tradfest runs for 11, so I employ various teas to keep me going.
ANCIENT LAPTOP
This highly decorated sliver of metal is probably my most durable computer ever. Now in its 12th year on the planet and still going strong. It has lived through one referendum and I hope it (and I) will see another.
BEATNIK
HOMEMADE LIP BALM
I’m a bit of a herbology geek having studied part-time at the Royal Botanic Garden last spring (a bit of a challenge while producing Edinburgh Tradfest at the same time, but a great distraction). So, generally that means I always have some homemade herbal tea in my water bottle, some calming throat sweets, and this fabulous lip balm made with the Melissa plant.
HUMP BACKPACK
Technically not in the bag but on it. During Tradfest, I’ll be cycling home from venues every night so being seen is essential. Makes me reflective without having to wear a hi-vis jacket. If I’m not on my bike, I’m a merge-into-the-background person. Almost all my work is done by the time the bands are centre stage, soaking up the limelight; as it should be.
EMERGENCY SEWING KIT
I always keep a few items that a travelling musician might need: throat sweets, paracetamol and this tiny sewing kit. I was never a Girl Guide but it’s always good to be prepared.
Edinburgh Tradfest runs until Monday 8 May.
The recently opened BEATNIK is more than Tollcross’ latest speciality coffee shop. Selling merchandise alongside top-notch beans from around the globe, their limited edition designs feature bold, colourful prints that feel effortlessly cool. The unisex long-sleeved tops feature a nod to the neighbourhood (EH3) and are made with 100% organic cotton, while their totes are designed to fit literally everything.
2 Brougham Place, Edinburgh, @beatnikcafe_ on Instagram
WOBBLY DIGITAL
Soorin Shin is a 3D artist creating colourful jewellery and homeware that blends the organic with the fantastical. Her work explores the ambiguous
relationship between technology and nature, and has seen her collaborate with musician LVRA on exclusive merch that feels otherworldly. From neon knots to alien-like roots, Shin’s work in plant-based bio-plastic is vibrant, tactile and unique.
Online at at wobblydigital.com, @wobbly_digital on Instagram
KELVIN APOTHECARY
Chic, effortless lifestyle products can be found in Kelvin Apothecary, an award-winning concept store in Glasgow’s West End. When they aren’t selling pocket flower presses, beautiful ceramics or homemade soap and candles, they’re hosting ‘nearly new’ cashmere and jewellery workshops, among other events.
639a Otago Street, Glasgow, kelvinapothecary.com
From original totes to colourful jewellery, Claire Stuart fills us in on three independent retail spots worth discovering shop
A joint commission between Scotland’s Cryptic and Egypt’s B’sarya brings together artist Ghada Eissa and vocalist Nik Rawlings in a project which explores bipolar disorder, time and memory. Their audio-visual installation, I was in the tide, the tide was in me taps into the pair’s own neurodiverse experiences. As well as this exhibition, Bristol-based DJ and composer Rawlings will perform live at the same venue on Sunday 7 and Saturday 20 May.
(Brian Donaldson)
n The Pipe Factory, Glasgow, Saturday 6–Sunday 21 May.
The climate crisis is explored through a lens of ancient myth in Too Close To The Sun, a brand new dance-theatre piece commissioned for Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. Lucy Ribchester gets the inside story from co-creator Natasha Gilmore
Some stories stand the test of time. Others go a step further and draw in writers and artists again and again to reinvent them. Greek myths, in particular, are experiencing a resurgence at the moment, in both literature and theatre. Now, with Barrowland Ballet’s new take on the Icarus myth, that Greek renaissance is being extended to dance. Too Close To The Sun has been made specially for Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, although co-creator Natasha Gilmore says her fixation with the story stretches back to childhood.
‘As children, my co-creator Rob [Alan Evans] and I were adamant for a while that we could probably fly,’ she laughs. But there’s a serious side to this childhood whim. ‘The possibilities of the world as a child are much more flexible, and I thought that was really interesting. So the starting point was the Icarus story.’ Having researched the ancient tale of the boy who was desperate to take flight, Gilmore began working in rehearsal with dancers; it was then that the piece’s major contemporary themes began to emerge.
‘Sometimes when you’re making work, the work itself starts sort of dictating things to you,’ she says. ‘This girl [the show’s main character] is on an island and the world is coming in towards her. We started creating waves that are quite simple, but very effective, using rubbish, bubble wrap and plastic bags. It became clear then that the environmental issues of the younger generation, and that sense of anxiety building and closing in, should be the focus.’
Devised as a collaboration between Gilmore (a choreographer), Evans (a playwright), composer Davey Anderson, and designer Fred Pommerehn, words are kept to a minimum and the storytelling plays out mainly through sound, visuals and movement. It’s a story within a story: of a girl obsessed with Icarus, fixated on the idea of a boy who could fly. As this girl’s world erodes through the environmental crisis, Gilmore says that she becomes ‘haunted’ by the myth and obsessed with a desire to fly away herself.
As well as taking the story from ancient Greece, Gilmore and Evans have also incorporated the mechanisms of Greek drama into the tale. The piece features a chorus, which Gilmore explains is used in Greek theatre ‘to tell us something about a character’s psyche, as
well as the background of the story.’ Meanwhile the theme of climate change is borne out in the production’s design, with part of the set made from recycled rubbish, albeit curated to create a beautiful and artistic effect.
When Gilmore’s son got involved in the 2021 COP26 conference in Glasgow, it helped focus the awareness she already had about young people’s worries regarding the climate crisis. ‘COP26 meant that children realised a weird combination of how powerful they were but also how they have no control whatsoever,’ she says. Gilmore has worked with young people on the issues explored in the piece through engagement with her local primary school; the company are also still working on ways to disseminate information after each performance, to keep the conversation going. ‘I just feel like the conversation has to come from them and the main thing is to stimulate conversation, to make people feel less alone.’
Too Close To The Sun is not the only piece in the festival tackling sources of anxiety to young people. The other main commission, Protest, by acclaimed Edinburgh makar Hannah Lavery, deals with various issues children and young people have to grapple with, including the environmental crisis, racism and building self-esteem. For Gilmore, the answers to such worries are not simple but she believes that fostering a sense of community can be the first step. ‘I think we are trying to look at strength in numbers. If we have these conversations with the people who are affected by this type of anxiety, as soon as you’re not fighting alone, it’s already much easier.’
And that, for Gilmore, starts in the theatre, by creating not only an issues-based story, but a piece that does not forgo its purpose as a piece of art. ‘First of all, we think about making a really beautiful piece of work that will resonate with people and make them feel more connected and less hopeful. And then, within that, we have the opportunity to make people think.’
Too Close To The Sun, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 31 May–Saturday 3 June; Protest, The Studio, Edinburgh, Monday 29–Wednesday 31 May.
Lucy Ribchester shines a light on the surreal and absurd at this year’s festival
Absurdism can offer a child’s-eye view of a complicated world, one where adultcreated problems are revealed in the garish light of simplicity, for us to see their stupidity or arbitrariness. It’s a theme that runs through a number of shows at Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. Udul (Summerhall, 1–4 June) from Catalonia is a circus of ‘farcical nonsense’ using acrobatics and humour to explore the silliness of human etiquette, including misunderstandings, clashes of ego and false politeness.
Hailing from Brussels, Der Lauf (Southside Community Centre, 28–30 May) sees a man with a bucket on his head (pictured above . . . obviously) try to juggle his way through a series of precarious situations. With the audience as his guide, it’s on our heads to see him succeed in his bizarre quest.
One of the most ridiculous phenomena that society conspires in is surely the association of girls with pink. Happily, The Problem With Pink (George Square Theatre, 30 May–2 June) is using dance to tackle this cliché, and follows the travails of a group of boys who are happy in their pink playspace . . . until judgement creeps in. n Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, various venues, Saturday 27 May–Sunday 4 June.
Born in South Africa, Johannes Radebe was a Latin dance champion in his homeland before taking the UK by storm on Strictly Come Dancing. As half of the first male pairing on that Saturday night BBC staple, he’s continued to change the world for the better one high-heeled strut at a time. As Radebe brings us Freedom Unleashed, he speaks to Kelly Apter about using his public platform, refusing to blend in and giving ‘little Jojo’ a voice
In 2022, you stepped away from Strictly to create and tour your own show, Freedom. Why was that important to you? Throughout my years of dancing, I aspired to be part of a show that represented me and told my story, and I found none. Strictly gave me heels but the funny thing is I’ve been wearing heels all my life! I’ve just been doing it in secret. And the fact that I can now do that publicly is so liberating. For much of my life I tried to blend in, to not bring attention to myself, and just live a protected life as a gay boy who knows how the world treats them. So Freedom forced me to really let go of that shame. It tells a different story, of where I come from as an African boy, and I’ve grown to realise that the show is inspiring and brings a lot of joy to people.
Your partnership with John Whaite on Strictly was a landmark moment in the programme’s history. And in Freedom you stated how many countries it’s still illegal to be gay in. It feels like you’re really using your platform to try and affect change? That’s what I’ve realised and it’s a little overwhelming. I was talking to my mum recently and said ‘oh mum, all of a sudden this responsibility has fallen on my shoulders’. I’m no activist. And she said ‘our generation had purpose, we were fighting for your freedom; and now that you have it, what are you doing with it?’ So I realise the importance of educating, of showing a different narrative. I always say that you can’t be what you can’t see, and being on a public platform I’ve realised more and more that representation is important. And with that season of me and John on Strictly, we have left the world a better place. But until everyone is free and has their basic rights, I don’t think we should be sitting by.
Last year’s show was called Freedom, now you’re back with Freedom Unleashed. You were pretty unleashed last time, so what can we expect now? When I was thinking about the new tour, I wondered if I should get rid of Freedom and do a whole new show. But then it dawned on me that not everybody saw it last year, and people who didn’t see it told me they felt robbed of the opportunity. And it’s true, we toured to some places but we didn’t go everywhere. So I thought I’m not going to get rid of Freedom. If people saw it last year, let them come again and have that same experience plus more. More sequins, more costumes, more dancing! Everybody who comes along is blown away by the production values and the amount of
costume changes, especially for a one-night show that’s travelling around the country. I’m really proud of the team and what they’ve done, because it really is a feast for the eyes.
Freedom Unleashed jumps from one dance style to another. You trained as a Latin dancer but you can turn your hand to anything. How? I’m grateful for the teachers in my past because they insisted that we do everything and be versatile. They would go out and ask young professional dancers to come back to the townships and teach us how to point our toes properly. People from African contemporary companies in Johannesburg would come to give us a class on a Saturday. So I was really blessed with people sharing what they know, which didn’t limit me to only being a Latin and ballroom dancer.
Your show is about giving ‘little Jojo’ a voice. If you could speak to your younger self now, what would you say? Just be yourself and the world will adjust.
But how did you manage to be yourself in a world that sometimes didn’t want to adjust?
You know what, darling, it was finding a tribe of people that would really nurture me that helped little Jojo. And that’s what I think I got right. I stayed away from anything that took from me as a person. So if that meant I had to either be at home or at dance practice and ignore the world, that’s what I had to do. As I say in the show, it takes a community to raise a fabulous child.
Johannes Radebe: Freedom Unleashed, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sunday 7 May.
Edinburgh Tradfest continues into May, with Kim Carnie playing the Traverse Theatre (4 May) before heading north with Gaelic folk-rockers Mànran to play the Waterfront Club in Wick (5 May). Also at the Traverse, acclaimed Gaelic singer and composer Mischa Macpherson features at a Tradfest afternoon talk (7 May), focusing on musicians’ mental health. She will then be bringing Hebridean Treasure: Lost & Found to the Borders where, alongside her, the words of John Philip Newell weave around the Bharatanatyam dance of Kirsten Newell at Heart Of Hawick (25 May).
Over at Edinburgh’s Scottish Storytelling Centre, bring your own Gaelic song to Tradfest’s afternoon Café Cèilidh (2 May), led by the Scots Music Group, while also at the same venue, a Strip The Willow awaits at the Tradfest Cèilidh House (6 May), where Sarah Hoy and Fin Moore are among the performers.
Members of National Museums Scotland can attend a free talk (23 May) at the National Museum Of Scotland in Edinburgh where Dr Alice Blackwell, senior curator of Medieval Archaeology & History, joins Dr Alan Borthwick, head of Private Records for National Records Of Scotland. Attendees can learn more about the Declaration Of Arbroath, before the fragile historic document goes on display at the museum for the first time in 18 years (3 June–2 July).
And if you’d like to use your Gaelic in a creative way and have a go at scriptwriting, acting, dancing or singing, then Glasgow Life are running a series of fun, informal workshops with drama professionals every Sunday afternoon at Hillhead Library, running through to June. (Marcas Mac an Tuairneir)
Burnistoun’s favourite son, Biscuity Boyle, will visit Glasgow once again this month for his new work-in-progress show Live Sex Comedy, promising ‘Penises! Fannies! Sperms! You name it!’ It’s an unquestionably erotic proposition from the former athlete who first entered the public consciousness in the Burnistoun segment ‘Biscuity Boyle’s Sex Ed For Adults’. Burnistoun, a public service broadcast which some may have mistaken for a comedy sketch show, also followed Boyle’s travails on the speed-dating scene as he dropped his false teeth in a woman’s drink, ‘let one off’ in another woman’s face and berated himself for having ‘hands like a bloated corpse’. He did not find true love. When Burnistoun ended its run, the self-described ‘geriatric pishy Godzilla’ hit the road with his live show Biscuity Boyle: My Bastart Life, giving fans further insight into this flatulent renaissance man’s past, including his time partying with Grace Jones at Studio 54 and his filial connection with nephew Barnaby Boyle. After the closing date of his tour at Glasgow’s Òran Mór, he wrote on Twitter, ‘enjoyed that show the night, I suppose, but why can I no’ just die?’ Why not indeed? Perhaps this new sperm-filled show will give Boyle the closure he deserves.
(Kevin Fullerton)
Blackfriars, Glasgow, Friday 12 & Saturday 13, Friday 19, Sunday 21 May.
‘I love the polyphonic, almost mathematical nature of Bach, and I think that’s what really drew me to the sound. I think of the music as a puzzle and try to interpret that physically in SKETCHES,’ says Katie Armstrong of her new show. The choreographer grew up surrounded by music, but dance is something she came to much later in her childhood. ‘I really loved how the two art forms are so interlinked.’
Armstrong created SKETCHES as a work for four dancers, to be performed alongside DJ, abstract turntablist and composer Mariam Rezaei and a string quintet. The series of three vignettes was first seen at Manipulate Festival and will tour Scotland during May and June. ‘I actually started making SKETCHES years ago without realising what I was doing and where it would eventually go,’ she says. ‘I was really interested in creating intricate and physically dense movement on two bodies and exploring how we could create illusions for the viewer.’
Armstrong began collaborating on SKETCHES with Rezaei after meeting her in Newcastle, where Rezaei lectures in music technology and composition, and is also artistic director of Tusk North experimental music festival. ‘We started thinking about the idea of merging the classical nature of Bach with an unusual electronic twist. Mariam and I ended up exploring how we could create an audible and visual “fourth movement” to Bach’s “Violin Concerto In A Minor” which would intertwine between the existing movements.’
The pair have since collaborated on another production called GLISK, a work for two dancers, experimental turntablism, acoustic piano and visual art. Meanwhile, SKETCHES will be presented alongside the SKETCHES Film Project, capturing excerpts from the live show on film at iconic local landmarks. ‘It’s been a joy to create, and to work with Mariam, the string quintet and dancers,’ says Armstrong. ‘It’s quirky, bold and exciting, and I am so thrilled to finally be touring this work to audiences across Scotland.’ (Claire Sawers)
Platform, Glasgow, Thursday 18 May; Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Thursday 25 May.
Our column celebrating music to watch continues with Terra Kin, a singer whose calming cocktail of jazz, folk and ambient music has already scooped a major award. Here they talk to Fiona Shepherd about childhood existentialism, a Beatles epiphany and challenging our attention spans
In contrast to the mellow tone of their soothing, jazzy voice, post-lockdown life has been a bit of a whirl for Glaswegian singer Hannah Findlay: signed to Island Records as Terra Kin, regular writing sessions in London, sampled by producer du jour Fred again.. on his track ‘Hannah (The Sun)’, and, most recently, crowned BBC Introducing Scottish Act Of The Year from a pool of 500 entries.
There is a calming self-assurance to the tracks released so far on their debut EP Too Far Gone But behind the easy tranquillity of the music is a lively, restless mind (Findlay’s forearm is tattooed with the words ‘i wonder’). ‘I’m always saying I don’t know what I am or why I’m here,’ they say. ‘I was so existential for a child, asking “why am I on this planet?” When I look back at the songs I was playing as a young child, I wonder where was all of this stuff was coming from?’
Findlay’s first musical steps were in musical theatre (always playing a role, they note). ‘I was always too shy to sing as Hannah; I was always dressed up as somebody else, that little bit of separation. Maybe that’s why I have an artist name now, “terra” meaning earth and “kin” meaning kinship or child.’ Findlay originally hails from Cambuslang, just to the south-east of Glasgow, where they were exposed to their dad’s music taste and gran’s singing. Hearing the finger picking-style guitar playing on The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’ was an early epiphany; after that, it was off to Rutherglen Town Hall for group guitar lessons. ‘I wouldn’t cite The Beatles as a massive influence to me in my current style, but I said to the teacher that I wanted to learn to play this song. He said “slow down, it’s actually quite difficult”. But I got there!’
By their own admission, Findlay hated high school and left as soon as feasible, pursuing a musical education at Riverside Music College in Clarkston, UWS in Ayr, and via cultural exchange to Tilburg in the Netherlands. ‘I had a lot of time to sit and play guitar,’ they say. Returning in 2019, they formed a band, which fractured during lockdown (‘the silver lining was self-discovery’). Terra Kin was born, showcasing a seductive sound in the company of multiinstrumentalist Norman Willmore and ace jazz trombonist Liam Shortall.
‘I think it would be overstepping the mark if I called myself a jazz musician, especially in Glasgow with the Conservatoire producing some amazing jazzers,’ says Findlay. ‘I find it really hard to decide exactly where my influences come from. Everything’s managed to worm its way in somehow but I feel like the main genres are jazz, folk and ambient music. I’m also against things being 12 seconds long and all that rubbish. I want to write a song that is seven minutes long and has a half-hour music video. It’s about challenging that attention span and making sure you’re doing things because there’s a story behind it.’
The work-life balance might seem a somewhat mundane subject for an award-winning thriller. But French filmmaker Eric Gravel tells James Mottram he wants to make movies his audience can connect with
When writer-director Eric Gravel left Paris, moving to the countryside some two hours from the French capital, he was struck by just how many people commuted into the city. ‘Every day I saw the same faces on the train; some of my neighbours did it every day,’ he says. What he began to realise was just how dependent we are on these connections to run our lives. ‘If something goes wrong, everything can go very wrong,’ he adds. ‘I tried to find a story to tell about that.’
On the surface, the story of journeying to work might not sound that interesting. But in Full Time, Gravel has created a pulsating thriller, one that might compare to Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run for its nervy energy. It stars Call My Agent!’s Laure Calamy as Julie, a divorced mother-of-two. Working as a chambermaid in a top Parisian hotel, she tries to juggle the pressures of paying bills with the needs of her kids. Now all she wants is to get a job in marketing; if only she could make it to the interview with Paris riddled by transport strikes.
‘I’m a social filmmaker. I like social subjects. My main subject is our balance between work and our lives,’ says Gravel, whose 2017 debut Crash Test Aglaé dealt with the topic of outsourcing. He argues that most thrillers tend to circle around extreme situations which most of us never experience. ‘You’re kind of stressed for somebody who lives something that makes absolutely no sense. I thought I could use these feelings for something that makes sense for everybody. We are all anxious about stuff in our lives.’
When it came to casting Calamy, Gravel had never seen the comic hit Call My Agent! but was aware of her from films like Léa Mysius’ Ava and Dominik Moll’s Only The Animals. ‘When I proposed the role to Laure, she’d never had a lead at that time,’ he says. Here was a chance for her to not only play the main protagonist, but someone under great strain. ‘We’re going to see that this woman is not in the best part of her life,’ says Gravel. He felt Calamy fitted the character to a tee. ‘I can see her on a bus . . . but at the same time, I find she glows!’
Gravel, who won Best Director in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival when Full Time premiered, knows exactly where his cinematic roots lie. ‘I’m a big fan of Ken Loach,’ he says, nodding to the left-wing British director behind I, Daniel Blake. Unsurprisingly, he’s now crafting another socially conscious script. ‘It’s still going to be about workers; those that take their cars a lot,’ he hints. Expect road rage aplenty.
Full Time is in cinemas from Friday 26 May.
HIS KNOWLEDGE OF SCOTLAND’S FINEST WATERING HOLES, SO YOU’LL NEVER BE SHORT OF A PLACE TO GRAB A DRAM
I’m back with more top tips for tipples in Auld Reekie! As brand ambassador for Monkey Shoulder, the 100% malt whisky that’s made for mixing, it’s my job to shout about our nation’s spirit to anyone who’ll listen. It’s a job that takes me all over and, since 2020, there’s been a huge change in the landscape. With venues failing to reopen after lockdown, some cut their hours and an estimated 10% of remaining hospitality sites are facing closure.
We need the buzz of a random night out or the comfort of a familiar bar but how can you help? Simple – try new bars, restaurants or even just a different cocktail than your usual. I jumped on the Monkey Shoulder motorbike and toured all over Scotland on my Random Adventure To Interview Local Legends (aka Speed RAILL), visiting some of the best bars I know, talking to some of the best bartenders
@unomasbar
Uno Mas is a late-night venue in the heart of Edinburgh, focusing on great drinks and toe-tapping tunes. Enjoy a well-crafted cocktail, local beer, or a weird and wonderful whisky against a backdrop of live jam sessions, curated tunes from the team, or live DJs at the weekends. Perfect for a post-theatre libation, an early evening catch-up with your mates or a late-night party, Uno Mas is the epicentre of many a night out. With its late license, rest assured that you’ll see titans of Edinburgh’s cocktail scene visiting for a post-shift tipple, too.
you’ll ever meet and letting them show off their favourite cocktails. Not only can you read about them here, but you can check them out on my YouTube channel ‘SpeedRAILL’ or on my Instagram @_the_moto_monkey.
In these articles, I’ll point you towards some of my favourite hangouts across Scotland. To keep the party going, here are two of the best places to enjoy a drink or two in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh has a wide range of incredible independent bars, restaurants, and music venues. Keep your eyes peeled for my next round of recommendations in future issues and scan the QR code for videos of venues and more across Scotland.
A ‘dive bar’ with a twist. Hoot The Redeemer is an Edinburgh institution, and quickly gained that reputation since opening in 2015. A 1950s fairground-themed bar was always set to be a fun experience, but the staff and drinks menu brings the venue to top-tier status. The music is always jumping, the drinks delicious (try their slushies, if you don’t believe me) and the staff are only too happy to guide you through your experience. If you’re feeling adventurous try the ‘Pinch & Sip’ claw machine to gamify your drinking experience – be warned, however, as the flavours are up to the claw to decide!
Actor-turned-playwright Lesley Hart says Anna Karenina is not a romcom but a ‘rom-trag’. Leo Tolstoy’s novel, all 800 pages of it, is a story of high passions that lead inexorably to a bad end. No sooner has she set off across Russia to help her womanising brother rescue his marriage, than the central character falls for a wealthy young cavalry officer and knocks her own marriage off course.
Published in instalments between 1873 and 1877, Anna Karenina is about people trying to find their true selves in an age of social flux. Played in this production by Edinburgh’s Lindsey Campbell, Anna is a woman striving to do things her own way, resisting the moral condemnation of an aristocratic society which is itself falling apart.
‘She joins countless other women in history who are punished for not adhering to the rigid roles created for them by the patriarchy,’ says director Polina Kalinina. ‘Lesley and I love her because of how hard she tried to live truthfully. She isn’t perfect; she is often a bit of a hot-mess express. But that just makes her more gloriously human. Her resistance is ruthlessly punished.’
It has no doubt helped Hart’s adaptation that Kalinina is a native Russian speaker (her Twitter profile says she was ‘born on a Soviet sleeper train’), allowing her to get close to the source material. ‘Polina and I were keen to find an authentic voice for the play, something gutsy, witty, sexy, gritty, rooted in Tolstoy’s original and true to me,’ says the playwright. ‘We did a lot of work directly from the Russian text, with Polina sending me raw off-the-page translations as voice notes and me working from the transcripts.’ Adding her own voice as a Scottish playwright, she hopes to bring ‘the kind of raw energy that can sometimes get lost in translation.’ (Mark Fisher) Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Saturday 13 May–Saturday 3 June.
It may be nearly 150 years old, but Carmen remains one of the most popular operas ever. Yet its composer had no idea that it would be so successful, as Bizet suddenly died after its 33rd performance, aged just 36. At the time, it had a mixed reception, even with brilliantly coloured melodies such as ‘Habanera’ and ‘Toreador Song’ lingering long after the show was over.
Retelling its tale of jealousy, lust and death is Scottish Opera’s new production by John Fulljames. Carmen is no stranger to adaptations and this time it’s updated to 1970s Spain. Sung in English, an investigation into Carmen’s murder runs alongside the dark, disturbing society that frames her death. In the title role is Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Justina Gringyte, Young Singer Of The Year at the International Opera Awards in 2015, the year she sang Carmen with Scottish Opera first time round.
‘I can’t wait to be back with the wonderful artists, craftspeople and audiences of Scottish Opera,' says Fulljames, another returnee. ‘It is a real privilege to be making a new production of Carmen. I really hope we will bring it to life both as a much-loved classic and also reveal how it can speak freshly to a new time and new generation.’
(Carol Main)
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Friday 12, Sunday 14, Tuesday 16, Thursday 18, Saturday 20 May; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday 9, Sunday 11, Tuesday 13, Thursday 15, Saturday 17 June.
'You’ll hear sounds you’ve never heard before,’ promises Simon Kirby. Along with Andrew Ostler and Ben Jones, he set up Wavetable in 2021 to showcase sonic experimentation across the UK. The gigs take place on the third Thursday of every month in Edinburgh and have become firm favourites among a hardcore audience of music makers and music lovers. Almost every event has sold out since it began.
And Kirby is right, this feels like a unique proposition. On the evening I visited, there was a relaxing ambient mood piece from Floa & Obakegaku, an electro-acoustic drone from London-based contrabassoonist Thomas Stone, and a lively electronica set from Glasgow-based producer and performer MXMX. While each act teases out a soundscape, visualisations are projected onscreen behind the performers, created live by a coder interpreting what they hear. Strange noises wash through the room, code amasses on-screen as it’s typed, and visuals morph in and out of abstraction. These are voyages into uncharted aural and visual textures, and you’re along for the ride.
Dynamism and a willingness to experiment have led to some fascinating shows. ‘We had an upside-down bicycle playing a bass guitar one night,’ explains Kirby. ‘We had someone who combined music and an experimental novel that was being projected on the
screen and then printed out. A contact mic was on the printer, so the sound of the novel being printed out was fed into the music. Another thing we’ve been doing is pairing people up who have never played together before. They’ll play literally for the first time in front of an audience to practice. Somehow you just know that this crowd is going to be on your side.’
What they really wanted was to give artists and musicians, including themselves, the space to play. ‘We thought, what type of night would we like to experience? There’s an appetite from the audience for music that’s improvised or experimental, and there’s an appetite from the performers to have a space where there’s an audience that listens. You’ll hear a pin drop during sets and a superopen-minded, respectful audience, which really makes a difference.’
Taking place in the 45-person capacity Whitespace, the decision to curate an event on a larger scale has been an appealing proposition that Wavetable’s founders have so far resisted. ‘We could easily have doubled our venue size,’ says Kirby. ‘But to me, a big part of this is its front-room vibe. When I introduce the acts, I don’t do it with a microphone. I just speak in my normal voice and everyone has to be quiet to hear. That puts them in a mindset to listen.’
Wavetable, Whitespace, Edinburgh, third Thursday of every month, wavetable.info
We had an upside-down bicycle playing a bass guitar one night
In the largest show of Alberta Whittle’s work to date, Neil Cooper finds this ScottishBarbadian artist balancing the personal and political. In tackling Black experience across the years, she highlights a need for us to pause and connect with each other
Love and anger are at the heart of create dangerously, this major institutional exhibition by Alberta Whittle, the Barbadian-born artist whose irresistible rise across a series of shows saw her representing Scotland at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Both works made for Venice are at the centre of create dangerously, which draws its title from Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat’s 2010 collection of essays concerning immigrant artists at work.
Whittle’s take on things results in her embarking on a very personal journey, not just through the eleven rooms housing her work on the ground floor of Modern One, but across continents and centuries of Black experience and the forces that continue to colonise and enslave. This global expanse becomes a kind of ceremonial address to the ancestors who are both the fire and guiding hand behind Whittle’s all-too-current work.
This moves from mini manifestos and slogans lining the corridor that seem to dance off the paper they’re written on, to the vibrant tapestries in the final room that form a carnivalesque backdrop to costumes drawn from performances and family events. Arranged as if dressing real-life bodies, these all but burst through the frames. Inbetween are a series of digital collages that wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of a Sun Ra record, a constellation of bronze stars cast from Whittle’s tongue, and a sculptural tribute to Barbadian musician Neville Denis Blackman, who was killed in 1995 when his house was swept out to sea during a storm.
While Whittle puts her own experiences at her work’s centre, it also comes in heartfelt emotional responses to a much bigger set of histories that define her, which she transforms into a form of visual poetry on a shapeshifting canvas. This manifests itself most furiously in ‘Holding The Line: A Refrain In Two Parts’ (2021). This 13-minute film cuts up archive material of Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, juxtaposing it with the raging calm of an African river ritual and the defiance of dance as Whittle finds some kind of salvation.
The artist’s Venice works go further. ‘Entanglement is more than blood’ (2022) features a tapestry depicting symbols of protest, care giving, migration and transformation draped over steel gates, a monumental intervention honouring the dead.
The spirits of these can be found in ‘Lagareh: The Last Born’ (2022), Whittle’s film which closes with her recounting the names of Black lives lost to state-sanctioned violence as they are listed on screen. With Floyd among them, other names include Sheku Bayoh, the Kirkcaldy-based Sierra Leonean émigré who died of asphyxiation while being restrained by police (the film is dedicated to Bayoh).
If all this risks overwhelming the viewer, Whittle offers up an entire room to pause for thought. The sound of women from Project Esperanza Sewing Group (a community-based advocacy initiative for women of African heritage) reading their poetry can be heard alongside the tapestry they
collaborated on. A portrait of Whittle by her mother hangs as a demonstration of passed-down love. Two resin-based works, ‘Stormy Weather Skylarking’ (2021), and ‘When skylarking becomes an invitation for touch (or when our auras meet)’ (2023) do that rarest of things in an otherwise untouchable institution, by allowing you to walk in Whittle’s footsteps and to feel the shape of her hands and feet in something that becomes a meditative shrine. Making a connection is everything in create dangerously
All this can be viewed from an array of customised furniture shaped to resemble giant commas and full stops. Built for comfort and arranged in each room with feng shui to the fore, the seats are a way of Whittle punctuating her work on a grand scale.
Further home comforts are provided in the blankets draped on the back of each sofa. This again points to the sense of care that Whittle sees as a necessary salve to some of the more troubling worlds she lays bare.
Recognising the need to take time out amid turmoil and to shelter from the blast is a vital part of the self-protection required to keep living, keep fighting and keep loving. This confirms the wisdom of those manifestos at the start of this exhibition: Create dangerously. Step lightly. Remember to keep breathing. And rest.
The power of Scottish Ballet’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire is in its translation of the interior world into physical movement. It distils the fragmentation of a woman’s mind into her body language, with all its tells, contradictions and nuances. Although it’s a ballet with perfect narrative clarity, it is more importantly a ballet that you feel.
Marge Hendrick is eloquent and moving in the role of Blanche, Williams’ anti-heroine, on a road to complete mental annihilation. In the early scenes, where Blanche’s backstory is played out (the play drip-feeds it, but here we know from the start that Blanche has suffered tragedy and humiliation), Hendrick is frothy with youthful hope. Later she moves seamlessly between the conflicting parts of Blanche’s disintegrating personality: her aspiration to primness and grace, her insatiable appetite for sexual attention (which starts as sensual abandon and morphs by the end into something erratic and desperate) and the subtle sense that she is a fish out of water when walking into the gritty urban life of her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley.
Bethany Kingsley-Garner is demure and vulnerable as Stella, a picture of stoical, keento-please femininity, while Royal Ballet dancer Ryoichi Hirano brings a vain, unpredictable swagger to Stanley. Peter Salem’s score sways with the heavy heat of New Orleans jazz.
Nancy Meckler’s direction and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s choreography, meanwhile, have lost none of their impact, creating unsettling images that echo through the ballet, particularly the chorus that reappears performing disjointed drills as Blanche’s mental state deteriorates.
It’s a production that is unambiguous in its empathy for Blanche. Seeing the rawness of her mind imprinted on her body makes for a heartbreaking, harrowing journey, as we watch her hurtling towards disaster on a streetcar she cannot get off. (Lucy Ribchester)
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 3–Saturday 6 May; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.
(Directed by Isobel McArthur & Gareth Nicholls)
From the creator of Pride And Prejudice* (*sort of) comes Kidnapped (sort of), a musical adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Caledonian adventure. It interprets the unwitting exploits of naive Davie Balfour (Ryan J Mackay) as a comedic romp unfolding under the sardonic eye and commentary of Stevenson’s American wife Fanny Osbourne (Kim Ismay), while Balfour’s bromance with Alan Breck Stewart (Malcolm Cumming) is reframed as a breathless romance between quizzical teenager and a Jacobite swashbuckler in silver boots.
This Kidnapped is unapologetic entertainment with nonstop wisecracks and slapstick, delivered by a meticulously choreographed ensemble, all of whom pivot effortlessly between sharp and slick exchanges of dialogue and the playing and singing of retro-pop hits. These are arranged with flair by Michael John McCarthy, from the recurring theme of Talking Heads’ ‘Road To Nowhere’ to Average White Band’s ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ played on kazoos, and Yazoo’s ‘Only You’ on mandolin and accordion.
Arguably, it’s a bit too camp and jokey, and some historical, political and emotional resonances get lost or junked along the way, but it has a shrewd eye for visual gags and the brio of the cast is infectious. (Fiona Shepherd)
Perth Theatre, Wednesday 3–Saturday 6 May; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.
Fatherhood and new-found levels of fame may have provoked an existential crisis for John Kearns, but they’ve also created an hour of beauty, tenderness and exceptional hilarity, says Jay Richardson
Famously, Van Gogh remained undiscovered in his lifetime. And despite being a double Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, John Kearns rubs his beard and wheezily conveys wistfulness for such obscurity. He retains an old-fashioned respect for showbusiness and takes a workmanlike pride in being ‘an act, a turn’. But it’s the artistry, not the trappings of fame he venerates.
With his soulful, pained expressions and plangent outbursts, his persona suggests a man accepting of a quiet, humdrum existence, just steadily chipping away, layering on his jokes; if only he can be transported occasionally by the poetic sublimity of a Dutch Old Master, the romantic flight of an acrobat or his fantasy of resting on the laurels of his bustling family restaurant.
Two things have happened to disturb such lyrical reveries: his appearance on Taskmaster and fatherhood. Taskmaster has greatly boosted Kearns’ profile and tour sales. Now, plenty of stand-ups make great play of the difference between their live act and the television jobs that brought them to wider public attention, complaining with varying degrees of genuine feeling that new audiences won’t appreciate their edginess or sophistication.
But for Kearns, the disparity between his various selves has prompted a full-blown, existential wobble. The picture he paints at the start of The Varnishing Days, of bewilderedly promoting himself on the publicity circuit, highlighting the mad artificiality of Sunday Brunch and The One Show while
remaining a detached, incredulous observer, is uproariously funny. Like Marco Pierre White, the precociously talented chef he feels a kinship with and whose repertoire he’s absorbed to an extent (mindset as much as potato recipe), Kearns now has a reputation to protect. Such oppression brings out the best in him, as he packs this show with typically thoughtful musings on what makes a life well-lived in the trying circumstances of the everyday, though invariably from oblique, surprising and delightful angles.
Kearns is also besieged from within. Father to a one-yearold son, he’s scrambling. Unpredictable as only children can be, the battle of wits is entertaining but it has focused his thoughts on what’s been passed to him from his father and what he hands on to his offspring. The mock-heroic portrait of himself that he suggests for shaping such a tiny mind is pathetically endearing, but the import feels weighty and real.
Most strikingly, Kearns addresses the tonsured monk’s wig and buck teeth that are his trademark stage costume and imagines trying to justify them to his son, burnishing his own mythology even as he presents himself at his most foolish. This is yet another superb hour from a gifted writer and performer, suffused with beauty, tenderness and frequent, exceptional hilarity.
John Kearns: The Varnishing Days, The Stand, Glasgow, Saturday 13 May; Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Tuesday 30 May; reviewed at The Stand, Glasgow.
(Directed by Davy Chou)
French-Cambodian writer-director Davy Chou’s second feature film directly references a scene from Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone In Love which was shot in Tokyo. Like Kiarostami, Chou navigates longing, frustration and connection in South Korea, a country outside of his homeland. Inspired by his friend who was adopted by a French family, he paints a fascinating and exhilaratingly unpredictable character portrait of a French-Korean woman who goes in search of her biological family in a country where she doesn’t understand the language or culture.
First time actress Park Ji-min stars in the lead role of Freddie. She is an extraordinary screen presence who completely inhabits a complex character dealing with the emotional aftermath of adoption. Set over an eight-year period in which the fractured Freddie experiences huge highs and lows on a journey to find her parents, the combination of Ji-min’s dazzling performance and Chou’s engrossing storytelling style beautifully translates her joy, pain and sense of bewilderment.
Freddie is at turns the life of the party, the embodiment of pure sadness, full of rage or so coldly detached that her actions turn cruel. A restaurant scene where she draws a group of strangers together over booze is invigorating, with the jazzy score matching her enthusiasm and hunger for new experiences. Music is a major factor in the film and switches genres multiple times as Freddie grapples with her identity. In a club scene where she lets loose and hits the dancefloor, the visual influence of Claire Denis is apparent with a wild sequence that expresses attraction, confusion and hurt feelings with a visceral rawness.
Chou has crafted a gorgeous and haunting drama that cuts deep on the invisible scars and unspoken emotions that shape a person. It’s shot through with intoxicating images, an alluring central performance and a truly unforgettable final scene. (Katherine McLaughlin)
In cinemas from Friday 5 May.
This new touring production from In Motion Theatre has a specific connection to Paisley’s Ferguslie Park community; writer-director Lisa Nicoll hails from Dundee, but takes inspiration from an area of Scotland that’s often framed in negative terms by the media. That backstory explains why the catalyst here is inquiring journalist Beth, played by Leanne Traynor, who aims to write an article about Ferguslie Park to impress her dying father, but finds herself involved with the community she’s exploring.
Beth’s interactions with locals Jo (Zoë Hunter), Meg (Michaela Sweeney), Dan (Scott Mooney) and Andy (James Keenan) provide a core. They’re attempting to raise funds for new transportation via some fancy home baking and a Bon Jovi-centred karaoke night, but will Beth’s fragile new relationships survive the publication of her story?
Nicoll manages to balance unique local colour (phone-signal sweet spots, airport planespotters) with more general social issues (poverty, drugs, closing amenities) to create recognition and understanding. If the details of Beth’s journalism career seem too outdated to be convincing, Other Side Of The River efficiently seeks out common ground, sharing everyday, resonant stories in an upbeat, transformative manner. Recipes, karaoke, bingo and human warmth are all included in this charming homespun package. (Eddie Harrison) Lifegate, Dundee, Friday 6 May; Tulloch Institute, Perth, Sunday 8 May; reviewed at Tannahill Centre, Paisley.
4-13
GROOVE ARMADA (DJ SET)
PEAT & DIESEL
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In a contemplative, deeply affecting film, the transition from childhood to adulthood has rarely been so skilfully captured, says James
MottramFilms that span from childhood into adult years are notoriously difficult to pull off, yet The Eight Mountains manages it with consummate ease. Adapted from Paolo Cognetti’s award-winning 2016 bestselling novel, Le Otto Montagne, it’s a story of male friendship and the undulating emotions that bubble away beneath the surface. When the film screened in competition at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, winning a share of the jury prize with Jerzy Skolimowski’s recently released donkey-centric tale EO, critics hailed it as ‘the straight Brokeback Mountain’, a rather reductive description of two lifelong companions at the heart of this film.
True, there is no latent sexual attraction to contend with here, nor is it a film about the over-tired theme of toxic masculinity. Instead, it’s a story that begins in childhood when 11-year-old Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) accompanies his mother on vacation to a village in the Italian Alps. The year is 1984, and it’s here that he meets Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), a boy his own age, who clambers around the rocky terrain with all the dexterity of a mountain goat. They couldn’t be more different, but they find solace in each other’s company. So much so, Pietro’s parents suggest bringing Bruno back to Turin to help educate him. Needless to say, the boy’s construction worker father reacts angrily to the suggestion.
After years apart, Pietro (now played by Luca Marinelli, the distinct, blue-eyed star of 2019’s Martin Eden) returns to the Alps, where Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) still lives. They quickly fall into each other’s
company again. Bruno is now a farmer while Pietro is an aspiring writer. They spend the summer rebuilding the dilapidated mountain-side shack once owned by Pietro’s late father, finding simple pleasures in the majesty of Mother Nature. Women also enter their orbits, although these relationships always somehow seem secondary.
Behind the camera is Felix van Groeningen, the Belgian filmmaker behind The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) and Beautiful Boy (2018), his English-language debut which starred Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet as father-and-son in a harrowing tale of drug addiction. Here, he’s joined by his wife, actress Charlotte Vandermeersch, who co-starred in van Groeningen’s 2009 breakout film The Misfortunates Together, they co-direct seamlessly, immersing the audience not only in the rugged mountainous terrain but also authentic rural Italian life.
Filmed in the boxy Academy 4:3 ratio (given the vistas that form the film’s backdrop, a daring artistic decision that typifies this project), The Eight Mountains is a leisurely, contemplative film, but one that pulls you in as you become familiar, friendly even, with the two central characters. Bolstered by Swedish singer-songwriter Daniel Norgren’s score, it’s a gentle experience, but a deeply affecting one. Childhood, adulthood and the transition between them has rarely been so skilfully expressed on screen.
The Eight Mountains is in cinemas from Friday 12 May.
Some reviews write themselves. There is something instinctively pleasurable about letting the eyes and senses wander over the braided contours of Ifeoma U Anyaeji’s new selection of friezes and sculptures at Tramway. And, while the concepts underpinning the show are clear for anyone looking, and highly topical (from the plasticwaste apocalypse to gender norms in national tradition), there’s no need to hold them clearly in focus to savour this exhibition.
Born in Benin City, Nigeria, Anyaeji uses African hair-threading techniques (‘Ikpa Owu’ in Igbo language) to transform nonbiodegradable plastic waste into textiles, a practice she calls plastoart. Spirals, loops and tendrils of densely threaded plastic bags encircle crushed drinks cans, bottles, found fabrics and long wooden needles. There are links here with the modernist, off-grid textile practices of artists such as Sheila Hicks and Magdalena Abakanowicz and the bottle-top installations of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. But Anyaeji is also drawing connections to a specific, feminised tradition of hair braiding which is becoming increasingly obsolete, reinventing that heritage while undertaking symbolic gestures of waste transformation.
In keeping with the theme of regional and national traditions, the artist also explores forms and influences from Nigerian and Igbo culture. A new commission for Tramway, Ijem Nke Mmanwu M (The Journey Of My Masquerade) references the Nigerian Igbo Masquerade (‘Mmanwu’). This rite, performed by men, involves donning elaborate costumes that often dwarf the body in swathes of cloth, metal, beads, leather, bones and more. Anyaeji’s Mmanwu costume consists of a more-than-lifesized cylinder of brightly patterned fabric with a plume of plastic-draped spikes. A pair of legs is visible through an opening in the front. The construction plays with gender norms by using braiding techniques in a traditionally masculine format while also creating the uncanny sense that a hidden, semi-human presence might be there with you in the room. (Greg Thomas)
Tramway, Glasgow, until Sunday 4 June.
(Directed by Davis Guggenheim)
Davis Guggenheim’s portrait of actor Michael J Fox should be a downer. The effervescent Canadian star, who broke out in 80s sitcom Family Ties then went stratospheric in the Back To The Future movie trilogy, saw his career cut short after his 1991 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, at the tender age of 29. Three decades on, Fox is still out there, a husband and father coping with this debilitating neurological condition, a smile often on his face.
Guggenheim, who previously made Al Gore-fronted climate crisis doc An Inconvenient Truth, blends candid interview footage with Fox and others, alongside a career recap (sometimes using not-entirely-successful recreations to illustrate key moments). There are gaps in the Fox narrative too, largely stopping at his Emmy-winning show Spin City. But Still’s secret weapon remains its subject, who has never lost his sense of humour about life.
Moments will make you wince, as Fox doggedly works with a physiotherapist to improve his mobility. But overall, you’re left feeling uplifted and full of admiration for this vivacious star. Fox’s sheer honesty about Parkinson’s (yes, he’s in pain all the time, but what’s the point in lamenting his lot?) will break your heart, but his sheer lack of self-pity is inspirational. (James Mottram)
In cinemas and on Apple TV+ from Friday 12 May.
If you fancy getting out and about this month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as a gig under the most unique of moons, an iconic musical, a film that’s upsetting morons, and an evergreen pop band
ART
PEN REID
Going Behind The Curtain, this solo exhibition from the poet and artist slowly releases a sense of foreboding and dread amid a seemingly content and calm domestic setting.
n Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Saturday 13 May–Wednesday 7 June.
COMEDY
PHIL WANG
The lad Wang has been hanging out with the big guns of late, such as David Letterman and Amy Schumer. Has it changed him? No. And yes. Hear him talk out loud about family, race and weird body parts.
n Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Saturday 6 May.
FILM
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Halle Bailey is Ariel in this live-action remake of the Disney staple as directed by Rob Chicago Marshall. The film that has had ludicrous racists getting into a bigoted fankle also stars Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina and Melissa McCarthy.
n In cinemas from Friday 26 May.
DURAN DURAN
Proving that there’s no such thing as an ordinary world, the Duranies launch further into their Future Past tour with support from Jake Shears and (interestingly) Lia Lia.
n OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Tuesday 9 May.
Leila Aboulela, Darren McGarvey, Aasmah Mir, Hadley Freeman, Pat Nevin, Stuart Braithwaite, Alastair Campbell, Kirsty Logan, John Robb and Frankie Boyle.
n Various venues, Glasgow, Friday 19–Sunday 28 May.
From Édouard Louis’ raw and traumatic biographical work comes this production by Surrogate which tackles class, masculinity, bigotry and violence. It might begin in a small town in France but the work resonates across borders and people.
n Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 11 & Friday 12 May; Platform, Glasgow, Tuesday 16 May.
ARE
Judy Blume almost certainly shaped generations of young readers, and her 1970 novel is now given the big-screen treatment. Abby Ryder Fortson and Rachel McAdams are among those bringing to life this tale of a 12-year-old in pursuit of her true identity.
n In cinemas from Friday 19 May.
Beneath Luke Jerram’s iconic moon are some musical stars such as Amy May Ellis, Pictish Trail, LT Leif and the Lost Map DJs. A cracking gig in a setting that could barely be more evocative.
n Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, Glasgow, Wednesday 31 May.
Glasgow’s literary festival roars back with a topquality programme featuring the varied likes of
The classic Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim musical kicks off Pitlochry’s new season with the story of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee and songbook standards including ‘Let Me Entertain You’ and ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’.
n Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Friday 19 May–Saturday 30 September.
In the autumn of 2021, game-changing stand-up Hannah Gadsby dubbed Netflix ‘an amoral algorithm cult’. It’s fair to say that the Australian comedian was quite miffed at a decision to connect their work to that of Dave Chappelle whose recent specials have been heavily criticised by the LGBTQ+ community. Some kissing and making up has clearly occurred in the furious aftermath, given that Netflix now proudly presents Something Special. This is the third standup show by Gadsby to find its way onto the streamer, but unlike the epic Nanette and superb Douglas, it promises to be a ‘feelgood’ affair featuring weddings and rabbits. (Brian Donaldson) n Something Special is available on Netflix from Tuesday 9 May.
When Jon Ronson began his exploration into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Carol Howe was a mere footnote in the web of intrigue surrounding America’s deadliest domestic terror attack. Did convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh act alone? Then why, beforehand, did he phone Elohim City, the white-separatist community accused of breeding anti-government militias? Did Howe, the wealthy debutante turned white supremacist stationed inside this rural retreat, provide intelligence that should have helped the FBI stop this deadly attack?
‘It was the one that got away,’ says Ronson, explaining why he’s returned to Howe’s story now in The Debutante. ‘There’s nothing more frustrating than starting a story you can’t finish.’ This is also a jaw-droppingly baffling tale about an heiress who, bored in hospital with two broken feet, phoned a ‘Dial-A-Racist’ hotline, fell in love with the voice of Dennis Mahon (‘America’s strangest neo-Nazi’), and relocated to Elohim City. ‘It’s like a Nazi Patty Hearst mystery,’ says Ronson. ‘Why did her life turn out the way that it did? I thought that was kind of funny too, that she made this series of hilariously bad choices. It’s a dark comedy, but still a comedy.’
In the first episode, Ronson calls Howe’s alleged intelligence ‘tantalising’ because it sounds so plausible. Does part of him hope the conspiracies he uncovers turn out to be real? ‘With this one, I really did,’ he says. ‘There are all these clues that are enough to make even a poster-boy sceptic think maybe this is true.’ He remains close-lipped over whether he is now persuaded of Howe’s thwarted heroism, though he does admit that other revelations about government and police negligence (the FBI’s failure to prevent 2021’s Capitol assault, say, or endemic misogyny in the Met) added to her story’s draw.
‘But I wanted to not try and steer the ship,’ he clarifies. ‘Ultimately, what my show is about, amidst all the noise and clamour, is slowing down, thinking carefully, weighing up evidence. It’s almost a tribute to the more old-fashioned type of journalism where you’re only interested, as much as you possibly can be, in the facts.’ It’s tempting to view Howe as a cautionary tale about our vulnerability to indoctrination, but Ronson is careful not to award her too much clemency. ‘I think Carol wasn’t a passive passenger in her radicalisation. She seems to be very into it. But I’m glad that I always look at each story holistically, because I’m constantly drinking the Kool-Aid with my stories. Probably this story is more about how we’re all prone to radicalisation.’
All episodes available now on Audible.
It’s the darndest thing. We were all set to write about the new second season of Perry Mason (NOW) when it was shelved at the last minute. But by a trick of the fates, we can alert you to this sadly under-rated show right here. Cardiff lad Matthew Rhys was already well known to US audiences for his work on Brothers & Sisters and then The Americans when he landed the titular role in a drastically reworked take on the classic crime drama which first aired in 1957. With barely an ironed shirt to his name, this Perry stumbled around the disturbing case of a dead infant alongside a stellar cast including Juliet Rylance, Shea Whigham and John Lithgow. Season two: where art thou?
Peep Show (All4) cemented David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s reputation as being among the nation’s finest double acts during nine seasons as rubbish pals Mark and Jez. Many people assumed that they had also created this innovative POV sitcom, but instead it emerged from the brains of Sam Bain, Andrew O’Connor and Jesse Armstrong, the latter now lording it over everyone in the world as the maestro behind Succession. (Brian Donaldson)
Other P binges: Phone Shop (All4), Peaky Blinders (BBC iPlayer/ Netflix), Pen15 (NOW).
In his new podcast, Jon Ronson investigates an astonishing story of high society, neo-Nazis and US domestic terrorism. Becca Inglis finds out what drew the journalist back to this strange tale of heiress Carole Howe
The prize-winning author of A Tomb With A View has a new book that leaves graveyards behind to venture inside Britain’s churches, both great and small. Peter Ross tells Lucy Ribchester about the solace to be found in these buildings and the wonders they contain, regardless of religious persuasion
‘It’s just a kind of innate thing in some people, to be drawn to that territory,’ says Peter Ross, ‘a sort of architectural and devotional territory.’ The Glasgow-based journalist and author has become something of an authority (perhaps an unexpected one) on the territory he is speaking of: churches and their surrounding spaces. In 2020 he published the non-fiction book A Tomb With A View, which roved through British and Irish graveyards, and went on to win the Saltire Non-Fiction Book Of The Year. Now he’s following it up with a journey around the country’s churches, aptly named Steeple Chasing
While Ross has spent a career asking curious questions of unusual subjects, he didn’t grow up in a particularly religious family (he describes his upbringing as ‘nominally Church Of Scotland’). It was a combination of unfinished business started with Tomb, along with the current state of the world, that led him towards churches as places of solace and history.
‘My general idea about churches is that they’re essentially like a kind of British Museum that’s been broken up and scattered across the whole of the British Isles,’ he says. ‘These are, in many cases, quite unassuming, ill-attended places, and yet they contain these wonders.’ One of those wonders he discovered during his Tomb research was a startling wax effigy of a gentlewoman named Sarah Hare, which has stood in the village church at Stow Bardolph in Norfolk since the 1740s. It became, Ross says, the ‘acorn’ for his new book. ‘In churches that maybe don’t get very many visitors or people don’t think about very much, you can find extraordinary things.’
But while this was his starting point, Ross had also by this time begun brooding on deeper matters. ‘I was really looking for a project that would help me escape the present moment, or console me in the present moment. You know, the issues with Trump and Brexit, and a general feeling of disillusionment with politics, and the wider more overarching pessimism about climate emergency. Churches seemed like a way of going back into the deep past and surrounding myself with history and beauty, finding some sort of consolation in that.’
The deep past is a perfect way of summing up the history of those buildings that feature in his book. Ross visits churches which date back almost a thousand years, such as London’s St Bartholemew The Less. He witnesses a baptism in a village church in North Grimston, Yorkshire, using a font carved just after the Norman Conquest. There are wooden angels in the Norfolk churches he visits that may or may not contain the faces of the medieval carpenters who carved them. And then there are the strange, ambiguous stone sheela-na-gig carvings that have populated churches around Britain and Ireland, possibly since pagan times.
The most moving and affecting figures to feature in Steeple Chasing, however, are the people Ross meets on his odyssey. Some of them, such as the Benedictine monks he stays with at Pluscarden Abbey in Moray, have deeply religious connections to the churches they care for. Others, such as ecclesiologist John Vigar who introduces him to Norfolk’s wooden angels, lost their Christian faith but still believe in the church’s aweinspiring beauty. Ross was keen for the book not to be evangelical in its presentation of Christianity, but he doesn’t approach his subject from a strictly secular perspective either.
‘I never say in the story what my own beliefs are. I’m careful not to do that, because I don’t think it’s useful for people to know.’ It is important to him that the book can be read by anyone, regardless of faith. ‘It’s definitely not a book in which I’m trying to persuade people to go to church and worship.’ On the other hand, Ross does believe in the power of churches themselves. ‘I’m not saying churches are special because they are the house of god. I’m saying they’re special because, for hundreds of years, people have believed they are the house of god.’ It is a power, says Ross, that reaches into the very stones. ‘What you feel, particularly when you walk into a very old church, is the accumulated ache of centuries of human emotion.’
Steeple Chasing: Around Britain By Church is published by Headline on Thursday 11 May; Peter Ross speaks about the book at St Vincent’s Chapel, Edinburgh, Thursday 11 May, and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sunday 21 May, as part of Aye Write.
In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. For May, we feature (somewhat appropriately) Lynsey May, author of Weak Teeth, the emotional and darkly humorous tale of a world spinning out of control when a relationship falls apart, forcing Ellis back to her family home
What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? I have a lot of fractured memories of reading and I’m not sure I could work out which book was actually first, although I do remember some picture books very dearly, including Geraldine’s Blanket by Holly Keller and The Trouble With Gran by Babette Cole. I do, however, remember very proudly going through to announce to my parents that I could read grown-up books now when I managed the first page of Five On A Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. I was also absolutely obsessed with The Reluctant Vampire by Eric Morecambe, not that long after.
What was the book you read that first made you decide to be a writer? I don’t think there was ever any one book, but those that have helped me get here are in their thousands! I wanted to be a writer from a young age. My grandma, Alison Thirkell, was one and she was certainly an inspiration. From Judy Blume to Terry Pratchett to an interest in Greek mythology to a Dick Francis phase, the books I read as a teenager definitely shaped my ambitions and gave me an idea of the many types of fictional worlds that are out there for the building.
What’s your favourite first line in a book? I honestly don’t know! First lines are massively important, but they definitely just become part of the whole in my mind.
Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? I think one of the debuts that had the biggest effect was The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton. Another one that blew me away was Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This year, I’ve also been paying a lot of attention to other current debuts and have a few Scottish highlights, including For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie, Home by Cailean Steed and The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? If I can, I’ll start the day with a coffee and a read of whatever book I’m enjoying, even if it’s only for a couple of pages. Then I just try and crack on as quickly as possible. I definitely work best at the beginning of the day, so I try to make the most of it.
What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? Generally feel bad for stopping, pretend to myself that I might get back to it, then meander into chilling out.
In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrannical leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? It would have to be Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It was the last book I hated that I forced myself all of the way through. Since then, I’ve learned to stop and give up. I went into it completely naive and it was an entirely disagreeable experience.
What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? To keep writing and reading, and to find yourself some other aspiring novelists to hang out with. There are very few things you can control when it comes to getting your stories in the hands of other people, but the stories themselves will always be yours.
Weak Teeth is published by Polygon on Thursday 4 May; Lynsey May appears alongside Fran Littlewood and Ryan Love at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Saturday 20 May, as part of Aye Write.
In 2010, Swedish developer Frictional Games released Amnesia: The Dark Descent, an absolutely bone-chilling low-fi horror about a man trying to keep sane within the depths of a labyrinthine castle inhabited by eldritch terrors. Another developer, The Chinese Room, took on its follow-up, the interesting but considerably less terrifying Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. Frictional then returned to the fold with 2020’s Amnesia: Rebirth in which players inhabited the unique role of a pregnant woman whose plane had crash-landed in the Algerian desert in 1937.
The Bunker follows the standard Amnesia template: a standalone firstperson story featuring an underarmed protagonist who must escape their surroundings by reaching out and touching objects. As French soldier Henri Clément, players will navigate the semi-open world environment while trying to evade the clutches of a single ever-present monster, a foe inspired by the formidably intelligent Xenomorph from 2014 masterpiece Alien: Isolation. Similar to that game, the creature roams the playing area of its own volition and reacts to light and sound.
Frictional’s superb (non-Amnesia) 2015 game, Soma, marked a change of course into more focused storytelling, something that very much influenced Rebirth. So expect some similar narrative shenanigans here; the game is designed to be played multiple times which hints towards something bigger at play. (Murray Robertson)
Released on PS4, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Series X/S on Tuesday 16 May.
Ardbeg Distillery have teamed up with comic-book artist Ronald Wimberly to create a mini-strip summing up the taste and feel of their whiskies. Greg Thomas finds out what drew the renowned American creative to this unique project
New York-based cartoonist and filmmaker Ronald Wimberly is best known for his work with iconic publishers such as Marvel and DC, as well as his cartoons for outlets such as The New Yorker, and a series of graphic novels, many celebrating rap culture. But for his latest venture he took on a totally different task: evoking the flavour of three whiskies created by Islaybased distillery, Ardbeg. Why? Simple, really. ‘I really like Islay whisky,’ Wimberly confesses. ‘I thought this might be an interesting way to engage with one of my favourite whisky companies. Also, I have to pay my bills like most of us.’
For his Planet Ardbeg strip, Wimberly brought onboard fellow artists Emma Ríos and Sanford Greene, each bringing their own visual style to the project. Using Arbdeg’s core range as a creative launchpad, the trio produced a triptych of fantastical tales set on a fictional planet, with deserts stalked by giant birds and crocodiles, mystical djinns, a futuristic copper-built metropolis, and more. As creative director, Wimberly says he brought the binding idea of a time machine. ‘Time is important with whisky, and with Ardbeg An Oa, Ardbeg Wee Beastie and Ardbeg Ten Years Old, what you’re talking about is three different time experiences.’
Straddling the three stories (Guardians Of Oa, The Best Laid Schemes and Take It With A Grain Of Sand) is the mysterious figure of the Quantum Distiller. Dressed in khakis and a pith helmet, we see her entering a time portal next to a rickety jetty on a wee Scottish island in the first spread. She returns nanoseconds later, just in time to receive a postcard from herself, delivered by an astounded postie who has seen the whole thing unfold.
‘I designed the magazine in the tradition, or as a pastiche, of EC Comics and Métal hurlant,’ Wimberly states, referencing respectively the renowned US publisher of horror and crime comics, and the cult French anthology created by Jean Giraud, better known as Mœbius. ‘I read a foreword in a Mœbius comic about his process making the Métal hurlant shorts and they’re essentially gag shorts. It’s a kind of formal conceit. I used this structure for at least two of the strips.’
What was it like working in the shorter form Ardbeg were after, given the longer format the artist is used to? ‘A graphic novel is a work of considerable length, designed for that format from the outset,’ says Wimberly. ‘The Ardbeg project is more of a one-shot anthology. It’s a comic.’ The project has clearly been a success from Ardbeg’s point of view; so much so that a second whiskythemed strip is now available digitally, Ardbeg Heavy Vapours, this time created by Dilraj Mann.
ardbeg.com/en-gb/planet-ardbeg
All-star casts on the telly? Two a penny, these days. Still, cop a load of the talent gathered up for Silo, Apple TV+’s latest dystopian drama series: Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter. That’s three. David Oyelowo, Rashida Jones, Rebecca Ferguson make another top trio. Launched recently to much fervour at Canneseries, Silo is based on a set of post-apocalyptic sci-fi books penned by Hugh Howey, the first of which was published back in the (comparatively speaking) rose-tinted halcyon days of 2011.
It asks a simple yet devastating question: if the last few thousand people on the planet are living inside a vast agricultural structure, what is so bad out there that they’d rather carry on in this way? Here’s another one to ponder: are the rules and regulations laid down by authorities for the inhabitants of this curious civilisation put there to protect them or to keep them in servitude?
A juicy one for the conspiracists among us to get some teeth into, for sure. This safe haven becomes a little less cosy (the drama’s original title was to be Wool) when several unexplained deaths occur in the wake of an edict being broken. Smelling some very pungent if metaphorical rats, engineer Juliette (Ferguson) takes it upon herself to investigate and, sure enough, the dark underbelly of this community begins to be exposed. (Brian Donaldson) Available from Friday 5 May.
In this column, we ask a pod person about the ’casts that mean a lot to them. This month, it’s Kristen V Brown, Bloomberg health editor and host of Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure, an investigation into the family who convinced people to buy a miracle liquid made of poison, igniting an international conspiracy
Which podcast educates you? Radiolab. It’s the first show I fell in love with and still, to this day, I learn something new and amazing about the world in every episode.
Which podcast makes you laugh? WTF With Marc Maron. He cracks me up. But he is also the most skilled interviewer out there. He’s amazing at getting people to open up.
Which podcast makes you sad or angry? Dr Death. The first season especially, but really every season is such a great example of a major flaw in the American medical system. When a doctor is practicing bad medicine, our fractured system can make it very hard to stop them.
Is there a podcast you’d describe as a guilty pleasure? I love anything about a cult.
Who doesn’t have a podcast but should? Sharon Horgan. I love everything she has ever made. She has such a cutting and yet relatable view of the female experience. I would listen to her talk about anything.
Pitch us a new podcast idea in exactly 25 words I need someone to do a deep dive on GMOs. They’re amazing. They have saved lives. Revolutionised agriculture. And yet so many people fear them.
Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
When comedian James Acaster is driving a project, a joke is never too far down the road. For his latest trick, he’s curating and producing Temps, an experimental DIY affair featuring no fewer than 40 players. Fine. But, asks Megan Merino, what’s with the toy alligator?
Party Gator Purgatory emerged from a failed mockumentary commissioned by Louis Theroux’s production company in 2020 in which James Acaster had planned to formally renounce being a stand-up in favour of fulfilling his musical aspirations. The film was to open with Acaster, a drummer in bands before his comedy career took off, retrieving his childhood drum kit from his family home along with a treasured stuffed alligator toy who has miraculously survived several assassination attempts by parents, girlfriends and flatmates.
From there, he’d be on his merry way to becoming a bona-fide musician. But covid butchered those plans, leaving Acaster with numerous drum tracks and no place to put them. Thus Party Gator Purgatory, a highly experimental album loosely narrating the journey of Acaster’s childhood toy and featuring 40 international musicians, was born.
Opening track ‘lookaliveandplaydead’ is a harmonious blend of synths, booming drums and hints of gospel, not dissimilar to elements of Young Fathers’ recent work. This only increases the sonic whiplash felt when second track ‘kept’ begins, first with its Daft Punk-esque stacked auto-tuned vocals, then a free-jazz drum solo (think Kendrick Lamar’s ‘For Free’) providing the song’s instrumentation. If you’re already thinking ‘sounds like a lot’, brace yourself. This is but the first ten minutes of Party Gator Purgatory’s sonic safari, so if you fear the wild and untameable, board with serious caution.
Filled with unexpected breakdowns, leftfield transitions and complete disregard for traditional song structure, this album oozes a freewheeling DIY spirit. Its patchwork of ideas and sounds mismatch and contradict each other constantly, challenging the listener while also extending an olive branch every now and then with clear nods to alternative jazz, hip hop and alt.rock.
Lyrics oscillate between spontaneous spoken-word and repetitive hooks, always decorated with elaborate production. Juicy grooves come up in ‘partygatorR.I.P.’ and aptly return in ‘partygatorresurrection’, while standout contributions from rapper-producer Quelle Chris and singer-songwriter NNAMDÏ make tracks such as ‘bleedthemtoxins’ and ‘no,no’ (also notably featuring Xenia Rubinos) particularly strong. Despite being spearheaded by a TV comic with a loyal following, this bold collective project does not grasp at mass appeal. Instead, James Acaster shamelessly leans into creativity, collaboration and chaos in an earnest attempt to feed his musicloving inner child.
Party Gator Purgatory is released by Bella Union on Friday 19 May.
Eccentricity permeates The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld, a new documentary about the fashion icon which focuses largely on figuring out who the heir is to his £150m fortune. Given that Karl Lagerfeld’s will remains legally unresolved, the question of his estate is mostly met with variations of the same vague and non-committal answer. An amusing prime candidate to benefit is Choupette, Lagerfeld’s breathtakingly beautiful Birman cat, but perhaps too much airtime is given to teasing out this suggestion to no avail. Nevertheless, it does intriguingly emerge that 33-year-old model Baptiste Giabiconi (former face of the fashion brand who Lagerfeld wanted to adopt as his son) will be a leading beneficiary.
Through archival footage, we get to know a Lagerfeld who is captivating, quick-witted and capable of deep, unconventional attachments with his collaborators. We meet the people who were profoundly touched by his creativity and vast generosity, including his models and employees. On a less intimate level, an interview with Lagerfeld’s nosy yet likeable Parisian neighbour demonstrates the immense intrigue surrounding the fashion legend, though it does little to drive the programme forward.
Beyond the question of that estate, the documentary gleans that Lagerfeld was not without his controversies, dedicating time to examine his fatphobia but not his disrespect toward the #MeToo movement. It amounts to an enjoyable Sunday afternoon watch rather than a detailed exploration of the man behind the sunglasses. (Rachel
Available now.
Ashenden)
It’s been over a decade since Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng’s last novel, the Booker-shortlisted The Garden Of Evening Mists. But they say good things come to those who wait, and with his new work of historical fiction, that patience is richly rewarded. The House Of Doors takes us to colonial Penang in 1921 where a series of real events are absorbed into a captivating narrative, at the centre of which we find society hostess Lesley Hamlyn, wife of wealthy lawyer Robert. Into her world comes William Somerset Maugham, one of the most successful writers of his age and an old friend of her husband.
Suffering marriage woes and financial strife, Maugham comes to visit the couple with his secretary, Gerald. The story unfolds as Lesley and Willie slowly reveal secrets to each other, of forbidden love and betrayal, reflecting the impact of society’s expectations on women and gay men in the 1920s. It’s a particularly risky and trusting move on Lesley’s part, knowing Maugham could well use her revelations in his future writing. The odd-couple bond between this pair would have made a fine novel in itself. But Tan masterfully plays their tale out against an absorbing historical backdrop of empire, race and colonialism, with revolutionaries plotting the overthrow of the imperial Chinese dynasty, and Lesley’s friend Ethel standing trial for murder (an event which inspired Maugham’s short story, ‘The Letter’). The dexterity with which Tan weaves these multiple and disparate narrative strands into a seamless whole is sublime. His prose is poetic and transporting, shot through with an underlying melancholy, building to an exquisite and unexpected final reveal.
(Paul
McLean)
Published on Thursday 18 May.
Long-form personal essays with a political edge continue to boom in popularity. Some are truly compelling, concise yet thoughtful, planting a writer’s unique place in the world. Others are too meandering, shovelling clever cultural references in the gaps where the argument loses its grasp.
Sophia Giovannitti’s Working Girl: On Selling Art And Selling Sex sits somewhere in the middle. This New York-based writer and conceptual artist’s debut book promises a great deal from the outset. Framed as an ‘exploration into the very similar work of selling art and selling sex’, this title strives to illuminate how these highly lucrative industries are more entangled than we may initially suspect.
In the second chapter, there is a jarring, long-winded metaphor which tries to encapsulate the book’s premise with Giovannitti comparing steak to sex, then to art, and then to sex work. Its futileness sticks out like a sore thumb. However, the author is strongest as a writer when her art and research do the talking. There are some fascinating, in-depth records of the intersection of sex work and art here, from Carolee Schneemann’s erotic avant-garde explorations to controversies surrounding pop-culture tycoon Jeff Koons. In particular, Giovannitti dedicates several brilliant pages to analysing Lynda Benglis’ ‘dildo-adorned self-portrait’ which was published as an advertisement in a 1974 edition of Artforum. With extraordinary fervour, Giovannitti details the fallout from its publication, featuring anti-pornography feminists and Artforum editors who defamed Benglis in the following issue.
Ultimately, this book’s gripping subject matter offers an accessible yet imaginative route into those intersections of sex work and the art market, from the perspective of a person with has lived experience of both. There are some binarisms in Working Girl which could benefit from being teased out with carefully applied critical theory, or perhaps even a stronger, more distinctive personal and political angle. Nevertheless, Sophia Giovannitti’s work offers a view we haven’t seen before. (Rachel Ashenden)
Published on Tuesday 30 May.
(Lemonada)
Playing arrogant narcissist Selina Meyer in Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was always convinced she was the smartest person in the room. In real life, this multi award-winning performer has enough humility to know that many people have been around the block more times than her, gathering wisdom along the way. At the age of 62, Louis-Dreyfus is also aware that older women, unlike their male counterparts, are often sidelined from the public eye they once dominated.
But if that makes Wiser Than Me sound like an exercise in sage fingerwagging, it couldn’t be further from the truth. As you’d expect from someone who cut her comedy teeth on Saturday Night Live before going on to play Elaine Benes in Seinfeld, this new adventure sparkles with wit and dynamism. Having lined up some of her heroines who are more advanced in years, Louis-Dreyfus goes diving for pearls of insight. In the first three episodes we hear from legendary actress and activist Jane Fonda (85), Chilean author Isabel Allende (80), and chef/food writer Ruth Reichl (75), all of whom are unafraid to share deeply personal aspects of their careers, childhoods and relationships. Whether you’re staring the third age in the face or it’s on a far-off horizon, this podcast will have you reflecting on how to live your best life. (Kelly Apter)
New episodes every Tuesday.
The streaming service revolution has encouraged Hollywood studios to ransack their back catalogues for potential adaptations. Two late 80s affairs getting a fresh makeover are Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction (lllll) and David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (lllll). Viewed from the prism of #MeToo, both texts are cautionary tales of male malfeasance that feel very different when seen from a developed female point-of-view.
Many viewers will already know Lyne’s epic of elevator sex and boiled bunnies, with James Dearden’s screenplay having its ending filmed but then cut for release. As scripted, Michael Douglas’ unfaithful husband was arrested for the murder of his lover Alex, played by Glenn Close. This revived scene provides a jumpingoff point as we fast-forward a few years to see grizzled ex-DA Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) getting parole after serving time for her killing. There’s fresh emphasis on relationships with his wife Beth (Amanda Peet) and daughter Ellen (Alyssa Jirrels) while flashbacks revise the original film’s events.
Dan started out with aspirations to be a judge, but his dalliance with ‘victim services’ personnel Alex Forrest (Lizzy Caplan) complicates his world. Alex is still a tease (‘have you ever pushed that red button?’ she goads Dan in a lift encounter), but she’s also an elemental figure who is clearly being wronged (Dan callously threatens to get Alex fired when she fakes an attention-seeking overdose). Denying their attraction is like ‘fighting blood itself’ insists Alex, but blood is soon to be spilled and that rabbit has reason to look nervous . . .
While Fatal Attraction doubles down on accusations of abusive male behaviour, as well as stoking current anxieties about US judicial corruption, Dead Ringers aims for something darker and more esoteric in traditional Cronenberg style. In the original, Jeremy Irons played Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twin gynaecologists who duplicitously substitute for each other in their relationships with women.
This Amazon reboot rings some changes by casting Rachel Weisz in both parts, with Britne Oldford as the patient who provides a catalyst for the twins’ painful uncoupling: ‘do you want me to get her for you, Ellie?’ says Beverley as they size up another potential conquest. The Mantle twins are trying to revolutionise childbirth via their swanky Manhattan birthing centre and some sci-fi notions of ‘female sperm’. This Dead Ringers goes to some effort in showing that girls can be players too, with these manipulative protagonists bored by a lack of ‘imaginative capabilities’ in the men around them. While both projects are weakened by slavish inclusion of iconic scenes for die-hard fans, they ultimately make rather different points. The more mainstream Fatal Attraction puts the patriarchy firmly in the dock while the intense Dead Ringers revels in female wrongdoing, garnished by bouts of menstrual discharge. If nothing else, both series provide striking femme-fatale roles for their leads, with Caplan making Alex far more than a jumpscare monster, and Weisz delivering not one but two subtly different but equally formidable performances.
Dead Ringers is available now on Prime Video; Fatal Attraction starts on Paramount+ on Monday 1 May.
As the movie-to-TV adaptation trend continues, two controversial 80s films are the latest to be reworked and expanded for our small screens. Eddie Harrison considers how Fatal Attraction and Dead Ringers fare with the transition
EA Sports first bagged the PGA Tour licence all the way back in 1990. It later released an astonishing 16 annual golf games named after Tiger Woods before the former champion’s star rapidly waned. In 2015 there was a brief dalliance with Rory McIlroy as figurehead and then the series petered out. Now it’s back to take full advantage of current-gen systems.
Unlike its forebears, this game is extremely generous with its courses. There are 28 real-world venues (including two of the most prestigious in Augusta and St Andrews) plus a couple of fantasy environments, and there’s a lavish roster of top male and female players. But considering the state of the game a week after release, cynics might wonder if it was rushed to coincide with this year’s Masters.
Player customisation (historically a really big deal in this series) is laughably limited, the menus are buggy, there’s terrible lag when taking shots, and there’s no proper tutorial to explain how all the complex systems work. And yet it is the best-looking golf simulation around thanks to the heft of EA’s vast resources. Knowing the importance (and price) of the PGA licence, it’s hard to imagine the various issues won’t be fixed. But it was obviously released way too soon and currently sits in the rough. (Murray Robertson)
Out now.
Hello and welcome to The National By Numbers, our handy guide on how you can create an album in the vein of Brooklyn’s beloved white-collar whingers. Follow these rules and you too can successfully tread water by releasing basically the same album every two years.
Rule one: Not sure how to end your song? Chuck in a brass section for the final minute to give the illusion of a grand finale.
Rule two: Forget that you were once a cuttingedge act. Relax into middling rhythms with a singlemindedness that some may mistake for an artistic statement rather than a creative Sahara.
Rule three: Recycle the gorgeous build of ‘Fake Empire’ as often as possible to open a song and hope nobody notices that you’ve descended into self-plagiarism.
Rule four: Continue your frontman’s lyrical slide from inspired character studies to vague lovelorn melodrama. Allow him to use empty phrases like ‘everything’s different, why do I feel the same?’ and ‘I thought we could make it through anything’, both found on the woefully titled ‘Once Upon A Poolside’. Pretend that this walking, talking word-salad generator isn’t in need of new inspiration.
Rule five: Include celeb mates Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers on backing vocals to reel in the young crowd, and Sufjan Stevens to prove you’ve still got cultural cachet.
Rule six: Get Berninger to do that raspy shout once on lead single ‘Eucalyptus’, but without the visceral thrill of ‘Mr November’ or ‘Terrible Love’. The last thing anyone wants from their beige guitar rock is to get the blood pumping.
Rule seven: Maintain the kind of glacial pace that’ll send listeners to sleep but remain toothless enough for 6 Music’s daytime playlist. Either way, even ardent fans will only listen to half the album before flicking back to Boxer.
Congratulations! You’ve just successfully created a workaday album by The National. They clearly followed these rules themselves for First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, an album that may as well have been called Business As Usual or Padding At Our Next Arena Gig. Shouldn’t we expect more from this generation’s REM than a pale facsimile of their heyday? (Kevin Fullerton)
Out now.
A packed month of things to do indoors or consume on your travels includes two hugely anticipated second albums, a star-laden anthology series, games with Gollum and some Muppet-sized mayhem
ALBUMS
LEWIS CAPALDI
Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (he likes a verbose album title does our Lewis) will assuredly cement his reputation as an acerbic wag even while tackling some tricky issues in his writing.
n Vertigo, Friday 19 May.
ARLO PARKS
Following up a Mercury-winning debut is no easy feat, but Parks aims to deliver with My Soft Machine which is all about ‘navigating PTSD and grief and self-sabotage and joy’.
n Transgressive Records, Friday 26 May.
CALEXICO
The US indie rockers celebrate 20 years of Feast Of Wire by releasing the whole shebang plus a live performance recorded in Sweden.
n City Slang, Friday 26 May.
BOOKS
RUBY WAX
Having gone through a difficult few years, comedian and broadcaster Wax shares her own experiences in I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, in a bid to help others suffering mental-health issues.
n Penguin Life, Thursday 11 May.
REBECCA F KUANG
The bestselling author of The Poppy War and Babel brings us Yellowface, a tale of ambition, greed and white privilege in which a stolen manuscript lands its thief in increasingly precarious waters.
n The Borough Press, Thursday 25 May.
GAMES
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: GOLLUM
German game developers Daedalic take you deep into Middle Earth with the ring-obsessed fellow doing his utmost to survive while sneaking around a danger-strewn JRR Tolkien-shaped world.
n PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Thursday 25 May.
PODCASTS
PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME
Using 9/11 to fake her own death might have seemed a smart move at the time, but Emily Morris’ past eventually catches up with her in proper big style. Adapted and directed by Daniella Isaacs from the 2016 novel by Kim Hooper, this ten-part drama stars Rosamund Pike and Hugh Laurie.
n BBC Sounds, Tuesday 23 May.
FRANKIE BOYLE: MONARCHY
It may do an awful lot wrong these days, but we will merrily acknowledge when Channel 4 gets something right. Such as letting Francis Martin Patrick Boyle loose on the monarchy just ahead of that big crowny ceremony thing that’s coming up.
n Channel 4, Wednesday 3 May.
The penultimate season of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s beloved and occassionally very creepy anthology show gets into full swing with a typically starry and iconoclastic galaxy of stars making their contributions. Among them are Frances Barber, Robin Askwith (ask your dad), Anita Dobson, Mathew Horne, Moyo Akandé and Phil Daniels (ask your mum).
n BBC Two, Thursday 4 May.
THE MUPPETS MAYHEM
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t love The Muppets? Statistically speaking, there probably is. Still, no matter, the gang is back with this new series putting a focus on the band (Animal, Janice, Zoot et al).
n Disney+, Wednesday 10 May.
Primal Scream present Screamadelica
Franz Ferdinand
Future Islands | Confidence Man | Jockstrap
Kruder & Dorfmeister | David Holmes
House Gospel Choir
Fred again..
Young Fathers | Róisín Murphy
MUNA | Friendly Fires
Kelly Lee Owens | Biig Piig | Optimo (Espacio)
Éclair Fifi | Rachel Chinouriri | TAAHLIAH | Leith Ross
|
Raye | Public Service Broadcasting
Arab Strap | Lightning Seeds
Beth Orton | Daniel Avery
Olivia Dean | Wunderhorse
Katie Gregson-MacLeod
From hits with Ultravox and solo success to being a driving force behind Band Aid, Midge Ure has enjoyed a stellar career, selling millions of records along the way. In our Q&A, he talks of haunting mean school teachers, locking himself in a confined space with Boris Johnson, and his regret at not shaking a Hollywood legend’s hand
Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Martin Compston did a great job a few years back on the Live Aid comedy.
Who do you think the casting people would choose? A young Sean Connery . . . we are the same height after all!
If you were playing in an escape room name two other people (well-known or
otherwise) you’d recruit to help you get out? Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. They can wriggle out of anything, anywhere, anytime.
What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? ‘What difference would another four years have made?’
If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? Err. . . a midge?
When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else? It doesn’t happen anymore I’m glad to say. People tend to think I look like a bit me or, if push comes to shove, Patrick Stewart or anyone else with a shaved head. My drummer Russell gets mistaken for me after shows which suits me fine.
What’s the best cover version ever? The BBC’s multi-artist version of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’.
Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? Either Hannah Gordon or Stephen Fry.
Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? The joy of reading, something I avoided when I was young.
Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Doing nothing with the people I like doing nothing with. Or performing: Saturday nights are usually a more vibrant crowd.
If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? Miss Thompson, my primary school teacher. She made my life unbearable . . . not that I’ve carried that all these years, of course.
If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? 1976 when Slik were invited to a film premiere in London and I had the chance to shake Fred Astaire’s hand but was too scared to walk up to him. You never get those chances in life again.
What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? I won a certificate for excellence in singing Burns songs when I was ten.
Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? No nickname, but lots of references to Yuri Gagarin the first man in space. What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? To play the piano properly.
If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to and what would it be called? Kraftwerk. I’d call them Neonalikes.
When were you most recently astonished by something? Jeff Beck has just passed so I’ve been watching lots of live video of him performing and I am astonished every single time I hear what he did.
What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? Still looking for that one. It’ll have to be a monster to get me dancing!
Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? I think Billy Connolly when we were still drinking. I’ve never known a funnier man.
As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? ‘Can’t they just buy more food?’ (my daughter when she was young, having met a teenage girl and her family in Sierra Leone who just had their crops devastated by drought and faced an impending famine).
Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I’m quite a quiet guy.
When did you last cry? I had a tear in my eye hearing about Jeff Beck’s passing. Music and what it does to you is a hugely powerful thing.
What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? My phone.
By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? The junk room, for obvious reasons.
If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage?
Downing Street? There seems to be a lot of skullduggery there that Bond’s winning touch could sort out.
Midge Ure, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Wednesday 17 May; Barrowland, Glasgow, Thursday 18 May; he also appears as part of Let’s Rock Scotland, Dalkeith Country Park, Saturday 24 June.
In last issue’s Eat Drink Shop section, we published an illustration of The Absent Ear by Shona Blair aka Shobee Scribbles. Sadly, this went in without a credit, so we amend that here with our apologies and a plug of her Instagram @shobeescribbles.
While we’re at it, apologies also go to Malcolm Cumming, star of stage musical Kidnapped who was referred to in our feature as Michael Cumming (the guy who directed Brass Eye and Toast Of London is, so far as we know, neither a swasher nor a buckler).
1 2 3
Ari Aster is a true master of modern terror. Having scared the bejesus from us with Hereditary and Midsommar, he’s back this month with a fresh dose of nightmare fodder c/o Beau Is Afraid. Joaquin Phoenix stars in a film that’s been dubbed ‘an experimental fever dream about parent/child issues and mortality’. That oughta do it.
Luke Jerram’s GAIA is a public-art phenomenon and contemporary wonder of the world. Across May and June, this ‘Museum Of The Moon’ will be found in Glasgow’s Mackintosh Queen’s Cross. Last seen in the city during COP26, it takes up residency in this church to mark the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society’s 50th anniversary.
Spoken-word poet and musician Imogen Stirling brings us both an album and a multi-media stage show under the umbrella of Love The Sinner. Theatre audiences at Edinburgh’s Traverse and Glasgow’s Tron will be enchanted and enthralled in May with her potent musings on those deadly sins. All seven of them.
