The List Issue 768

GOING OUT

SCULPTOR DAVID MACH ON HIS ARTISTIC ETHOS

It can’t be big enough. It can’t be extravagant enough

February may well be the month of commercialised fluffy love, but things are getting decidedly weighty over here. Our cover stars Young Fathers are set to release their latest album, Heavy Heavy, as they contemplate the woes of the world and wonder how we got here. But with great tunes and killer beats.

Cards on the table: it’s going to be the top album of 2023, right?

Someone else who knows about the bulkier side of life is David Mach. The Fife artist works on an industrial scale crafting slabs and slices of sculptural might and creative heft. As he works long-term on building a new artist/ venue space in Edinburgh Park, London’s Pangolin gallery is playing host to his Heavy Metal. We met him in his maquette-filled lair.

Our other feature star this issue is Song Kang-ho, the star of Oscar-bothering South Korean satire Parasite who talks to us about his new film, Broker, which tackles the divisive subject of baby boxes and the people who take care of abandoned foundlings. Also some heavy-duty material there.

So, who is keeping it light for us this month? In our Back Q&A, DJ Arielle Free reveals the secret of kiwi fruit while in a Going Out Q&A, Sam Riley recalls a moment on the set of She Is Love when, in a fit of improv, someone popped an apple in his mouth. Plus, we shoot some breeze with Nicole Cooper as she prepares to be Lady Macbeth in Zinnie Harris’ new stage interpretation, find out how the Hartnoll brothers of Orbital got through lockdown (with quite a bit of difficulty, it turns out), and muse with South African-born stand-up Urzila Carlson about not traumatising her fans.

Of course, it doesn’t get much heavier than having to pass judgement on people’s creative endeavours, so come and find out what we thought of ITVX’s Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, the new novel from Aleksander Hemon, a Mull Historical Society retrospective box set, the AI dancing/killing machine M3gan, and the gig return of The Delgados. Answers: not much, a lot, a lot again, a mixed bag, and it was glorious.

Brian Donaldson EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLISHING

CEO Sheri Friers

Editor Brian Donaldson

Art Director Seonaid Rafferty

Designer

Carys Tennant

Sub Editors Paul McLean

Megan Merino

Writers

Alan Bett, Becca Inglis, Brian Donaldson, Claire Sawers, David Kirkwood, Eddie Harrison, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jo Laidlaw, Katherine McLaughlin, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Leah Bauer, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Neil Cooper, Rachel Ashenden, Rachel Cronin, Sean Greenhorn, Stewart Smith, 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

TOMMI PARRISH

BEVVIN’ WITH BUCHAN, MONKEY

SHOULDER’S BRAND AMBASSADOR

MONKEY SHOULDER’S Jody Buchan SHARES HIS KNOWLEDGE OF SCOTLAND’S FINEST WATERING HOLES SO YOU’LL NEVER BE

SHORT OF A PLACE TO GRAB A DRAM

I’m a whisky brand ambassador for Monkey Shoulder, the 100% malt whisky brand 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 the country, and since 2020, I’ve noticed a drastic change in the hospitality landscape. South of the border, an average of 50 pubs are closing per month in the last year, and in Scotland 5% of venues didn’t reopen following lockdown. Around half cut their hours and an estimated 10% of remaining hospitality sites are facing closure.

Can you imagine not going down to your local with your mates? Doesn’t bear thinking about. We need the buzz of a random night out or the comfort of a familiar bar. So how can you help? Simple – try new bars, restaurants or even just a different cocktail than your usual.

If you’re not sure how or where to start, you don’t have to look far. 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 you’ll ever meet and letting them show off their favourite drinks. 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 this series, I’ll point you towards some of my favourite watering holes across Scotland. To kick things off, here are two of the finest drinking establishments in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, and Scotland as a whole, 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.

Bramble

Bramble, which sits below a tailor on the corner of Hanover and Queen Street, is one of the industry’s favourite haunts. There’s a reason it’s been in operation for 16 years; it offers low lighting, fantastic service, hip-hop beats and a generous customer ethos. And there are few venues in Edinburgh where you can guarantee that you’ll be served by and drink alongside the best bartenders in the country.

Cocktail Geeks

The Cocktail Geeks brand began its life as a series of themed pop-ups around the city. They’ve since established a permanent residence on Market Street. Whether you love Harry Potter, Stranger Things or Jurassic Park, your fandom will be catered for here by the menu’s constantly changing pop culture theme. Even the staff’s uniforms and décor change, so you’ll never be bored by a visit to the Geeks. Fantastic service, hospitality and drinks.

PICTURES: RYAN SNEDDEN PHOTOGRAPHY

MOUTHPIECE

Stewart Smith condemns the decision of BBC bosses to slash hours of regular and vibrant music content from its Radio Scotland schedule. Without them, we may never find the next Fergus McCreadie or Lewis Capaldi

In January, BBC Radio Scotland announced plans to cut its jazz, classical and traditional music programming. Pipeline, one of the station’s two piping shows, is to be axed, alongside Jazz Nights and ClassicsUnwrapped BBC Scotland claimed the decision was in response to the licence-fee freeze, insisting the nation’s ‘vibrant jazz and classical communities’ would still be reflected in their schedules. But that’s no substitute for dedicated programming. Ominously, the BBC added that those who enjoy this music could continue to access it across the broadcaster. In other words, go and listen to Radio 3, you weirdos.

The plans have been met with dismay across Scotland’s cultural sector, with saxophonist Tommy Smith organising a petition and protest on the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall steps. Why cut now, when our jazz, classical and traditional music scenes are flourishing? SAY Award winner Fergus McCreadie is among the new generation of Scottish musicians given a platform by Jazz Nights. The piping scene is equally exciting, with musicians like Brìghde Chaimbeul and Malin Lewis pushing traditional music in experimental new directions.

Scotland is also home to several world-class orchestras and ensembles, as well as the cutting-edge Tectonics festival. I don’t quite buy the argument that executives at Pacific Quay

are engaged in a unionist plot to put down Scottish culture, but there clearly is a lack of vision about what the national station can be. Scottish artists and audiences deserve better.

It’s worth noting that such cuts are not exclusive to Scotland. Local radio programming across the UK has faced major ‘restructuring’ over the past few years, with specialist arts programming often being first in line for the axe. BBC Introducing, which gives emerging musicians the chance to be heard on their local BBC radio station, and sponsors a stage at Glastonbury, is facing cuts to its scheduling. The 32 regional shows currently on air could be slashed to 11. If BBC Introducing, which gave Lewis Capaldi his first radio exposure, is deemed expendable, what hope do shows covering non-mainstream genres have?

It’s not all doom and gloom. Plans to drop local radio programmes catering to Black and Asian audiences in England have been shelved following a campaign by the Black Equity Organisation. And it’s heartening to see Scotland’s musical community come together with a similar sense of urgency. Here’s hoping that their campaign forces bosses at Pacific Quay to think again.  Stewart Smith is a music journalist and researcher who can be found on Twitter @Stewfsmith; Tommy Smith’s petition against the cuts is at change.org/p/please-save-bbcradio-scotland-s-jazz-nights-from-being-axed

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, Leah Bauer tells us about those things which . . .

Made me cry: Hailing from the Great White North, I don’t cry except when an animal charity ad is on daytime TV. Cue waterworks.

Made me angry: How the toxic dynamics in the royal family have dominated the media and overshadowed the very real economic crises the country is facing.

Mademesad: Millions of people attacking Meghan Markle because she had the audacity to marry a prince and wouldn’t accept being treated like a second-class citizen. Just because you’ve created a twisted parasocial relationship with her, it does not mean you get to dictate her behaviour.

Mademethink: In Defence Of Witches by Mona Chollet. Female cattiness has always been around, but to read that the majority of instances of female persecution, although started by men, gained traction by accusations from women makes you think about if you’ve helped or hurt other women.

Mademethinktwice: Buying a scarf-length hot water bottle from Primark. Do I need it? No. But have I thought about buying it at least once a week since I first saw it? Absolutely.

playLIST

It’s time to fill your ears with the sweet sounds of this music-packed issue

Among the varied tracks are featured artists Young Fathers, Ezra Collective, Eric Linklater, Hamish Hawk, Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons, Tennis and many more...

Scan and listen as you read:

head head2

M2GAN

If you’re familiar with the story of Frankenstein et al, then the plot of M3gan is as see-through as a wet white t-shirt. A genius roboticist invents an AI doll that inevitably outsmarts its creator and begins ‘fulfilling its objective function’ way too intensely. Naturally, chaos ensues, blood is splattered and spilt, blah blah blah.

As a camp comedy thriller, M3gan is a chuckle-inducing piece of entertainment. And sure, the murky undercurrent of tech-addiction rings true. But the very ‘sci-fi’ idea that artificial intelligence could really bite us in our hiney is hardly ground-breaking stuff. Why, then, is M3gan already a pop-culture phenomenon?

My guess is the film successfully hit numerous key cultural touchpoints before its release: it birthed its own TikTok trend from a short (mind-boggling) dance scene featured in the trailer, was already turned into Halloween costumes last October, and was more latterly the subject of its own SNL sketch. In a highly ironic marketing strategy, M3gan used the beast of social media to embed itself into public consciousness, without the need to build a cult following like the numerous films it’s satirising. Though like any flash-in-the-pan trend, I imagine it won’t stand the test of time.

pot shot

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 . . . huh!?

This could be the most Louis Theroux photograph ever taken. As someone who has spoken before of a creeping imposter syndrome, the superb documentarian and podcaster took to the red carpet for the launch of KSI: In Real Life, a Prime Video series he has produced, and does his damndest to look like he shouldn’t be there. And guess what? It kind of works. Think Larry David hanging out and swapping rhymes with KrazeeEyez Killa in Curb, and quadruple the awkwardness.

In this new column, we sit Megan Merino and Kevin Fullerton down in front of a contentious bit of current culture and ask them to say yay or nay. And also write 200 words each on it. Here is what they thought of horror robot TikTok juggernaut M3gan. Next time, we’ll try and get them to analyse something that almost looks like ‘Kevin’ . . .

KEVIN

Like any good-thinking person enduring the 2020s, I’ve grown deeply suspicious of technology. I think social media is a cancer, that our attachment to mobile phones is creating a world of socially stultified misfits, and that having an Alexa in your home is like inviting the Stasi to take notes at your next revolutionary meeting. I’d get on well with the makers of M3gan, then, who’ve distilled the dystopias of Black Mirror into a campy tech satire. Every character in Blumhouse’s murderdoll killztravaganza is hooked on the endorphin-producing stupefaction of electronic devices. Awkward men are caught ‘Pornhubbing at work’, kids are hypnotised by the bright colours of predatory apps, and hyper-intelligent roboticists are tasked with inventing knock-off junk to perpetuate contemporary society’s idiotic carousel. The generative AI M3gan is emblematic of this; uncannily real, addictive for the kids that interact with her, and fatal to all that cross her path.

A sequel is already in the works for M3gan, which seems a shame. Two films in and this sharp slice of popcorn culture will inevitably be reduced to the cheesy parody of the Chucky and Leprechaun franchises. Until that happens, this is late-night entertainment doling out harsh truths about the modern world.

HEAVY DUTY

With a glittering array of awards to their name, Young Fathers are finally making a powerful return to the fold. Kevin Fullerton chats to Alloysious Massaquoi about his working-class upbringing, learning to be a better person and taking the ultimate gamble

“

We can’t really afford to do this for a laugh ”

The world has changed a lot in the five years since Young Fathers released Cocoa Sugar, and they don’t like what they see. In a press release for ‘I Saw’, the exhilarating second single from new album Heavy Heavy, the band wrote, ‘it’s a big bully with shite down their leg, still swaggering. That pamphlet through your door blaming the establishment and immigrants for everything going wrong. The stench of long-dead empire, trudging along, a psychological hammer to your head in every step. The delusion.’

That’s quite a potent summary of the problems Britain is facing in an age where right-wing policy makers and alt-right keyboard warriors seem to be gaining ground within mainstream culture. Yet despite the obvious political and social commentary underlying Heavy Heavy, this is also an album filled with touching personal experiences and playful experimentation. One third of Young Fathers, Alloysious Massaquoi, frames the album as a way to make sense of the past half-decade’s chaos. ‘Because we’ve not put anything out in the last few years, and because of what was happening in the world and to our lives

individually, we had this sort of heavy feeling. There’s a lot that we’re processing throughout the record.’

This lengthy gestation process is partly because, as happens with so many projects when people hit their thirties, life got in the way. Graham Hastings started a family, Kayus Bankole travelled to Africa, while Massaquoi focused on learning to be a better ‘son, brother, uncle, that kind of thing’. A few years off must have been welcome for a band which has spent the better part of two decades cementing their place in the music industry; and it’s also changed their process in the studio. Young Fathers have learned to value and accentuate their hard-won creative rapport as a trio.

‘Heavy Heavy has been a long-ass process,’ admits Massaquoi. ‘It’s taken fucking ages. This is one we’ve recorded and produced ourselves, just us three in the studio. We took time away from each other as well, and we got older, more reflective. The mundane nuts and bolts of life have started to matter more. It’s been long but it’s good to arrive at a finished record.’

As with any Young Fathers record, each song contains a dizzying array of elements that bristle and flow alongside each other, melodies weaving in and out with an intensity that accentuates the creative verve that has made the band critical darlings. Yet many

of the songs remain untested live, and in fact the band haven’t been on a stage since 2018. ‘Figuring these songs out live is rekindling the passion and making it seem more real than what it was in the last few years. A song takes on a new lease of life when you’re performing it in front of an audience. There’s a lot of energy in our live performances, so we’ll have to be match-fit in a way that suits the songs. We just fucking go for it.’

Letting go and taking life at full pelt lies at the root of Massaquoi who, despite his and his bandmates’ willingness to put their head above the parapet by attaching themselves to political and social

movements, speaks in almost therapeutic terms about comfort and the communality of music. He’s representative of a band which, particularly after an extended period apart, have become comfortable enough in their own skin to champion the value of family and self-discovery alongside the more headline-grabbing grievances towards Britain’s glaring inequalities and iniquities both past and present. These potentially conflicting themes form the backbone of Heavy Heavy’s stand-out track ‘Geronimo’ (Massaquoi’s favourite song from the new album), its meditative refrain of ‘get on, get off’ urging the listener to disengage from the modern world’s travails.

Despite the album’s focus on viable alternatives to anger at our political system, there’s no sign that this trio have mellowed sonically from their fidgety, fast-paced take on hip hop with TapeOne and Tape Two, those electrifying debut EPs from 2013. Their early work, crammed with near-infinite reservoirs of invention and unrelenting momentum, has the do-or-die approach of a group of lads with plenty to lose and even more to prove. Coming from a working-class background and making music without any financial safety net, the near panic-stricken lo-fi bangers in those EPs were produced in less than two weeks, a remarkable accomplishment given their gleaming polish.

Since then, whether picking up a Mercury Music Prize for their 2014 debut album Dead or Scottish Album Of The Year Award for 2018’s CocoaSugar, their incredible creative vigour has made them seem untouchable. Yet age has helped Massaquoi appreciate the gamble that himself, Bankole and Hastings took in pursuing a career in music.

‘You don’t really think about class until you see a politician trying to make rules for everybody else, and they’ve got a bank balance that affords them the luxury of being able to decide stuff that doesn’t affect them. There’s a big difference in being, like, if I didn’t do music I’ll be alright. We wouldn’t be alright because this is our livelihood. I think when you come from that perspective, things just seem a bit more real. Because if you don’t succeed, there’s going to be consequences. The only way to combat that stress, to bring that joy back into your life, is to do something

creative. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to express yourself. I think that a lot of the time when you’re working class, you’re not supposed to try anything too fancy. There are only a few outlets for men, whether it be football or the pub, to relate to things. We were fortunate to find music and to express ourselves in that way. There’s a lot of repressed people in the world.’

That palpable sense of freedom makes each album from Young Fathers truly special. This is irrepressible music of a kind which has made the band a unique proposition, impossible to pigeonhole and difficult to deny. ‘You just want it to be different, and you want your work to say something that hasn’t been said before. We can’t really afford to do this for a laugh. We take this seriously.’

Having talked the talk with one of those Young Fathers, what happened when we opened our ears to Heavy Heavy? Kevin Fullerton finds a surefire contender for album of the year

Lighter, brighter and more committed to the white-knuckle thrill of a danceable tune. This is the mission statement of HeavyHeavy, the latest album by Young Fathers, in what feels like their most complete work to date. A new release from the Edinburgh-based trio has always seemed like a sign of the times, injected with bleak undercurrents by the unrelenting assault of Tory rule and the murk of underground nightclubs.

Now, at a time when Brexit Britain trudges through the muck of its bad decisions, Heavy Heavy urges you to take a break from your doomscrolling and soar above those problems, with the bracing lift of tracks like ‘Geronimo’, ‘Tell Somebody’ and ‘Drum’ aiding your flight.

‘Hear the beat of the drums and go numb/have fun/go on,’ invites the chorus of ‘Drum’. This isn’t the intense call to action of previous work like ‘Get Up’, which turned dancefloors into spaces of conflict and revolution. Instead, it’s a reminder that the heaviest aspects of life, even in the hellspawn misery of Britain’s political landscape, can be forgotten for a while in the warm embrace of a well-crafted pop song.

This generosity of spirit is present in every bar of Heavy Heavy, in what often feels like a culmination of the core Young Fathers sound. Fidgety rhythms, paradoxically elusive yet specific lyrics, exhilarating bricolage of genre: every trick in their arsenal is pushed to its limit and refined to near perfection. The future of our country may be gloomy, a fact that proves inescapable on swaggering tracks such as ‘I Saw’, but they’re not the focus. Standing proudly at the centre of this infectious, irresistible album are snapshots of elation, the comfort of friends, lovers and family buffering the world’s turbulence. So go on, shrug off life’s enervating force and have a dance.

 Heavy Heavy is released by Ninja Tune on Friday 3 February.

Young Fathers play O2 Academy Glasgow, Friday 3 & Saturday 4 March.

PICTURE: FIONA GARDEN

9 December 2022–1 May 2023 Book

BBC logo™ and © BBC 1996. Doctor Who logo™ and © BBC 2018. Dalek image © BBC/Terry Nation 1963. Licensed by BBC Studios.

Song Kang-ho came to international prominence in Parasite, the South Korean movie which scooped 2020’s Best Picture Oscar. James

Mottram speaks to this admirably modest actor about his contentious new film which revolves around the divisive issue of ‘baby boxes’

In Asian cinema terms, Broker is what you might call a clash of the heavyweights. Behind the camera is Kore-eda Hirokazu, esteemed Japanese director of Nobody Knows and the Cannes-winning Shoplifters. In front, it’s Song Kang-ho, the Korean actor who became an international superstar after his lead turn in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar darling Parasite, having previously starred in 2002 thriller SympathyForMrVengeance and 2016 action drama TheAgeOfShadows. The two met 15 years ago, at the Busan International Film Festival. ‘Surprisingly, he knew of me and said he liked the works I had appeared in,’ says Song, modestly.

It was, as they say, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. After hanging out in Tokyo during 2016, Kore-eda proposed a potential collaboration, with Song playing a priest ‘who was also a baby broker’, the director notes, when we sit down for a chat in Cannes. Wait a minute . . . a what? Set in Korea, Broker deals with the very thorny issues of ‘baby boxes’: a way of leaving unwanted children anonymously. When Kore-eda was researching his 2013

boxing clever

SONG KANGHO

adoption drama Like Father Like Son, he discovered there was one in Japan; then he learned there were far more in Korea.

Seen as a last resort for desperate parents, these ‘baby boxes’ (which can literally be hatches in the wall) are usually connected to churches, and employees work around the clock to ensure that infants are immediately retrieved. Song knew of the phenomenon, but it’s clearly a practice that’s frowned upon by some in Korean society. ‘It is a facility that we are aware of but do not wish to easily reveal,’ Song admits. ‘It’s for people in special circumstances to use in order to resolve those circumstances.’

As Kore-eda puts it, ‘the idea of the baby box in Japan and Korea is still quite divisive. There are people who say that baby boxes are good because they save lives. There are others who say that it encourages women to discard their children. So, it’s a negative presence. I wanted to show that life is a blessing and to affirm the lives of these children.’ Song, however, had his doubts. ‘I did not think it would be easy to tell this story given the painful theme.’

Trust in the creator, perhaps. Broker is another typically nuanced work from Kore-eda, who makes light of coming into Korea to shoot for the first time in his career. In the film, Song and fellow Korean Gang Dong-won (who you may recognise from zombie thriller Peninsula) play, respectively, Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo, two church volunteers who receive infants via the baby boxes before secretly selling them on the black market. Then they meet So-young (Lee Ji-eun), a mother who initially abandons her baby at the church.

‘All of them have painful corners to their lives,’ says Song. ‘They hide them or do not reveal them. Their lives have not been kind to them, to the degree where it is impossible to judge what is good or bad, and they are overwhelmed.’ While that might be a kind assessment, the truth is Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo are traffickers, even if they believe they’re giving these abandoned infants a better chance at a happy life.

When they meet So-young, the trio go on a journey to find suitable parents for her baby, with a view to splitting the profits. Joining them is a seven-year-old

orphan Hae-jin, creating a strange surrogate family that will feel familiar to anyone who has seen Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, which also featured a makeshift clan. ‘I want to show that there are different types of families,’ claims the director, noting he wants to re-evaluate the idea ‘that families can only be formed by people who are connected by blood.’

Song, who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his nuanced performance, got to reconnect with ‘family’ members on Broker too; not least cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (‘a true artist’) who previously shot Parasite. He remembers one scene when the gang pile into the van at a car wash, the sunlight glinting off So-young’s face. ‘When I watched the film, I thought, isn’t the sunshine itself a handful of hope that the film strives for? He put a lot of effort into capturing the sunshine, a single scene that, in a surprising way, penetrates throughout the film and instils itself to the audience.’

Maybe this is why Broker doesn’t feel like a seedy portrait of scurrilous, self-interested people. Rather, there’s a tenderness to this story of lost souls,

characterised by the use of Aimee Mann’s melancholic ‘Wise Up’ on the soundtrack (a song umbilically linked to Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterful Magnolia). Kore-eda’s characters are a group of dreamers too, not least the chatty youngster Hae-jin, who fantasises about playing professional football (even referencing Korean-born Tottenham Hotspur star, Son Heung-min).

To some, Kore-eda might now seem like an honorary Korean, joining the country that brought us Parasite, Squid Game and the like. But what does Song think? Has the filmmaker managed to imprint his personality on South Korean cinema? ‘You could say it was the opposite case,’ he answers, surprisingly. ‘Of course, director Kore-eda gave another moving heartfelt film to Korean cinema but also, on the other hand, I wonder if Japanese cinema was stimulated in a refreshing way.’ Whatever the case, he seems delighted by the experience. ‘It was very touching that a master Japanese director came to Korea to shoot a film.’

Broker is in cinemas from Friday 24 February.

Song cycle: The Age Of Shadows, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Parasite

Kore-eda Hirokazu

SONG KANGHO

AN

EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER BOOK NOw

IN A CITY LIKE NO OTHER

You want to make something that’s a bit bonkers

From Big Heids to Heavy Metal, David Mach has always had grand designs. As the Fife sculptor prepares to create a multi-purpose structure at Edinburgh Park, Neil Cooper finds a man whose overall vision is driven by allure, drama, fantasy, legend . . . and shipping containers

David Mach is thinking big. The home studio of this Methil-born sculptor and icon of monumental public art resembles a small factory, with its production line of materials either laid out on a series of tables, or else neatly filed away in folders and drawers that occupy an entire wall.

Echoes of the former Turner Prize nominee’s earlier projects abound: miniature sumo wrestlers grapple on one table, sliced-up mini red telephone boxes lie on another workspace. As the wheels of industry turn, this all feeds into Heavy Metal, Mach’s current show at Pangolin London featuring maquettes that act as a showcase for future projects and proposals, which their creator aims to build on the grandest of scales. This includes plans for major works on a London roundabout and an epic construction in Mauritius. Also on show will be assorted models for ‘Mach 1’, a proposed landmark building created from shipping containers out at Edinburgh Park, which will eventually be an arts, events and conference venue as well as a large double-height gallery space. As Mach waxes lyrical, those models sit separately on assorted surfaces in both the studio and living room, as if awaiting repairs ever since Mach moved back to Scotland three years ago.

In this sense, everything in Heavy Metal is a work in progress. ‘It’s an odd kind of a show,’ Mach says of his exhibition at the north London sculpture-based gallery. ‘The plan is to make 15 to 20 maquettes for proposals, most of which we’re already working on.’ As one might expect of someone whose conceptual largesse has given rise to such

DAVID MACH

monumental works as ‘Big Heids’ (1999), a series of three ten-metre-high heads on plinths visible on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Mach intends putting a spin on things to create a total environment.

‘I hate walking into a gallery and you’ve got loads of things sitting on plinths,’ he says. ‘I’m trying to make an installation out of that, and make it a little more interesting; so when you go in, it’s a bit like being a wee boy in a museum that has working parts and buttons to press. It won’t be the same as a sculpture maquette show.’ As Mach riffs in heroic monologues on the grand dreams and schemes bursting out of his head (he’s part stand-up, part mad scientist), this is something of an understatement.

‘We’ll make scale models of people to stand next to the sculptures that we’re proposing to make,’ he expounds. ‘We’re going to do a nudist thing, so I’ll ask half a dozen folks that I know if they want to get scanned, and they can just stand there naked and look up at this naked woman holding up a container, and be part of that. We’ll put sand at the base, and set it up as a beach; the naked guys will have shopping bags and hats, and there’ll be a couple of Coke tins laying on the sand, so you can really enjoy the setting of it. That will change it entirely. We’re going to have a hell of a week installing it, because I want a long battleship of plinths all connected together, that you can even sit in, with these little figures and the maquettes themselves, so we’ve got to be clever about how that works.’

Shipping containers feature prominently in Heavy Metal. The aforementioned nude woman is a work called ‘Caryatid Easy’, while ‘Designs For Chiswick’ will show off a tower of containers for a potentially 200 foothigh project. One of Mach’s earliest uses of containers was with ‘Temple At Tyre’. Built beside Leith Docks in 1994, Mach punned on the ancient Phoenician city with a pillared construction made of tyres, built aloft a mountain of containers; a maquette made for Heavy Metal references this.

Pride of place in the exhibition, though, is a model of ‘Mach 1’. Originally scheduled to open in 2020, the building’s construction was postponed due to the ongoing global pandemic. Now pushed back further, it will eventually form part of the Edinburgh Park development. All of this ties in with an industrial-based work ethic drummed into Mach from an early age.

‘Where I grew up,’ he says, ‘if you stood still for ten seconds in the street as a kid, somebody would come up and wallop you on the back of the head and say, “don’t

just stand there, do something”. We were surrounded by enormous endeavour. I remember seeing 800 feet-tall oil platforms with legs the size of four double-decker buses going past the window in Methil, and I’m going to art college the same day to start the week. These guys at college are welding steel together, and they’re saying, “look at the size of that”, and I’m going, “it’s a bit tiddly compared to the things I’ve just seen”.’ That industrial background had a major effect on Mach.

‘I can’t get enough of material. It can’t be big enough. It can’t be extravagant enough. It can’t be ridiculous enough in the way it’s made. I need that thing, otherwise I’m suspicious.’ And Mach’s obsession with shipping containers is clearly a result of this. He believes they have a unique position in the world that hardly any other object has.

‘Everything you’ve ever bought in your life, and everything you’re going to buy, is shaped, sized and equipped to fit in one of those boxes. All these things have a bit of clout in your life somehow or other, so that’s a very, very powerful thing, and has an enormous effect on your physical being. I’ve always said they’re like the temples, these things. They’re exactly the same shape as a Greek temple. They’re long, with those ribbed sides looking like pillars. So a container is more than just a big metal box; but I also love the idea that it’s a big metal box that allows me to become involved in really heavy-duty architecture.’

The latter includes Mach’s proposed project in Mauritius. He describes this as ‘a monster move, which will haul all the other sculptures that I’m making (and planning on making; all the little buildings and houses and so on), along right behind it, and before you know where you are, you’ll be making a whole bunch of these things. The story of building Mauritius: that’s like a full-length feature film made in Hollywood by the guy that made Avatar. There’s your competition.’

In terms of the drive behind his work, Mach says there’s a relentlessness to it. ‘In the art world it’s, “oh, let’s stand back and take a look”. Well, you don’t get that in industry. There it’s all about, “let’s get on with the job, get it done and make the delivery”.’ As for the work itself, according to Mach, ‘you have to make something that has allure, that has legend, that has fantasy, that has drama. Not just this square thing that’s going to be laid out and forgotten about ten minutes later. You want to make something that’s just a bit bonkers. Like making Rome.’

Previous page: David Mach with ‘Caryatid Easy’; opposite page (clockwise from top): proposal for ‘Mach 1’ at Edinburgh Park, ‘Temple At Tyre’ at Leith Docks in 1994, Mach at work in his studio, ‘Train’ sculpture at Darlington

PICTURE: COURTESY OF THE MACH,

EDINBURGH PARK AND DIXON JONES

PICTURE:

A WELCOMING CAFE BAR OFFERING A MENU FOCUSED ON LOCALSUPPLIERS, WITHIN IN A VIBRANT MUSIC & ARTS VENUE IN THE HEART OF STIRLING’S OLD TOWN

THE BLACK GRAPE

A welcome addition to Edinburgh’s tourist-trodden Old Town, The Black Grape wine bar opened on Canongate in December. But you won’t find the ubiquitous haggis bon bons or fish goujons on the menu here. This new venture by Murray Ainslie (Chop House, Monteiths, and White Horse Oyster Bar) offers small plates of bramble-jewelled venison haunch, handmade oxtail ravioli in a rich sauce, and freshly dressed crab atop a crisp potato tower. Rich malbecs and tart pinot grigios complement the menu and the Pancho’s Margarita signature cocktail is a nod to the building’s former occupant, Pancho Villas. The interior of Scandi-chic light wood and sleek minimalism is a break from the typical Old Town aesthetic, too. (Suzy Pope) n 240 Canongate, Edinburgh, theblackgrape.co.uk

eat drink shop

OPEN UP

Suzy Pope takes a look at a new Edinburgh street-food hub which insists it can counter anything the Scottish weather can throw at it. Despite its entertainment-complex setting, it promises to be fiercely independent

As we mourn the temporary loss of The Pitt (don’t worry, it’s moving to Granton), and various neighbourhood markets are closed for the season, there’s a void in Edinburgh’s casual dining scene. This gap can only be filled by fastcooked food served on Vegware plates, communal tables and options that suit every taste and dietary requirement: yes, we need a street-food hub. Luckily, Edinburgh Street Food (ESF) is opening this February on Leith Street. But can somewhere within an entertainment complex like the Omni Centre capture the nonchalant spontaneity of a street-food hub? And hasn’t someone thought of the weather?

Those that keep up with this shifting scene across Edinburgh will recognise a few names on the roster of vendors that have been slated for this new spot. European Street Food champion Junk will be offering their pun-filled menu of fine-dining meets paper napkins, alongside vegan Mexican tacos from Antojitos, tequeños from British Street Food winner The Peruvian, and Scotland’s first taste of mochi doughnuts from SoftCore by Bundits of Leith.

Speaking with Andrew Marshall, co-founder of ESF, we address the hulking great elephant in the room: how will the fleet-of-foot, ramshackle expectations of a street-food market be met within the fluorescent-lit corridors and Slug-And-Lettuce vibe of the Omni Centre? ‘Anyone from Edinburgh knows that the Omni is the Omni,’ he says. ‘But Edinburgh Street Food is a proudly independent company and all our vendors are independent.’ So there’ll be no shopping-mall food-court chains here, with ESF carving off a separate space with its own entrance from Leith Street, featuring

sizzling kitchens and servers bustling between long tables. The dining space will spill out into the square beside the Omni, with Calton Hill forming a picturesque backdrop.

Scotland’s weather often takes the blame for our limited streetfood offerings; indeed, it’s hard to enjoy pulled jackfruit tacos and arepas when ice-cold mizzle is settling into your bones. So, rather than the night markets of Bangkok or food carts of Oaxaca, ESF looked to Scandinavia and across Europe for inspiration. When Copenhagen (statistically Europe’s rainiest city) and Oslo can host sprawling street-food successes, there’s no reason why the Scottish capital can’t. The solution is having an indoor space: but does this contradict the very idea of ‘street food’? Marshall disagrees, explaining their vision is to have ESF ‘feel like an extension of the pavement’. The tables will be covered by pergolas and peppered with heaters for all-weather dining.

ESF were also inspired closer to home. ‘The likes of The Pitt and Glasgow’s Big Feed set the foundations for street food in Scotland,’ Marshall says. He commends The Pitt’s community spirit, where it was about local events as well as food, and being a hub for people to casually gather without a plan or a booking. Marshall has the same vision for ESF to give something back, running open events throughout the year and raising money for a 24-hour mental-health drop-in centre from their revenue.

Edinburgh Street Food opens on Saturday 25 February, edinburgh-street-food.com

Suzy Pope reports on the latest news and openings as Glasgow’s cocktail scene continues to flourish

It’s been in the works for months, but it seems Banca di Roma, a flashy new Italian in Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Building, will finally open this month. Elsewhere, cocktail aficionados have a lot to celebrate in Glasgow at the moment. The team behind Gulp, which closed in 2020, have opened new venture Daddy Marmalade’s on Pirnie Street, embracing Mexican flavours in tequila milkshakes and chilli gin, with nachos to soak it all up. The signature cocktails at August House on Mitchell Street certainly look the part, too, and the menu of small plates comes by way of Thailand and Japan, while new bar Malo on Bothwell Street has an entire section of the menu dedicated to negronis: hooray! Over in Edinburgh, Vittoria Restaurants opened another Italian joint in December in place of La Favorita on Leith Walk. Antonietta is an assault on the senses, with riotously colourful interiors and a breaded yolk-topped signature pizza that defies the norms of texture. Awardwinning street-food vendor Junk has moved into permanent premises on South Clerk Street with upscale restaurant plating for their elevated junk food. And, after folk queued for hours outside his new pizza joint, there are more Ramsay rumblings in Edinburgh with Street Burger opening in the St James Quarter and a second Street Pizza on Henderson Row.

Finally, in List news, we’re launching a new section dedicated to, well, lists. Themed round-ups of our favourite eating and drinking spots in Edinburgh and Glasgow can be found in our new tipLIST section each issue.

side dishes

street food

We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Suzy Pope wanders along Edinburgh’s Broughton Street and finds destination dining alongside great charcuterie, beer and coffee

FHIOR

The tasting menu at Fhior covers the length and breadth of Scottish produce, plated with precision and finesse. Scandi-chic minimalist decor, exceptional dishes and one of the most notable sommeliers in Edinburgh; it’s a real destination restaurant. Plus, you might recognise chef Scott Smith from Great British Menu

THE KELLER

One of the prettiest spots for a pint in the area, The Keller lures people down a dark alleyway (Broughton Street Lane) with its promise of delicious, micro-brewed hefeweizens and rich porters. Inside, you’ll find German beerhall-style long tables in the centre, a verdant greenhouse garden and cosy window nooks with a mini library and swinging chairs suspended from the ceiling.

L’ESCARGOT BLEU

Elements of L’Escargot Bleu’s precision French menu may change with the season, but one thing is always guaranteed: the finest steak tartare in Edinburgh. Old theatre posters adorn the walls and the candlelit interior feels like you’re in a Lyon bouchon.

PICKLES

Once a basement hideaway that topped Tripadvisor lists, Pickles has grown into its larger rooms at street level without losing the romance. Charcuterie boards are piled high with locally sourced cured meats, cheeses and (of course) homemade pickles to accompany the vast wine list.

ARTISAN ROAST

Testament to Artisan Roast’s exceptional coffee, you’ll find their beans in cafés and restaurants across Edinburgh. Branches have cropped up in Morningside and Stockbridge selling aromatic blends from all corners of the globe, but the original, wood-clad outpost is right here on Broughton Street.

Junk

BAR/RESTAURANT WEST SIDE TAVERN

A ‘contemporary take on a NY-style tavern’ was the pitch when this place launched in December, which (prior knowledge of Big Apple bar/restaurants or not) sounds both intriguing and pretty damn cool. West Side Tavern is the unit that sits at the entrance to Kelvinhall’s underground station, last seen as bar/arts space Bauhaus. Now, the lights have been turned down low, and a sparse 70s vibe of Formica tables is the setting for tap cocktails and Italian American comfort food.

Drinks are on point, with celebrated mixologist Max Macauley from Hybrid Drinks at the helm. ‘Gin And Juice’ is elevated with elderflower and Aperol, while his award-winning mix that blends white tequila with Fino sherry, Scottish absinthe and apple takes pride of place at the top of the list.

There’s also a specificity to the food which is striking. A chunky ragù with polenta has a sharp punch of tomato before giving way to a gelatinous and meaty depth; it’s a dish with particular components that you may well not find anywhere else in the city. So, too, a chicken parm served with a burrata sauce; the whipped texture perhaps pulling things away from the classic version, but the adventurousness is commendable.

The menu is currently changing every day, apart from the pizzas which feel locked in. They’re served ‘tavern style’ on a stand: thin, crisp and almost crustless, with toppings right up to the edges and cut into small squares. Now, Chicagoans might well argue such pizzas are more Midwest than East Coast (to be clear: we’re not talking deep dish), and there’s definitely a sense of things settling into more broad ‘gritty North American city’ watering-hole tendencies. This is no bad thing, though. The West Side Tavern seems happy to riff on some traits but not get hung up on them. It’s adapting, quickly, while still keeping loads of character and remaining unique in this particular town.

(David Kirkwood)

n 166 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, westsidetavern.co.uk

RESTAURANT SOUL VEGAN

Edinburgh’s run of strong plant-based openings continues with Soul Vegan, a Malaysian-inspired offering linked to the city’s well-loved Kampong Ah Lee. The space is gorgeous, just the right side of pretty yet stopping short of the sinking feeling that it’s been designed for the ‘Gram rather than the diner. It’s also tiny: service starts and ends with a single waiter, who handles the house with ease.

The menu slants towards street food which translates to a lot of deep-frying, particularly in the starters. Go with it: salt and pepper lotus root is addictively savoury and feather-light, while sweetcorn fritters deliver a sweet and savoury crunch. Both are enlivened by a side of archar, pickled veg adding a sour complexity. Mains are generous. A huge plate of comforting, homely gan lau mee noodles come topped with char sui and crisp wonton, though a touch more spice would be welcome (or save some archar), while Soul’s special tofu is crisp, sticky, salty and pleasantly chewy.

As the pundits say, it’s a game of two halves: already building a solid reputation, it’s easy to see why Soul Vegan chooses to wear its plant-eating heart on its branding sleeve. But the soul element is equally, if not more, important. In other words, this is hearty, goodvalue comfort food, and don’t be put off if you usually prefer your char sui to be of the porcine variety. Soul Vegan serves up cuddles in a bowl and is as good an introduction to a proud, complex culinary tradition as you’ll find anywhere. (Jo Laidlaw)

n 46 West Richmond Street, soulvegan.uk

Drink up

In our regular drinks column, Kevin Fullerton tries a few tasty beverages and lets you know exactly what he thinks of them. This month we need to talk to Kevin about . . . the cost of living

As a ‘made man’ of the imbibing industry, I pass my time lazily in the palatial surroundings of List HQ. In the fashion of most well-to-do renaissance chaps, I entertain artists and musicians with my musings on the latest beverages that have passed through my lips, been absorbed by my stomach lining, and later expelled from my urethra in a warm stream of pure privilege. Cost of living crisis? More like shmost of shmiving crisis.

Not really. Like most of you, I’m skint. So, I’ve decided to find out if it’s possible to drink well on a shoestring budget. Each of these tipples has been purchased for less than a fiver, but can they go toe-to-toe with the luxury brands I usually cover in these booze-strewn pages?

First up is Hardys Chardonnay (Lidl, £4.99), the kind of franchised white wine I generally avoid in favour of more esoteric fare. The Hardys brand has become known for its almost pathological desire to avoid offending the tastebuds, and so this pale mixture is easier to drink than water. Bring it to a dinner party and it’ll be depleted without praise or reprobation, the white-wine equivalent of an ungarnished bread stick. Hardys Chardonnay is the Mrs Brown’s Boys or Michael McIntyre of the grape world, derided by snobs but favoured by those looking for simpler pleasures.

In the red-wine category, I’ve gone for the Cepa Lebrel Rioja Joven (Lidl, £4.88), in part because rioja is so commonly made that it provides a robust taste whatever the price tag. This one’s no different, as reliable as a partner you’ve grown to despise but who nonetheless keeps your two-bedroom flat clean. It’s also, unlike many reds at this price point, a smooth ride. A quiet-night-in wine that’s perfect for a skint February. If you need something to warm your stomach while you fret over your heating bills, this’ll do nicely.

And finally a beer of the hipster variety with Top Out Kellerbier Franconian Lager (Cornelius, £3.40). This one’s arguably a cheat choice as most beers are less than a fiver, but it’s proof that you don’t have to skimp if you want only one beer for your evening’s entertainment. Made in the Pentlands, it’s a local brew brimming with enough hops to satisfy lager puritans. We’re living in dire times right now, but at least a decent pint won’t break the bank.

BAR FILES

We ask creative folks to reveal their favourite watering hole

COMEDIAN AND PODCASTER

STUART MCPHERSON

The Laurieston is my favourite pub in Glasgow. It’s reasonably priced and usually has a good mix of people. It looks sensational, with 60s red leather seats and those thin tables with the rounded ends. It does a decent Guinness, has an interesting crisps selection and a jukebox. One time, someone queued up about 20 Smiths songs in a row. I think of this person often. I hope they’re doing well. There’s a bit where you can smoke as it’s kinda somehow technically outdoors. I’ve been loved-up and heartbroken in The Laurieston, and in both cases it felt like the right place to be.

technically outdoors. I’ve been loved-up and heartbroken in The Laurieston,

Stuart McPherson co-hosts the What’s The Script? podcast; find out about his busy February live schedule at stuartmcpherson.co.uk/live-gigs

PICTURE: CURSE THESE EYES

Here on The List’s Eat Drink Shop pages, we’re reviving one of the much-loved features of our coverage in the past: the tipLIST. Each month, in different themes and categories, our team suggest the places worth knowing about around town, dialling you into the best of hospitality across Edinburgh and Glasgow

Places to help you love the city

tipLIST

Cheapish eats . . . near The Hydro

THE BOW BAR

80 West Bow, thebowbar.co.uk

Hip joints will come and go, but this spot might impress a date by proving your Edinburgh credentials. Here, you’ll find nothing trend-led; just a well-kept cellar, huge whisky list and a pie or two (at lunchtime) in a gorgeous traditional bar on one of Edinburgh’s prettiest streets.

FISHERS LEITH

1 The Shore, fishersrestaurants.co.uk/fishers-leith

Set in an old watchtower on The Shore, Fishers balances special occasion surroundings with laid-back service and excellent cooking. Whether you’re planning a pre-ordered hot shellfish platter blow-out or just a bowl of mussels and fries at the bar, this is a restaurant for all seasons.

THE LOOKOUT BY GARDENER’S COTTAGE

Calton Hill, thelookoutedinburgh.co

Pared-back tasting menus showcase the best of Scottish produce here, but really it’s the views that pull them in. A modern glass box perched atop Calton Hill, you can have the whole of the city twinkling below you as you feast. Go for lunch and explore the neighbouring Collective Gallery.

TIMBERYARD

10 Lady Lawson Street, timberyard.co

Timberyard screams sophistication. Set inside a former prop store, it’s a masterclass in using the Scottish larder; from soup to nuts, everything has been carefully considered. High ceilings, chunky furniture and minimal dressing make for a special, food-focused night out.

THE TOLLHOUSE

50 Brandon Terrace, tollhouse.scot

This former public loo has transformed into a hot new dining spot. Set so close to the Water Of Leith that you could canoe home, its terrace gives tantalising peeks of local wildlife while the food shows a deft hand with seasonal produce.

CAFÉ GANDOLFI

64 Albion Street, cafegandolfi.com

It’s a very rare restaurant that will seem unchanged to any diners who return after a 40-year gap. Café Gandolfi got it all so right in 1979 that substantial change has seemed unnecessary, from its arty decor to its menu championing Scottish produce and dishes.

EUSEBI DELI

152 Park Road, eusebideli.com

Italian cuisine and hospitality is well suited to Glaswegian sensibilities: passion, family, good times shared over great food. Few do it better than Giovanna Eusebi at her sprawling West End deli, where multi-generational heritage and expertise creates delicious Italian food.

KA PAO

26 Vinicombe Street, ka-pao.com

After bringing classy small plates to Finnieston with Ox And Finch, the team opened this second diner in the historic Botanic Gardens Garage. The focus on south-east Asian cuisine in an informal sharing menu has proved a big hit.

MACKINTOSH AT THE WILLOW

215-217 Sauchiehall Street, mackintoshatthewillow.com

Perfect timing saw this multi-million pound restoration of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Cranston tearoom reopen just as his crowning glory, the Art School, was destroyed by fire (twice). The tearoom, now back to its full 1903 splendour, is the spot in town for a classic afternoon tea surrounded by timeless design.

MOTHER INDIA’S CAFÉ

1355 Argyle Street, motherindia.co.uk

Glasgow’s love of a good curry is evident across the city, but few embody this quite like Mother India. With four venues in the West End, the café occupies the best spot, across from Kelvingrove Art Gallery And Museum; a striking backdrop to a spicy feast of Indian tapas.

FRANK’S PIZZERIA

6 Claremont Street, frankspizza.uk

Walk-ins only at this low key joint where the pizzas are big, thin and crisp-ofcrust. It’s an in-and-out affair if you need it to be, too: no alcohol licence, a small menu of just five pizzas plus a few sides.

PICKLED GINGER

512 St Vincent Street, pickledgingerfinnieston.co.uk

Much-loved dishes of Japanese cuisine are executed with precision here. Katsu curry, tempura, gyoza and ramen all do a turn, as well as two menu columns of sushi options at this slick operation.

INDIA QUAY

181 Finnieston Street, indiaquay.com

In a crisp, modern space across the road from the SEC, India Quay’s menu has a broad appeal, with punchy versions of old-school favourites like tikka masala or garlic chilli chicken.

THE 78

10-14 Kelvinhaugh Street, the78.co.uk

Both a neighbourhood pub and one of the heavyweights of Glasgow’s vegan restaurant scene, it’s all about guilty pleasures here: think cauliflower wings, macaroni bites or mushroom tacos.

MEZE MEZE

1032 Argyle Street, mezemezeglasgow.co.uk

It’s not all small plates at this Turkish/ Persian joint. Lamb ribs on the bone have that sublime combination of charred and chewy, fatty yet tender, that only a skilful charcoal grill can render.

THE MARKET

CORNERING

From its origins as a place where hawkers sold goods from wheelbarrows in the early 1900s, The Barras Market in Glasgow’s East End has been a Scottish retail landmark for more than 100 years. In recent decades, The Barras has been somewhat overshadowed by its upstairs ballroom, the iconic music venue which hosts some of the world’s biggest contemporary artists. However, as a long-time admirer of the historic space, Barras venue manager Ashleigh Elliott continues to see the market’s huge untapped potential.

‘It was just plodding on. It was still running but wasn’t as busy; there were lots of spare stalls and I thought, “I could really do something here”.’ Work began last summer, as stalls were stripped back and repainted in the original market colours (which indicated how much rent sellers paid to the landlords at the time). Sustainable Market Row (a string of vintage and pre-loved clothing stalls) and Hippie Lane were introduced, sparking interest seemingly overnight.

‘Initially, I was messaging people, young businesses in the area or those that had popped up on social media, that I thought were really cool and creative,’ Elliott recalls.

‘I’d say “hi, fancy coming down and trying a stall?” I was getting straight up no’s at the start. I’ll tell you, now they’re all messaging me and asking for stalls. And I’m like, “I’m so sorry. I’ll have to put you on a waiting list!”’

More stalls are now located at a neighbouring market shed on London Road, but despite the success of its expansion, Elliott and her team want to avoid the complete gentrification

of the space. ‘It’s really important that I communicate with those older traders about what’s happening around them, so they don’t feel like they’re being pushed out. New traders need to understand The Barras because there’s no community like it; those who have been here for 20-plus years are the people that carry the history and they’re the people that need to stay.’

The marriage between old and new is harmonious so far, as new audiences flock to young brands while uncovering original hidden treasures. ‘There’s nowhere else like it in Scotland, where you can get a blend of Jimmy who sells old random tools and hi-fis from the 60s, to the Modern Love store selling trendy homeware. There’s a proper mix.’

Another area Elliott was keen to expand was the market’s connection with Barrowland’s famous ballroom. ‘We’ve got a goldmine of artists upstairs that we should be utilising,’ she insists. Last month, East End musician Joesef took over a stall to launch his new album, while the lead singer of Amyl And The Sniffers came down to shop from local sellers. Seasonal experiences and pop-ups will keep coming too, with a Hong Kong-inspired event of street food, music and lion dancers taking over the market on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 March. ‘Things like this just really get us in front of new people,’ adds Elliott. ‘They remind everyone that The Barras are still here.’

The Barras Market, 244 Gallowgate, Glasgow, barrasmarket.com

This month, Megan Merino looks at The Barras, one of Scotland’s longest-running markets, and finds out how venue manager Ashleigh Elliott is getting it in shape for future generations

PICTURES:

@THEDIGITALMEDIAPHOTOGRAPHER

what’s in the bag?

RAZGAR PORTABLE COFFEE DRIPPER AND PENCIL CASE

I absolutely love this brand, made in my native Bulgaria by a young product designer. The coffee dripper flatpacks, it’s got a super-sexy design, and it guarantees me a decent coffee when staying in cheap hotels for work. I doodle all the time so I have a lovely collection of Sharpies stored in a Razgar pencil case. I often look for unusual colours, like grey and beige.

Ahead of her appearance at MANIPULATE, Edinburgh’s international festival of visual theatre and animated film, the author and performance artist Katherina Radeva kindly let Megan Merino empty the contents of her whimsical bag

NEAL’S YARD HAND SPRAY

I first bought this product in March 2020 while in London on a work trip. I was working on a design job and visiting lots of charity shops. I was touching a lot of stuff so I got this little bottle and, within six hours, the government announced lockdown. I use it all the time as it smells lush and I’m often on trains.

THE 40/40 BOOK

This copy has been in my bag since last August so it’s got a little bent around the edges. I’ve been revising it as I prepare for my show [entitled 40/40]. It keeps altering, expanding and moulding into new territories. As people we change, and the circumstances around us change constantly, so I want that reflected in the show.

Nappy Shak

THE TRUTH CATCHER EMBROIDERY

I have started embroidering a little obsessively! It’s so relaxing and great for focus. I love the delicacy of it and how the back of the embroidery looks; it’s like an abstract painting. I developed a character called The Truth Catcher so I am working on a series of embroideries about The Truth Catcher’s adventures; almost like a comic. I do this on trains and I can’t tell you how many conversations it has started.

LUCKY RABBIT’S FOOT

It’s a long story how I got to have a lucky rabbit foot or why I’ve had it for over a decade in my daily bag. I was given two as a gift by a lover I love deeply. I lost one, but this is the other. I hope I never lose this one. Ah, life! It’s full of weird and wonderful stuff and my lucky rabbit foot is one of those things.

Katherina Radeva: 40/40 will be presented at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, Tuesday 7 February (as part of MANIPULATE Festival, Thursday 2–Sunday 12 February), and at Tramway, Glasgow, Friday 10 & Saturday 11 February.

shop talk

Megan Merino introduces you to three more local independent sellers in our latest retail column

NAPPY SHAK

Parents looking for more eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products need look no further than this Glasgow-based company. Founded by mum-oftwo Kathryn Hough, Nappy Shak is an awardwinning reusable nappy brand featuring original, colourful designs that provide maximum comfort without compromising on sustainability.

 Online at nappyshak.com

BARE BONES CHOCOLATE X CLAIRE HENRY COLLAB

In a special Valentine’s Day collaboration, Bare Bones Chocolate worked with small-batch potter Claire Henry to create the perfect hot chocolate mug. Based in the East End of Glasgow, Henry specialises

in creating exquisite tableware with innovative techniques. For this mug, she’s used cacao husks to create beautiful texture and colour in the ceramic. Sounds good enough to eat. But please don’t!

 Online at bareboneschocolate.co.uk or @clairehenryceramics on Instagram

SARAH KWAN

In a new Chinese And British exhibition at Edinburgh Central Library, local artist Sarah Kwan presents her ‘East Meets West’ series of illustrations. Tea towels, prints, cards and badges with some of the featured designs are available to purchase at the Red Door Gallery in the capital and make for perfect gifts.

 Red Door Gallery, 42 Victoria Street, Edinburgh @sarakwanartist on Instagram

MANIPULATE

Audio-visual spectacles, interactive augmented reality trails and a puppetry installation with large hands. Yes folks, MANIPULATE is back with more visual theatre and animated film delights to tease and treat all of your senses. Among the highlights across the 11 days and nights are Anthropoda by Paper Doll Militia (pictured), Plutôt La Vie’s Clown Cabaret, reverse werewolf story Blood Moon, and Love Beyond, a co-production from Raw Material and Vanishing Point. (Brian Donaldson) n Various venues, Edinburgh, Thursday 2–Sunday 12 February.

going out

Heading

in the right

Strong believers in a community spirit, Ezra Collective are at the heart of Britain’s thriving jazz scene. Megan Merino caught up with bassist TJ Koleoso to talk about their upcoming tour and how a chat with film director Steve McQueen provided the spark for their latest album

The influential tremors of south London’s bustling jazz scene have been felt across the UK in recent years, and for the past decade Ezra Collective have been operating at its epicentre. Featuring five distinguished musicians (Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison, Ife Ogunjobi, and Femi and TJ Koleoso), Ezra Collective’s third album, Where I’m Meant To Be, climbed to number 24 on the UK album charts in November. But the band’s sphere of influence spans far wider than you might think.

Bandleader Femi Koleoso is the drummer for Gorillaz and has recorded work with Wizkid, Neneh Cherry and Greentea Peng, among others; Armon-Jones and Ogunjobi enjoy successful solo careers and, along with Mollison, play in numerous solo artists’ bands.

Initially paired together to enter a competition through youth music centre Tomorrow’s Warriors, Ezra Collective decided to formally group a year later. ‘To this day, most of the jazz scene that came out of London probably came through Tomorrow's Warriors, and are friends with each other because of the genuine cultural community that was built,’ explains bassist (and brother to Femi) TJ Koleoso. Offering young Londoners free music tuition, creative development and performance opportunities, the initiative nurtured artists like Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd and Sons Of Kemet’s Shabaka Hutchings. ‘I think music is always better when it’s built in a community. It’s like hip hop in the 80s and 90s, where it was genuinely all love and a “let's all learn from each other” kind of culture. That’s where we came from.’

Ezra Collective are the creators of vibrant, dance-inducing jazz music grounded in Afrobeat rhythms. This sound runs deeply within the band. Before his passing in 2020, legendary drummer Tony Allen mentored Femi Koleoso; and just last month, the band released two remixes of fellow Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s work, as part of a series of 50th anniversary reissues by Partisan Records.

‘We’ve got three Nigerians in the band so we are heavily influenced by Fela Kuti and all the music from Nigeria,’ TJ says. ‘Fela was the king of tension and release. Typically, Western music will build tension by harmonically changing or lifting something. But he used to let things settle for a really long time, which is why he’s got 25-minute songs. Very often it’s the bass and the drums keeping the same rhythm as that pulse grows; it just crescendos very slightly. When the horns come in, that

Heading direction

clickin' collectives

Get to know four other contemporary jazz bands shaking up the UK scene

KOKOROKO

Led by trumpet player Sheila Maurice-Grey, this skilled jazz and Afrobeat ensemble garnered attention with the beautifully ambient ‘Abusey Junction’ single back in 2018. Their most recent album, Could We Be More, has essences of that lo-fi sound, interspersed with some joyful hipshaking bangers.

STEAM DOWN

Energetic and raucous, this constantly evolving collective was founded by saxophonist Ahnansé in 2017. Their weekly jam sessions at Matchstick Piehouse in south-east London, have built a dedicated following over the years. Their recorded work leans more heavily into grime, with several talented wordsmiths among the group.

ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE

Tinges of electronic and psychedelia make their way into the jazzy sounds of Ishmael Ensemble, led by saxophonist and producer Pete Cunningham. Born out of a DIY project in Cunningham’s bedroom five years ago, the group have now released three studio albums to much critical acclaim.

MEZCLA

A little closer to home, Mezcla (meaning mix in Spanish) are part of the thriving Glasgow jazz scene. Led by bassist David Bowden, this group of Royal Conservatoire alumni play a vibrant blend of Latin jazz fused with funk, rock and soul. Their 2020 album Shoot The Moon received a longlist nomination for the Scottish Album Of The Year Award.

PICTURE: MARCO GREY Kokoroko

PICTURE: DANNY KASIRYE

tension gets released massively, and it becomes a big old party and a big old dance. A lot of our music tends to do that.’

Ezra Collective are known for their relentless positivity and joyous live shows. During the pandemic, when performing wasn’t an option, they decided to divert this energy into crafting their most ambitious album to date. ‘It was like, OK, this isn’t an ideal predicament. But let’s find the joy in this place. We’d meet up in a studio in Brixton every week. Sometimes we’d make music, sometimes we’d just chat, vibe, argue. Whatever. It was just about being together.’

A Zoom call with director Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave, Small Axe) about imposter syndrome birthed the album’s theme and title Where I’m Meant To Be; a reminder that we can all belong and revel in the present. ‘If Steve McQueen’s chat was a spark, I think those sessions down in Brixton were the catalyst for solidifying the ethos behind this album,’ TJ recalls. ‘That’s where a lot of the songs were written and where we brought together this real concept.’

Where I’m Meant To Be is the band’s most polished album to date, venturing more confidently into pop and grime, and featuring artists such as Kojey Radical, Emeli Sandé and Sampa The Great, while still capturing signature deep-set grooves and punchy topline melodies. ‘Comparison can really kill your joy,’ says TJ. ‘This is an anti-comparison album and it’s a celebration of the journey.’

Ezra Collective are certainly on a wild ride, having already produced an impressive body of work that has helped pave the way for jazz’s crossover into popular, contemporary UK music through early collaborations with Jorja Smith and Loyle Carner. ‘We played through every single one of our songs the other day,’ TJ recalls, when delving into what audiences can expect from the upcoming tour. ‘We’re in a position to play any song that we’ve ever played. I can’t tell you where the gig’s gonna go. Everything is on the table for this tour.’ With their attitude and skill, it seems Ezra Collective really are ready for anything.

Ezra Collective play SWG3, Glasgow, Friday 17 February.

Someone put an apple in my mouth in the middle of a take

Sam Riley is the Yorkshire-born actor who made a stunning debut as Joy Division’s tragic frontman Ian Curtis in 2007’s Control. Since then, he’s gone from starring in On The Road to playing Angelina Jolie’s avian flunky in Disney fairytale Maleficent. James Mottram caught up with Riley to talk about his latest film, She Is Love, an improvised drama that casts him as Idris, a one-time DJ who runs into his ex-wife (Haley Bennett) in a guest house ten years after splitting up

drama that casts him as Idris, a one-time DJ who runs into his ex-wife (Haley Bennett) in a guest house ten years after splitting up

What was your experience of making She Is Love with writer-director Jamie Adams? Was it very guerrilla style? days. I spent more time in quarantine, which I also spent with Jamie! I was coming from Germany, and I was doing two tests a day. And I realised how much of Idris’ weirdness was actually Jamie’s: ‘there’s a spider in my bedroom, I can’t sleep in there!’

The film’s end credits say it was made ‘with the participation of the actors’. How much did you improvise for Jamie?

We wrote it for him! And he would occasionally tell us things to say. There was a ‘scriptment’ and the circumstances, and then you go into a room. And sometimes he’ll throw in something . . . he sent someone in and they put an apple in my mouth in the middle of a take with Marisa [Abela, who plays Idris’ girlfriend]. I thought, ‘is this going in the film?’ But he was just trying to throw you, to try to break down your vanity or control over the situation.

Had you experienced extensive improv before? Not like that. Sometimes he never said ‘cut’. And you’d go through awkward moments. It’s complete surrender. Sometimes you say something and you think, ‘fuck, that sounds stupid’. And then you have to just go on because the next ball’s coming at you. And hopefully, that will go somewhere.

Your character Idris is a one-time successful DJ and musician. You fronted the band 10,000 Things. Could you relate? Yeah. Jamie [who was a music promoter] booked my band back in 2002 to play in Cardiff when he was living there. I don’t remember that! But I felt that this character was me if my band had been successful, and I hadn’t ruined my first relationship with being in a band. And if that had gone one direction, then I’d have ended up meeting my first love again. That’s why he’s called Loverboy as well, because that was his [Adams’] favourite song of my defunct band.

Music has been huge in your career, given you played Ian Curtis. How do you look back on that? It was an incredible start to a career. It launched me up the food chain with the possibilities of being able to work in this business. And I met my wife on it. Control is one of those rare things: it’s a great music biopic. The story of a band is a difficult thing to get right, and not be clichéd.

What’s the most Hollywood thing you’ve experienced in your career? When my American agents were trying to impress me when I first went over there, they said, ‘we’ve organised something we think you might like. Warren Beatty wondered if you wanted to go to his house and have breakfast with him.’ And I was like, ‘wow, yes!’ I had to drive there, which was terrifying. I’d never driven in Los Angeles. I had a really surreal two or three hours, chatting with him in his living room where he just told me all sorts of gossip and stories from the heyday of cinema.

Did he pass on any advice? He insisted that you should make and produce your own movies. He said, ‘do you like the house?’ The house is gorgeous. He said, ‘Bonnie And Clyde paid for this’. And he said, ‘is your wife an actress? Well, here’s another tip: don’t ever do a movie with your wife where you’re playing in love with each other because no one wants to fucking see that!’

She Is Love is in cinemas from Friday 3 February.

VENUE 3 TO SEE AT . . . THEATRE ROYAL

Glasgow knows about a comedy caper or two, but surely nothing like The Lavender Hill Mob (until Saturday 4 February) will have slinked across its streets for a long while. Starring Miles ‘Archie The Inventor’ Jupp and Justin ‘Jeremy Lion’ Edwards, this brings the classic Ealing movie of 1951 to the stage as it zips along at a fair rate of knots with its tale of an unassuming bank lackey who harbours dreams of stealing a van full of gold. That plan was never going to end well.

Prue Leith: Nothing In Moderation (Sunday 5 February) has the restaurateur, entrepreneur and Bake Off judge making her stage debut at the tender age of 82, as she regales crowds with tales of cooking for royals, feeding up celebs, and (quite a bold confession to make, this) poisoning some clients.

Laura Wade has made her name as a playwright with Posh, as well as adapting Tipping The Velvet, and she’s on stirringly satirical form with the Olivier-winning comedy Home, I’m Darling (Tuesday 14–Saturday 18 February). Premiered in 2018, we’re welcomed into the gaudily coloured 1950s dream home of Judy and Johnny. Except, the play is set in the 21st century with Wade taking her dramatic scalpel to gender where once she eviscerated class. (Brian Donaldson)

The Lavender Hill Mob

(Over)sharing is caring

Ahead of her upcoming tour, New Zealandbased comedian Urzila Carlson talks to Jay Richardson about her 1950s housewife phase and trying not to sound creepy

Originally from South Africa, Urzila Carlson has become a big deal on the comedy circuit in Australia as well as New Zealand, where she lives and began her move into stand-up. An opinionated, often chattily indiscreet act, Carlson nevertheless gives real thought to what she says on stage, as she reflects on the modern paradox of people oversharing certain aspects of their lives while fiercely guarding others.

She admires the honesty of UK and Irish comedians, as well as audiences over here, and they’ll have a chance to check her out on the upcoming It’s Personal tour, which follows a well-received 2020 Netflix special, Overqualified Loser. ‘If anything happens to me personally that other people can relate to, I’m happy to share that,’ says Carlson, although she qualifies the extent of her openness. ‘I’ll never share anything that has harmed me or caused me to have to speak to my therapist because, presumably, if it harms me, it’ll hurt others. And I’m of the firm belief that as comics, our job is to make people’s days lighter, not add to trauma.’

Even so, Carlson insists she doesn’t actively police what comes out of her mouth. ‘I guess the handbrake is always about a quarter of the way up as far as personal stuff goes.’

Doing 300 shows a year until New Zealand’s strict covid lockdown, Carlson embraced the chance given to her by the pandemic to spend more time with her wife and children.

‘I took heaps of time off,’ she recalls. ‘Initially I was like a 1950s housewife: baking, cleaning and avoiding dick. Then I got to spend loads of time in quarantine and that’s when I started writing.’

As an expat, globetrotter and youngest of her siblings, Carlson reckons she’s a natural, slightly detached student of humanity, and doesn’t mind others interpreting her openness as an invitation to tell her personal things about themselves. ‘Growing up in South Africa has given me a unique perspective on a very diverse cultural landscape and I love seeing it; I love seeing how people interact with each other, their elders and their environment. I think it’s hella interesting.’

Carlson reflects further on the consequences of being the youngest in a family. ‘I think from an early age I was on someone’s lap, watching what was going on with the others, and I still love paying attention. Comedy is about finding common ground. And talking and observing people is how we do that. Most people have something interesting to share and I’m here for it. I say “observing” and not “watching” though, because it sounds less creepy.’

Urzila Carlson: It’s Personal, The Stand, Edinburgh, Wednesday 8 & Thursday 9 February; Òran Mór, Glasgow, Friday 10 February.

future sound

Our column celebrating music to watch makes its debut this year with Kirkwall-born fiddle player Eric Linklater. He talks to Fiona Shepherd about leaving home for the big city, thwarted tap-dancing dreams, and his path back to creativity

Orkney fiddler Eric Linklater has had an on-off love affair with traditional music over the years. But that relationship is definitely on again following an approach from Celtic Connections head honcho Donald Shaw to compose a piece for the festival’s prestigious New Voices strand. ‘It was one of those moments where you go, “fuck yeah!”,’ says Linklater. ‘And then afterwards you think “can I actually do it?” Imposter syndrome and all that.’ Linklater, now 27, is no imposter, with an impressive 20 years of playing experience under his belt. A fiddle epiphany came in his early primary school years. Enraptured by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, he took lessons from local legend Jennifer Wrigley, absorbing traditions from home and away, and recording a debut album at the age of 17 (prematurely, he now admits) before moving to Glasgow for a period of study at the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland.

‘That was the start of a whole other journey,’ he recalls. ‘For so many students, when you leave home all these big questions start hitting you (where you sit religiously, politically, your love life), but which I could just put in the back of my mind because I was playing fiddle all the time. And then I got hit by this world that was very exciting and challenging. I was quite overwhelmed and not really sure artistically where I was going at that point. I struggled with the first couple of years in Glasgow, but looking back now, it was such a nice time. Coming from an island, I still find it a novelty that there is McDonald’s and Marks & Spencer.’

Mid-course, Linklater suffered a stress-related bout of tendonitis, forcing him to stop playing and divert to other modules which reflected his wider interests, from Scots song to Shakespearean classes. ‘I tried to do tap dancing, but they wouldn’t let me!’ He graduated in 2016 as the recipient of the Martyn Bennett scholarship for upcoming artists, returned to Orkney and ended up staying for six years. ‘I really thought I had missed the boat,’ Linklater admits. He credits his duo with pianist Jennifer Austin and reaching Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician semi-finals last year as his path back to creativity.

‘I ended up moving back to Glasgow and playing my fiddle again like I hadn’t for years.’

Linklater has become a regular on the city’s folk-session scene as well as flexing his compositional muscles at Celtic Connections. His New Voices commission, ‘Out In The Flow’, written for strings, piano, guitars and percussion, is inspired by his Orcadian heritage, the creative state, and his wild swimming in the waters around the islands. ‘It’s something I can’t escape in Orkney and it’s very inspiring,’ he says. ‘We all find the sea quite amazing, and there’s so much stimulus from that.’ As to next steps, he says, ‘it would be nice to take a bit of time to fill the well again, take a new stimulus, and maybe use the project for some recording.’

Eric Linklater plays at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections’ New Voices, Sunday 5 February.

KIDS THE CHIMPANZEES OF HAPPY TOWN

In a town called Drabsville where fun is banned, a chimpanzee called Chutney decides to take matters into his own hands and plant a literal seed of happiness in the form of a new tree. That’s the simple, charming story at the heart of Giles Andreae’s children’s picture book, The Chimpanzees Of Happytown (the stage show has tweaked the title). Now this bestseller has been adapted as a musical and interactive event by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and is set to be presented on tour by CBeebies star Chris Jarvis.

Jarvis has been a familiar face on children’s television for 30 years, starting out in the Broom Cupboard (remember that?) alongside Zoe Ball. But though he’s known for his onscreen work, Jarvis admits there’s nothing like the joy of live theatre. ‘Standing on the concert platform, singing and storytelling with the world-class SCO is the biggest thrill for me,’ says Jarvis. ‘In a world of gadgets and gizmos where so much music is pre-recorded or synthesised, to watch children, often hearing orchestral music for the first time, become absolutely enthralled is incredible.’

The stage event is preceded by family activities including arts and crafts, and a musicians’ walkabout. An original score has been written for the piece by composer Paul Rissmann, and, says Jarvis, there are plenty of chances to get stuck in and sing along. ‘This is a mini musical with extremely catchy songs for the audience to join in, with plenty of drama and a wonderfully happy ending.’

Chimps aside, which animals would Jarvis let run the town, given the choice? ‘It would have to be cuddly cats,’ he says. ‘I could come and go whenever I pleased, sleep whenever I wished, eat great food. Although I hear there’s a problem with the litter . . . ’ (Lucy Ribchester)

 Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Saturday 11 February.

ARTS

GAELIC CULTURE

Award season continues into the spring for the Gaelic community, with nominations now closed for Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the Daily Record’s Gaelic Awards. This year they team up with Seachdain na Gàidhlig (World Gaelic Week) for a glittering award ceremony on 21 February at Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel. One of the pricier events across the Gaelic year, the £96 ticket includes entry to the ceremony, a drinks reception, and a three-course dinner.

World Gaelic Week continues into a second year, led by BBC Alba weather presenter and singer, Joy Dunlop. Borrowing a name and model directly from Edinburgh’s own Seachdain na Gàidhlig, the organisers are calling on Gaelic organisations, community groups and creators to register their own events (check seachdainnagaidhlig.scot for full details).

At Guid Crack in Edinburgh’s Waverley Bar on 24 February is a bilingual storytelling night with Martin MacIntyre while contemporary Gaelic music features at the regular Bothan Dhùn Èideann at Edinburgh’s Kilderkin on 3 February. This time around, they host rockers Balach, all the way from Stornoway, as well as rapper Hammy Sgìth (pictured), both demonstrating that Gaelic has a place within the chart friendly-sounds of today. Take note BBC Introducing . . . (Marcas Mac an Tuairneir)

why not dream big?

Writer and director Zinnie Harris has long since shown she has a confident skill in adapting classic texts for modern sensibilities. After her own repeated stage successes, Nicole Cooper takes on the central role of Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (an undoing), a reimagining of the Scottish play that speaks to the source script’s prestige and a dynamic, contemporary dramaturgy.

Cooper is well-known for her powerful interpretations of Shakespeare as associate artist for Glasgow’s Bard In The Botanics seasons (she won the 2022 CATS Best Female Performance for her portrayal of Medea), but she is delighted by the opportunity to work on a new approach to a familiar story. ‘Who would say no to working with Zinnie Harris?’ Cooper says. ‘Her thinking behind filling in the missing blanks in the story of Lady Macbeth really resonated with me.’

For Cooper, the chance to challenge expectations attracted her. ‘Traditional takes have a place, but that doesn’t interest me as an actor or punter. I’m used to treating the text with respect, but not as a precious historical artefact that can’t be played with. If you’re doing Shakespeare in 2023, you have to make it relevant; you have to be saying something with it. I’ve played Lady Macbeth before, and we managed to find a way to make sense of what happened to her, but what excited me about Zinnie’s version was that we were unwrapping the story, almost to finish the story that Shakespeare started.’

Cooper’s enthusiasm mirrors the imagination with which Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre, under the artistic direction of David Greig, has developed its historical connection with theatrical classics through a determination to speak to today.

‘There is an energy around the building about the scale of this production,’ Cooper says. ‘It’s a big show: there are ten of us in the cast, and three times as many who work around us in the building. We are at the centre of a huge machine. But it is making a statement that work like this ought to be on the Lyceum stage; why not dream big, to represent what can be made with the talent in Scotland? Zinnie and David Greig have definitely got a direction in mind and are heading towards it.’

Harris’ most recent work has taken some dark themes (environmental devastation, male privilege) and worked them through a distinctive aesthetic that combines a naturalistic yet poetic language, and an attention to the detail of characterisation. And her adaptations always find an intriguing path through expected tropes and turns. But Cooper doesn’t provide any spoilers. ‘You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you,’ she laughs. ‘It is going to blow your mind. It is so clever. It’s going to challenge audiences, but it still feels like a version of Macbeth. The question is: how far can we challenge a classic? How far can we push the boundaries of expectations?’

Macbeth (an undoing), Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Saturday 4–Saturday 25 February.

Nicole Cooper takes on the demanding part of Lady Macbeth in a radical rethink of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. She talks to Gareth K Vile about pushing boundaries with established classics and making them wholly relevant for the here and now

PICTURE: STUART ARMITT

hea tre

t aeh •ert

Hamish Hawk has a pen in his hand for the duration of our interview. Occasionally he flourishes it to make a point but mostly it’s just there; a prop perhaps, or just in case lyrical inspiration strikes and he needs to scribe. This Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter is one dedicated wordsmith. His song titles alone are evocative, poetic-idea capsules. You may have heard previous singles ‘Calls To Tiree’ and ‘The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973’ colouring the 6 Music airwaves; the likes of ‘Dog-eared August’ and ‘Elvis Lookalike Shadows’ soon will once he releases his vivid new album Angel Numbers

‘I go as far as I can to make sure that my songs have real content and they are not full of platitudes or generic observations,’ he says. ‘It’s very much an effort on my part to put me in every line of the song, and to have something to say that’s not necessarily an overt socio-political message; it’s about putting things in a particular way.’

And what lies behind these titles? Give Hawk a few months and he’ll let you know. ‘The songs reveal more of themselves to me after I’ve written them,’ he says. ‘Six months down the line I can listen and realise that a song understood more about where I was and what I was feeling than I did at the time. It’s the mystical side of songwriting to me.’

Hawk didn’t start writing his own songs until his late teens. He grew up in a household which loved music but didn’t make it. At school, he gravitated to the drama

the angels share

department but spent most weekends wielding fake ID to attend gigs in Glasgow. As a St Andrews University student, he helped promote live music, facilitating a fateful meeting with local hero King Creosote who liked his demo and welcomed Hawk into the Fence Records fold. No need for a trademark Fence alias: Hamish Hawk is his real name.

Fast forward through a couple of albums, EPs, musical collaborators and mentors, and Hawk hit a rich seam with 2021’s HeavyElevator. ‘As soon as I landed on the lyrics, I knew that this was the title of the record,’ he says. ‘I could feel that all of the stories, characters, voices, all of the emotional content of the album, tied in perfectly to that central image of the desire to move upward in your life while simultaneously feeling like you are being weighed down by baggage of some kind.’

For Hawk, Heavy Elevator explores a sinking feeling while Angel Numbers is about starting to move upwards. ‘It’s about notions of success and fame and rampant ambition, and the positives and negatives that might fall out of that. I’m setting sail in ways that I haven’t done before. These days, every time I write, it’s an attempt to move forward on that journey; musically, lyrically, vocally and emotionally.’

Angel Numbers is released digitally on Friday

3 February, and by Post Electric on Friday

24 February; Hamish Hawk plays St Luke’s, Glasgow, Thursday 16 February.

As he prepares to release a new album, Hamish Hawk tells Fiona Shepherd that this record replaces his previous sinking feeling with a positive sense of taking flight. Just don’t expect to know what it’s all about on a first listen

OUT of the BLUE

The hugely controversial Section 28 banned positive representations of homosexuality in British schools and forms a backdrop to director Georgia Oakley’s debut film. She tells James Mottram that the fight against discrimination is far from over

When first-time filmmaker Georgia Oakley came across Section 28, she was shocked. Enacted in 1988, this disturbing legislation, also known as Clause 28, was designed to prohibit the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities. ‘I was at school until 2006 and the law was repealed in 2003,’ she explains. ‘So most of the time that I was at school, it was a law. None of my friends or I really knew about it.’

Immediately, she realised it was fertile ground for a film. The focus is Jean (Rosy McEwen), a gay PE teacher working in a Newcastle school at the time Section 28 is instigated. Like her director, McEwen (The Alienist) was taken aback by the legislation, and the way it had slipped through the cracks. ‘It was a shameful secret that was buried, and then just sort of abolished, like a gust of wind,’ says McEwen. ‘It just went hidden because people felt so embarrassed about it.’

When Blue Jean premiered at Venice last September, it immediately chimed with critics and viewers, winning the People’s Choice Award. More recently, it claimed four British Independent Film Awards, including Best Lead Performance for McEwen and Best Debut Screenwriter for Oakley. The BAFTAs may yet recognise the film too, though McEwen is simply delighted that the work is out there. ‘You just feel, “I’m so grateful that people are listening”.’

In the film, McEwen’s Jean is forced to hide her sexuality from colleagues for fear of reprisals; something that becomes even trickier when she runs into a pupil, Lois (Lucy Halliday), in a gay bar she frequents. Unlike Lois, who seems comfortable with her sexuality, Jean is anything but. ‘She’s terrified,’ says McEwen. ‘She is so

desperate to just be free and be the person that she wants to be. But she’s backed into a corner.’

The story was partly inspired by real experiences, notably of Professor Catherine Lee, who was an advisor on the set. While she’s now lecturing at the Anglia Ruskin University, Lee taught in secondary schools during the late 80s. Oakley was even privy to her diaries, which hinted at Lee’s struggles with her sexuality at the time. One entry recounted a particularly painful moment where, like Jean, she met a pupil in a gay bar.

‘She just completely ignored them, and just walked out of the bar,’ reports Oakley. ‘The next day the student went to find her in order to come out, saying, “I think I might be gay and I haven’t told anyone yet”. Catherine said, “you’re not. And if you are, don’t be, and never go back to that disgusting place again”. She shared that with us and I could hear the pain that was still so palpable in her voice.’ While Lee’s candid admissions showed that gay people were once forced to hide their true selves, progress still needs to be made. Take Florida’s controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which restricts teaching about sexual orientation and gender issues. ‘There’s still so much going on,’ sighs McEwen. ‘There’s still so many micro and macro aggressions.’

Despite queer cinema increasingly showing narratives that move away from the ‘trauma’ of being gay, Oakley was adamant that she had to go dark. ‘Obviously, I would like for queer films to be made about every part of the experience. Happy endings are great, and we deserve them, but I didn’t want to feel like I had to make a film that was all about the positives of being gay.’

Blue Jean is in cinemas from Friday 10 February.

A fictionalised account of tragic true events, Saint Omer tells the story of a mother on trial for her baby’s death. Emma Simmonds discovers a compelling drama full of complexity and energised by strong central performances

An appalling, seemingly irredeemable act is the starting point for a gripping French legal drama that, despite the discomfort, is impossible to turn away from. Saint Omer is based on a real-life case that caught the attention of its director Alice Diop. This is Diop’s first narrative feature after great success as a documentarian with films like the César-winning 2016 short Towards Tenderness and the feature-length We, a prize-winner at 2021’s Berlinale. The daughter of Senegalese parents and raised in a housing project near Paris, Diop specialises in making films about contemporary French society. With Saint Omer, she trains her penetrating yet sympathetic lens on a self-penned narrative (written with Amrita David and Marie

N’Diaye) that offers a fictional skew on the 2016 trial of Fabienne Kabou, a woman of Senegalese origin who killed her 15-monthold daughter after abandoning her at high tide on a beach. Struck by parallels between herself and the accused, and with her producers sensing the potential for a project, Diop was a fixture at the trial. Events unfold in the titular northern French town as the film tells of Senegalese immigrant Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda, who works as a curator alongside occasional acting roles). Coly is accused of an identical crime to Kabou; despite confessing to the abandonment of her daughter, she doesn’t consider herself the responsible party. When asked why she left her child to die, she tells the gobsmacked

film of the month

judge played by Valérie Dréville: ‘I don’t know. I hope this trial will give me the answer.’ In a set-up that mirrors Diop’s own obsession, Laurence is seen through the eyes of literature professor and novelist Rama (artist and filmmaker Kayije Kagame, making her feature debut). Rama shares the same racial background as the accused and is observing the trial with the intention of retelling it as a modern-day twist on Medea.

Yet Rama finds herself triggered by what she hears, and we see her squirming in the public gallery and struggling to contain her emotions in a hotel room afterwards, with flashbacks illuminating her own traumatic upbringing as the daughter of a cold and difficult mother. Favouring stillness and contemplation, Diop gives Laurence the space and screentime to tell her tumultuous tale. The director stays on her as she recounts key episodes from her life in long, mesmerising scenes, with Malanda giving an exquisitely multi-faceted, sublimely intriguing turn.

Laurence is composed, intelligent and elegant; she has sly, strange moments and, evidently, the smarts to play the room, but convinces on another level as a grieving and damaged woman who could merely be striving for dignity. You’re likely to find yourself veering back and forth in pursuit of a verdict, with making your mind up about the character a key part of Saint Omer’s appeal. In this robustly humane effort, Laurence is presented as a woman deserving of our consideration and sympathy, however terrible her actions. She

appears to be the victim of numerous healthcare failings as we hear how she gave birth alone, and was dangerously isolated in the early months of her child’s life.

Diop also places her in a wider, thought-provoking context as the subject of media and public fascination. She frames Laurence’s treatment in the courtroom through a prism of racial prejudice and preconceived notions about the kind of person an African immigrant is allowed to be. Laurence presents herself as a philosophy-spouting PhD student which seems to puzzle people and fire them up to expose her as a fraud, something that’s apparent in the prosecutor’s particularly vitriolic attitude. Laurence appears to turn some of these assumptions to her advantage when she brings witchcraft into play as a possible defence.

If the film does have a weakness, it’s that the character of Rama sometimes feels frustratingly remote despite a poignant, unshowy turn from Kagame. Taciturn and watchful, with her past pushed down deep, Rama is drawn less compellingly than Laurence. Nevertheless, Diop’s background as a documentarian serves her brilliantly: scenes were shot in order, with the performers encouraged to find the truth of each moment with minimal direction. The commitment to authenticity has reaped impressive results. Saint Omer is a riveting, unflashy feature rich in life’s complexity and contradictions, and is wonderfully knotty stuff.

Saint Omer is in cinemas from Friday 3 February.

Alice Diop

Winter Season at the City Art Centre

Until 12 March 2023

Glean: Early 20th century women filmmakers and photographers in Scotland

Until 19 February 2023

Ron O’Donnell

Until 5 March 2023

Edinburgh: A Lost World

Until 19 February 2023

Paul Duke: No Ruined StoneAuld Reekie Retold

New Stories of an Old City

FILM MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

(Directed

by Dean Fleischer Camp)

This charming and intricately detailed stop-motion/liveaction mockumentary following a curious, frank and quickwitted talking shell was dreamed up by writer-director Dean Fleischer Camp and comedian Jenny Slate over ten years ago. Based on a short that became a YouTube sensation in 2010, the feature film reflects on mortality, fame, family, community and loss with a lightness of touch that elegantly combines humour and pathos.

Marcel (voiced by Slate) lives in an Airbnb house with his green-fingered nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini whose Italian accent is explained by the fact that she was born in the garage). Fleischer Camp plays a fictional version of himself: a filmmaker going through a break-up and searching for connection. He observes Marcel’s ingenious daily routine before embarking on a quest to find the family that were cruelly snatched away from the tiny shell.

In the aftermath of covid lockdowns, it’s tempting to read the film as a contemplation on collective grief and sudden loss of community. Marcel takes an innovative approach to survival but is fearful of change. When he eventually leaves the comfort of his home and enters the world via a road trip, his outlook shifts to hopeful. A heart-warming message for both kids and adults alike. (Katherine McLaughlin)

 In cinemas from Friday 17 February.

ART QIU ZHIJIE 

Striking in colour and scope, this solo presentation of 48 multimedia works by Qiu Zhijie occupies Talbot Rice’s dimly lit and atmospheric Georgian Gallery. Armed with a tiny torch, we are encouraged to explore the exhibition like amateur archaeologists, reading between the fault lines of Zhijie’s intricate maps. While artworks on display provide much food for thought, their hidden meanings sometimes feel a little lacking in edge to pack a political punch.

Born in Zhangzhou, Zhijie is a pioneer of ‘total art’. At its core, this theory is about creatively responding to a rapidly changing China, by forging connections between different cultures, time periods and languages. For this exhibition, Zhijie hopes to achieve that goal through taking on cartography in a bid to undermine sources of power. Bringing the various purposes of maps to the fore, linguistic contradictions feature prominently, serving to illuminate ‘chilling power relations’.

The tiny torch comes in handy when investigating the mountains and valleys of a series titled ‘The Art Of War’. These ink-on-paper scrolls refer to hugely influential military texts from 2000 years ago, which are still cited in modern conflicts today. English translations of the Chinese words and phrases are visible under ultraviolet light, and although this is a novelty at first, it does distract from taking in the artworks as a whole. Upstairs on the balcony, ‘Black Mountain And Blue Sea: Fool’s Boat’ perhaps best employs text (without the need for ultraviolet light) to illuminate the intentions of ‘total art’. Mythological and legendary figures like Gilgamesh and Odysseus are jarringly juxtaposed with ‘Chinese orphan’, insinuating these characters have all undergone challenging physical and metaphorical voyages.

Ultimately, there is underutilised potential for Zhijie to ramp up the political commentary while working with cartography. However, perhaps this is also his virtue: he gently teases out power relations in a world which chaotically thrives off clashes of culture. (Rachel Ashenden)

 Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, until Saturday 18 February.

gig of the issue

Performing their first live shows together for close to 20 years, The Delgados prove to Fiona Shepherd and a busy Barrowland that the quartet’s brand of chamber indie pop remains a moreish and potent brew

The Delgados split while they were ahead in 2005, when the competing pressures of being in a band while running the esteemed Chemikal Underground Records and their Chem19 studio threatened to boil over. Label and studio endure for the general betterment of the music scene in Scotland and beyond, but something had to give: that meant the band.

Singers Emma Pollock and Alun Woodward went on to make solo records, the former sustaining a career in music, the latter becoming an archaeologist, while bassist Stewart Henderson founded the Scottish Album Of The Year Award before joining the fire service, and drummer Paul Savage remains one of Scotland’s most sought after producers. Their reunion (planned pre-pandemic and announced last year) came as a surprise, not least to the four members. But as they rounded off their comeback dates with a home fixture at the beloved Barrowland, there was a sense of a Delgados-shaped hole being filled to all-round satisfaction, not to mention a mass reunion for the Glasgow indie class of the mid-late 1990s.

The Delgados were early adopters of chamber indie pop and now they have the string section to prove it, though support act Andrew Wasylyk stole a march on them with an evocative opening set of instrumentals.

His glistening keyboards were embellished by a full band of Scottish indie stalwarts including Sarah Hayes on flute, Pete Harvey on cello and Joe Rattray on bass. Away from his day job as Idlewild bassist, Wasylyk’s compositions range from mellow and melancholic, like a bittersweet theme from a Bill Forsyth film, to the satisfying yacht-rock chords of ‘The Confluence’, towards a spiritual jazz-funk sound with Wasylyk quietly skatting along.

The Delgados, meanwhile, have always given good boy/girl vocal interplay, with nominal lead parts assigned, featuring an easy balancing chemistry between Pollock’s

rich alto and Woodward’s reedier tones. A two-hour set ranged generously across their five albums, with only debut Domestiques somewhat underrepresented. Its opening track ‘Under Canvas Under Wraps’ crash-landed mid-set like an unexpected party guest, its headlong indie scramble all the more energising for following a plaintive Burns Night burst of ‘Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation’.

The set was frontloaded with several selections from second album Peloton, showcasing the roots of their widescreen sound. Swirling strings and piercing flute were a seamless match for the garage groove of ‘The Arcane Model’ while dynamic highlights across the rest of the show included the Beatles-esque whimsy of ‘Aye Today’, indie waltz ‘American Trilogy’, and the grunged-up bubblegum of ‘Everybody Come Down’. A floating, rapturous ‘The Light Before We Land’ billowed through the venue; just as potent was the wry, catchy ‘All You Need Is Hate’.

Returning for an easily earned encore, Pollock shared memories of taking delivery of the band’s first single ‘Monica Webster’, a tuneful thrash, from the bowels of the 13th Note basement. This contrasted with the indie sophistication of ‘Coming In From The Cold’, mature pop of ‘No Danger’, and melodramatic flurry of ‘13 Gliding Principles’.

Reviewed at Barrowland, Glasgow.

FILM THE WHALE

(Directed by Darren Aronofsky) 

Brendan Fraser makes a welcome return to the spotlight in a flawed, sometimes painfully well-intentioned drama that acts as a decent platform for his courageous central turn. Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler) brings some cinematic chutzpah to an adaptation of Samuel D Hunter’s single-location play, which introduces us to a housebound English professor on the cusp of death.

The film unfolds in the home of Fraser’s morbidly obese recluse, Charlie, who teaches writing courses online and is grieving the loss of his lover, Alan. Charlie’s lonely existence is enlivened, and enabled, by visits from his friend Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse who tends to his medical needs while bringing him buckets of fried chicken. With Charlie fast approaching heart failure, and Liz unable to do anything more, she urges him to seek medical advice before it’s too late, yet Charlie seems resigned to his fate. He also begins receiving visits from a young missionary called Thomas (Ty Simpkins) and Ellie (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink), his estranged teenage daughter who Charlie bribes to spend time with him.

As our protagonist makes a bid for redemption, it’s hard not to feel manipulated by the contrived set-up and cheesy, on-the-nose script, while, despite some imaginative efforts from Aronofsky, things remain stubbornly stagey. Fraser brings some of his trademark goofy sweetness to an infuriating character, keeping our sympathies firmly with Charlie as the camera wraps itself around his enormous frame, and the character’s physical challenges are explored. The supporting stars are excellent, particularly Samantha Morton who shows up late in the game as Charlie’s embittered ex, and practically rips through the movie with her rage. Their passionate work, and the fearlessness of Fraser, make this just about worth your while. (Emma Simmonds)

 In cinemas from Friday 3 February.

THEATRE JERSEY BOYS

(Directed by Des McAnuff) 

There’s a star quality that orbits around anyone who holds the spotlight longer than average. And musical acts who manage to cling on to the greasy pole of fame also need a stack of songs that take up occupancy in our hearts and minds. Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons are a case in point. So even though Michael Pickering, Blair Gibson, Dalton Wood and Christopher Short are musical-theatre performers unlikely to make the status of household name, when they stand up and sing ‘Sherry’, ‘Walk Like A Man’, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ and a plethora of other hits, we need to believe that they are.

Casting has always been one of Jersey Boys’ strong points and this current UK tour is no exception. It’s easy to buy into the idea we’re watching Valli and his three fellow Seasoners (Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi) rise from the mean streets of 1960s New Jersey to their eventual spot in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Tales of broken families, mobster debt, in-fighting and promiscuous nights on the road (‘never lie to your mother, never tell the truth to your wife’, Massi advises) make for a rollicking story. But it’s the songs, and their harmonyperfect delivery, that brings Jersey Boys the enduring adoration it so richly deserves. (Kelly Apter)

 Edinburgh Playhouse, until Saturday 4 February.

OTHER THINGS WORTH GOING OUT FOR

If you fancy getting out and about this month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as a fundraiser for Ukraine, a new folk musical, a different kind of stencil art, and a rising comedy star

ART

BERNIE REID

Ornamental Breakdown isn’t just a cunning title, but a solo debut influenced by the anti-style graffiti movement of Italian futurist Fortunato Depero, as Reid aims to push stencil art in new directions.

n Edinburgh Printmakers, Thursday 2 February–Thursday 16 March.

COMEDY BABATUNDE ALESHE

The writer, actor and podcaster comes to the stage with a highly-anticipated tour as he aims one day, by his own admission, to become the next Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle.

n The Stand, Glasgow, Sunday 5 February.

FILM

BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL

Adrenaline-packed action comes to the big screen with this touring festival. Among the dizzying highlights are films with titles such as Saving Glaciers, Bridge Boys and Colors Of Mexico

n Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Saturday 11 February; Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, Monday 13 February.

WOMEN TALKING

A classy cast (Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara) has been gathered up for this awful true tale of women and girls in an isolated Mennonite-style community coming under mortal threat from the very people who should be protecting them.

n In cinemas from Friday 10 February.

THE SON

Florian Zeller’s new film stars Laura Dern, Hugh Jackman and Anthony Hopkins, with a score by Hans Zimmer, for a story about a divided family trying to keep it together while avoiding the mistakes of the past.

n In cinemas from Friday 17 February.

MUSIC MAJA LENA

After a successful 2021 debut album, this sci-fi inspired alt-folk artist brings tunes from Pluto to the live stage, with songs about such things as destruction, creation, transformation and renewal.

n Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Saturday 5 February; Hug & Pint, Glasgow, Monday 6 February.

SALUTE UKRAINE!

A special fundraising concert which marks the one-year anniversary of war in Ukraine, featuring video testimony from the frontline as well as music and poetry from the likes of Lau, Kathleen Jamie, Elzara Batalova, Ross Ainslie, Iona Zajac and the Edinburgh Ukrainian Choir.

n Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sunday 26 February.

THEATRE MOONSET

A powerful coming-of-age tale written by Maryam Hamidi about four teenagers whose freindships fray while rage and danger blaze in the background.

n Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Friday 3–Saturday 11 February; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 16–Saturday 18 February.

A MOTHER’S SONG

Created by composer Finn Anderson and director Tania Azevedo, this new folk musical spans 17thcentury Scotland and contemporary New York, following three women at different points in history.

n Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, Thursday 23–Sunday 26 February.

Ross Ainslie from Salute Ukraine! (and bottom from left), Banff Mountain Film Festival, Bernie Reid, Women Talking

staying in

TOMMI PARRISH

How far would you be willing to go in order to find intimacy in a society that appears increasingly closed off? This is the core question at the heart of Men I Trust, the new graphic novel by Montreal-based cartoonist, illustrator and art editor, Tommi Parrish. The story revolves around Eliza, a poet and struggling single mother, and Sasha who lives with her parents and dabbles in sex work. Their unlikely friendship tackles the aforementioned core question. (Brian Donaldson) n Men I Trust is published by Scribe on Thursday 9 February.

PODCASTS STRIPPERS IN THE ATTIC

What do pleaser shoes, Christmas shifts and feigning an interest in Excel spreadsheets have in common? As Becca Inglis finds out, it’s all in a day’s work for Buffy and Heaven as detailed on their subtly political podcast

Having first met as dancers at the Shoreditch club, Browns, Buffy recruited Heaven to the erotic performance company, House Of Vixens. But when the pandemic closed clubs, and strippers found themselves without work (and in many cases unable to access government support), they pivoted to recounting stories about the job they love. ‘Everybody was so bored of hearing about how miserable everything was,’ says Buffy. ‘And then you have two people talking about the most ridiculous things in these weird places.’

Anecdotes from Strippers In The Attic range from eye-opening accounts of clients’ fantasies to how their mums reacted to such unconventional careers. But the podcast is much more than a tell-all. Time and again, Buffy and Heaven apply life lessons from stripping to everyday life, like learning to ask for what you want or gaining confidence in a society that idealises certain bodies. ‘Because you’re in a transactional space, people feel very OK with letting you know what they do and don’t want,’ says Heaven. ‘You truly see that variety is the spice of life.’

Strip clubs have loomed large in the public discourse of late, as local authorities increasingly push for stricter regulations; in Edinburgh, the council have proposed a ‘nil cap’ which would effectively ban strip clubs. It feels refreshing to hear strippers laughing about their job, rather than feeling obliged to advocate for themselves. ‘This is political in a more subtle way,’ says Heaven. ‘We could start talking about trying to shut down all the clubs, but if we lead with that I don’t think people are going to respond in the same way.’

For the podcast’s latest season (it debuted in December 2020), the pair will explore further what they love about stripping, as well as what it reveals about society. The first episode rejects the ‘new year, new you’ ethos in favour of self-acceptance. In another instalment, Buffy’s sister is interviewed about her modelling career, which is seen ‘as this amazing, glamorous, incredible job, where it was not; while stripping is looked down upon but actually has been an amazing, glamorous, wonderful job.’

Whether you’re already acquainted with such clubs or not, Strippers In The Attic has plenty to offer, be it a giggle or some candid advice. ‘We’ve had so many people, sex workers and not sex workers, telling us how much this show has made a difference to their lives,’ says Buffy. ‘That’s where I think the magic is.’

 New episodes available on Wednesdays at strippersintheattic.com

BINGE FEST

Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches M

For a certain constituency, it will be hard to go back and watch Man Down (All 4). After years of being told how much he looked like Rik Mayall, that show’s creator and star Greg Davies seized on the opportunity to cast the iconic Young One as his highly wired old dad. Mayall’s sudden death in 2014 left a hole in the series (Davies insisted they would never have another actor stepping in to the role), gave us a deeply poignant Christmas special, and provided a fitting legacy to a comic who fully deserved the mantel of ‘genius’. Master Of None (Netflix) has a distinct before and after, with Aziz Ansari’s brush with #MeToo marking that divide. Beforehand, it was a jaunty dating and friendship comedy which was nearly impossible not to love; latterly it was laden with suspicion upon Ansari’s return. But in an astute move, he largely recused himself from the screen, giving prominence to the relationships and professional ups and downs of Denise (Lena Waithe). It might not have been as funny as earlier seasons, but it was nonetheless a compelling and artful swansong for the show. (Brian Donaldson)

 Other M binges: Mare Of Easttown (NOW), Mindhunter (Netflix), My Mad Fat Diary (All 4).

After a period of reactionary works like Fred again..’s dance-music diary Actual Life or the romcom flop Locked Down, 2023 may be the year when artists find the vocabulary necessary to reflect on covid in expansive terms. Films like Enys Men have foregrounded the existential drudgery of isolated routine, while Young Fathers’ new album Heavy Heavy seeks a salve for listeners as it chronicles the social and political ramifications of a period spent in professional and creative purgatory. Even The Last Of Us, HBO’s blockbuster TV adaptation of the popular videogame, invites viewers to draw comparisons between its fungus-infected dystopia and the most gruelling aspects of a global pandemic.

Orbital’s tenth studio album, Optical Delusion, weighs into similar territory. Its opening track ‘Ringa Ringa’ uses the plague-inspired nursery rhyme ‘Ring A Ring O’ Roses’ as a counterpoint to the electronica duo’s trademark glitchy sound, reminding the listener that while history may not repeat, it does rhyme. The pandemic also altered the way that Orbital work on an album. It was the first time Phil and Paul Hartnoll (brothers who have collaborated since 1989) produced tracks separately, creating a work of noticeably differing sensibilities. ‘I personally tried to avoid writing anything about the pandemic,’ Phil says. ‘It was enough to experience it. I was shielding because I’ve got really bad lungs. And I found out I’ve got ADHD around then, so I spent the days trapped in the house driving my wife mad.’

Paul wrote the most politically scabrous works on the album such as ‘Dirty Rat’, which features Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson spitting, ‘you voted for them/look at you, you dirty rat’, to voice the collective anger at a failed political system. Phil’s contribution takes a lighter approach, emphasising the desire for connection we’ve all felt after emerging from lockdown, a theme which proves itself amenable to dance music’s inherent communality.

The music feels like an extension of Phil’s outwardly giving personality. To talk to him is to experience a pinballing brain rolling from one idea to the next with a Tiggerish enthusiasm and an obvious love of people. But it’s not a personality trait he necessarily attributes to his creative process. ‘I can’t really see what anybody else might like. I can only get stuck into what I’m doing and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it. I always dig it, and it’s a question of will anyone else? Thankfully, that’s worked.’ His approach also creates some of the most memorable moments on the album, particularly its woozy closer ‘Moon Princess’, featuring the legendary Japanese electronic music singer-songwriter Coppé indulging in lyrical abstractions over a skittering beat. She joins a roll call of great collaborators, including Anna B Savage, Penelope Isles, The Little Pest and Dina Ipavic. Yet the process of collaboration was, again, hampered by covid’s long shadow. ‘That’s the thing with isolation: I love bouncing off people. I might start a track but I love other people to finish it. That’s what keeps me alive. It made lockdown a complete nightmare. If I’m left on my own, it’s not good.’

The Optical Delusion of the title, alluding to the ideological silos people have created for themselves in an increasingly polarised society, is present in Orbital’s lyrical concerns.But their music remains an open call to hit the dancefloor and lose yourself, an invite which has led to a younger generation embracing the band. ‘We’ve got a really lovely audience. We’ve watched them grow up with us, and now they bring their kids. Some of them bring their grandkids. It’s a brilliant indoctrination.’

As an electronica duo who thrive on collaboration, lockdown for Orbital was hell. With a new album finally on the horizon, Phil Hartnoll tells Kevin Fullerton how they won over a new generation of fans

Optical Delusion is released by London Records on Friday 17 February; Orbital play SWG3, Glasgow, Tuesday 28 March.

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5 Floors of Interactive Fun!

Enjoy wonderful unique displays, breath-taking views, clever illusions and hands-on exhibits; where 21st-century tech meets classic optical tricks. Beside Edinburgh Castle.

Britain’s most fun attraction camera-obscura.co.uk

first writes

In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. For February, we feature Christy Edwall, author of History Keeps Me Awake At Night, a novel about a woman who becomes obsessed with the story of a group of Mexican students who vanish without trace after being ambushed by police

What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, around the time my mother taught me to read while she was on bed-rest, pregnant with my youngest brother. I loved the wardrobe and the snow, and even the eerie statues, but found the shaving of Aslan excruciating. The memory of Pauline Baynes’ illustration still makes my stomach turn.

What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer?

I’m sure it was LittleWomen; less because of Jo’s literary ambitions than because of the four sisters’ vivid cultural life: their plays and newspapers. Amy March’s will and testament in chapter 19 inspired a rash of morbid imitations.

What’s your favourite first line in a book? The ferocious first line of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s NervousConditions: ‘I was not sorry when my brother died’. Mrs Dalloway, BrightonRock and TheTowersOfTrebizond are serious contenders for second place.

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? Garth Greenwell’s WhatBelongs ToYou is a devastatingly good debut; a masterclass in writing beautifully about unbeautiful things, and in paying attention to places or events other people might ignore or underestimate.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? I write before work. I wake up in the dark (ideally before my alarm) and make a cafetière of coffee which I drink while I write. Halfway through, I put porridge oats on the stove, which finish around the time I stop writing.

What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? I eat breakfast and scroll through TheGuardian before getting ready for work. I’d like to break the habit and read a book, but so far no luck!

In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? Dune, which seems to be the one book all men my age have read or intend to read. In a Dune-less world, maybe they’d be more adventurous: Octavia E Butler? Henry James?

What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? Read everything. Make friends with good readers; they might one day be willing to read your work.

History Keeps Me Awake At Night is published by Granta on Thursday 2 February.

GAMES COMPANY OF HEROES 3

The real-time strategy genre is part of the bedrock of modern gaming. In the 1990s and early 2000s, RTS titles dominated the industry thanks to classics such as the Command & Conquer, Warcraft and StarCraft series (RTS games almost always spawn sequels). However, around 15 years ago a sub-genre called MOBA (League Of Legends, DOTA2), drew all attention away from RTS, and these once-ubiquitous series disappeared from store shelves. But the tables are turning, and RTS specialist Relic Entertainment is mounting a comeback, part of a wider, concerted effort to bring real-time strategy back to gaming in 2023.

Featuring two WWII campaigns across North Africa and Italy, CompanyOfHeroes3 gives players the tools to pit a range of units from the Axis and Allies against each other. Its new game engine promises limitless tactical options thanks to the ability to destroy buildings and the landscape itself in order to carve new pathways across the battlefield. A grand strategy map, inspired by the Total War series, will expand tactical play beyond previous entries in the series, and technical innovations will better render the horror of war. This opening salvo looks set to reinvigorate RTS for a long time to come. (Murray Robertson)

 Released on PC on Thursday 23 February, and on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year.

In this relaunched column, we ask a pod person about the ‘casts that mean a lot to them. This time around, it’s Robbie Knox from JaackMaate’s Happy Hour which revels in larks and laughs as its three hosts poke around the good, the bad and the generally terrible things that internet personalities get up to

my perfect podcast

What podcast educates you? I’ve listened to The Tim FerrissShow since it started and I learn something every episode. I love the variety of guests and how Tim digs down into the minutiae of people’s processes. I’ve explored so many topics that I first learned about from the show and I’m still listening to it over 500 episodes in.

What podcast makes you laugh? RobBeckettAndJosh Widdicombe’sParentingHell always makes me laugh, striking the perfect blend of capturing the challenges of having kids, while also showing how utterly brilliant it is to raise mini-humans. I always put this on when I go for a run, as it distracts me from the soul-crushing misery of exercise.

What podcast makes you sad or angry? TheRestIsPolitics is a fantastic podcast, hosted by former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and former Conservative cabinet member Rory Stewart. I like it because it comes at topics from both sides of the political debate but makes me feel sad at the state the country is in now.

What podcast is your guilty pleasure? I don’t know what constitutes a guilty pleasure but I listen to The Ski Podcast a lot at this time of year. I spend most of my life thinking about going skiing so it’s nice to have a podcast to help me do that.

Who doesn’t have a podcast but should? Justin Hawkins from The Darkness has a great YouTube channel where he digs deep into the craft of songwriting and performing, so I’d love to hear him talk more about this in a podcast format. He came on Happy Hour as a guest last year and was an absolute joy to chat to.

Can you pitch us a new podcast idea in exactly 20 words? Ice Cube and Dave Grohl visit British cathedrals to decide which one of them has the best stained glass windows.

Episodes are available only on Spotify; JaackMaate’s Happy Hour: The Round Sheep Tour, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thursday 9 February.

TV

ALL THAT BREATHES

Even if All That Breathes fails to scoop the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the (hopefully slap-free) ceremony in mid-March, it can console itself with two other gongs. As the first film ever to win Best Documentary at both Sundance and Cannes, Shaunak Sen’s Hindi-language affair draws a vivid picture of two brothers (Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad) who rescue and tend injured black kites. A clear bond is made between bird and human (though a certain element of ingratitude can be detected when one of them flies off with Nadeem’s spectacles).

For director Sen, the sight of birds plummeting from the skies acts as a profound metaphor for the planet’s malaise, both in terms of society and ecology. The vital work this pair do takes place in a cramped and claustrophobic basement, in direct contrast to the open and vast spaces above which their patients hope to return to in full flight. The film is set in Delhi, a highly polluted city which provides its own set of challenges in terms of both society and the environment.

Among the film’s aims is to provide a new angle on public perceptions of black kites. These raptors may be painted as cruel predators but they are also scavengers, doing their bit in reducing the vast piles of rubbish which sometimes exist in Delhi. This moving, thoughtful and gorgeous-looking film has deserved all the plaudits afforded it, and is likely to make you keep an eye on both the skies up there and the ground beneath your feet.

(Brian Donaldson)

 Available on Sky Documentaries from Wednesday 8 February.

Fiona Shepherd finds a collection of earworms, heartbreakers, oddities and sublime pop (plus plenty of bonus extras) in an 80-track box set revisiting Mull Historical Society’s first three albums

of the month

At the turn of the millennium, Colin MacIntyre set sail musically from his native Mull, arriving seemingly fully formed on our airwaves as the impishly named Mull Historical Society. His debut single, ‘Barcode Bypass’, struck an instantaneous chord with its heartbreaking story of a local shopkeeper throwing in the towel in the face of competition from the town superstore. It was unique subject matter for a pop song, yet a timeless, resonant and prescient round of applause for local heroes over global corporations.

This box set, gathering together the first three MHS albums and contemporary recorded ephemera, is named Archaeology, in part because of the excavation job required in pulling together 80 tracks from MacIntyre’s purple patch in the early Noughties but also as another respectful nod to the original Mull Historical Society who gamely changed their name to the Mull Historical & Archaeology Society in deference to their better-known musical namesake.

MacIntyre has since diversified into writing memoir and fiction, and is set to bring his two artistic loves together on the next MHS album, to be recorded back in Tobermory this year, with contributions from his favourite authors. However, Archaeology represents a period of time when the tunes flowed effortlessly, from the euphoric chime of ‘Watching Xanadu’ to the freewheeling 60s-influenced psych pop of the song ‘Mull Historical Society’.

Like any good storyteller, MacIntyre returns to beloved themes, creates ancillary characters, and ties together plotlines through his music. ‘The Supermarket Strikes Back’ is the right of reply to ‘Barcode Bypass’, while ‘MHS Lady’ is

the tale of a sweet, supportive encounter with a woman ‘from the real Mull Historical Society’. Debut album Loss is a snapshot of MacIntyre’s grief at the death of his father, the respected journalist Kenny MacIntyre, culminating in the choral incantation, brass fanfare, and shipping forecast of the title track. A mixed bag of extra tracks yields the lovely ‘Rocket Man’referencing ‘You And Me Ground Zero’.

As its title suggests, follow-up Us radiates a sense of community. With less of a need to grab attention, its highlights include the straight-up songwriting of beseeching ballad ‘Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me’, while ‘Minister For Genetics & Insurance MP’ and ‘Citizen Fame’ play to MacIntyre’s quirkier proclivities.

Third album This Is Hope, released in 2004, represents a new label and fresh ambition, producing another indie-pop earworm in ‘How ’bout I Love You More’, chamber-pop heartbreaker ‘Treescavenger’, the jaunty strut of ‘Tobermory Zoo’, and ‘Death Of A Scientist’, a shifting multi-part waltz about the suicide of David Kelly.

The fourth CD throws up the usual interesting mix of odds and sods, including a few examples of post-Britpop mulch. But there’s also the tender melancholia of ‘Don’t Suffer’, a campfire paean to Mull’s Calgary Bay (MacIntyre’s favourite haunt) and a brass-soaked bells-andwhistles transformation of The Strokes’ ‘Last Nite’, all wrapped up with a 36-page booklet of articles, live shots, tour memorabilia, and an extract from MacIntyre’s forthcoming memoir The Boy In The Bubble

Archaeology: Complete Recordings 2000–2004 is released by Demon Records on Friday 24 February.

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BOOKS AYÒBÁMI ADÉBÁYÒ A Spell Of Good Things (Canongate)

Ademola is a wealthy businessman who takes good fortune for granted, ‘as though it were impossible that it would abide for only a spell’. His wife Yeye, on the other hand, feels life is ‘a series of battles with the occasional spell of good things’. Lagos-born author

Ayòbámi Adébáyò shows us Yeye’s devastating but sometimes dazzling view of reality in her second novel, a sequined, scarred story of haves and have-nots in corrupt modern Nigeria.

Wuraola is a young doctor working night shifts fueled by energy drinks while the hospital struggles with power outages. Her mother, Yeye, fawns over Wuraola’s boyfriend; although he’s argumentative and sexist, Yeye is thrilled at the prospect of her daughter getting engaged to someone with rich parents. Yeye buys golden gowns at auntie Caro’s dressmaking shop, where she meets Eniola, obediently serving his apprenticeship when he’s not being flogged at the local school.

Adébáyò calmly stitches together the complicated patchwork of their lives, avoiding mawkishness, and backtracking to give context to the good and bad spells they’re experiencing. A passage where an embarrassed Eniola must pretend to be a mute orphan as he panhandles between cars to make rent money would be much less powerful if we hadn’t earlier seen him enjoying a house with a VCR and indoor bathroom before his dad lost his job.

While details of ornate gele head wraps and fragrant bowls of peppered soup add layers of incredible colour to Adébáyò’s tale, you can feel the visceral threat of violence and destruction crackling under the surface from early on, even in lighter scenes of family squabbles or lavish parties. This is a wisely observed, gripping and bleak story, with glowing moments of kindness and comedy among the tough times. (Claire Sawers)

 Published on Thursday 9 February.

TV EXTRAORDINARY (Disney+) 

Debut writer Emma Moran and the makers of Killing Eve present Extraordinary, a well-made ode to the struggling twentysomething. In a world where everyone has been gifted a superpower (except our angsty main character, naturally), 25-year-old Jen (Máiréad Tyers) attempts to unlock her true potential. Quirky, crass and cringeworthy, this almost hilarious new series presents itself as an ambitious medley of Misfits and BridgetJones

From classic superstrength to an ability for turning anything into a PDF, the playful universe of Extraordinary leaves plenty room for amusingly awkward encounters. Our powerless yet punchy protagonist displays an irresistible Irish charm that carries the comedy. And of course, Derry Girls’ favourite scene-stealer Siobhan McSweeney (complete with supernatural abilities) only adds fuel to that fire.

Despite its strengths, some of the series’ jokes don’t quite land (a 3D printing anus?) and a few overused Gen-Z clichés remove an element of authenticity from the script. However, its attempted relatability to the troubled youth of today remains effective at least 80% of the time (think monstera leaf bedding and ‘craft beer guy’ slander). With its 90s-style opening credits and Wet Leg-heavy soundtrack, Extraordinary makes for a mildly moreish but not quite marvellous comfort show.

(Rachel Cronin)

 All episodes available now.

ALBUMS SNOW GHOSTS

The Fell (Houndstooth) 

Melding instruments from all over the globe with experimental electronica, TheFell finds Scottish multi-disciplinary trio Snow Ghosts conjuring up a collection of folk songs for an imagined past. Although the idea of inventing a folk tradition could be pretentious, or even disrespectful, The Fell mostly succeeds by keeping things mysterious. They hint at strange goings on but never fall into pure storytelling. That their lyrics are only part of the puzzle, complemented by music that oscillates between overwhelming darkness and strange moments of tranquillity, helps keep things unknowable.

Throughout the album, walls of distorted synth create a sense of dynamics. While this works well as a scene-setter on opening track ‘Given’, by the time it’s deployed on ‘Prophecies’, it becomes less arresting and verges on tiring. Thankfully, Snow Ghosts change things up with tracks like ‘Filaments’ (which combines acoustic instruments to craft a propulsive rhythm that calls to mind Homogenic-era Björk) or ‘Vixen’, with stabbing violins that are contorted into a crescendo of terrifying electronica.

Other tracks, such as mid-album standout ‘Buried’, almost completely concedes the floor to acoustic instruments, showcasing each band member’s inter-disciplinary skill. TheFell is a vastsounding album that is only let down slightly by some repetitive elements. For the most part, Snow Ghosts have succeeded in creating a devastating ode to the folk tradition. (Sean Greenhorn)

 Released on Friday 24 February. REVIEWS

TV FUNNY WOMAN (Sky Max/NOW) 

Based on Nick Hornby’s 2014 novel, Funny Girl, this comedy drama follows the misadventures of Barbara Parker (Gemma Arterton) who in 1964 attempts to emulate her hero, Lucille Ball, to become a star of the small screen. Leaving behind her Blackpool roots, she sets off for London where she falls into a job at a department store managed by the formidable Miss Sykes (Doon Mackichan). Somewhat implausibly, Parker’s recalcitrance to authority, coupled with her stoic northern wit, is no barrier to success. She forges ahead in a male-dominated television industry after being taken under the wing of outré theatrical agent Brian Debenham (Rupert Everett hamming it up under prosthetics and a comb-over).

Driven by a steely ambition, Barbara works her way into the joint lead role on an incipient sitcom where she finds contentment in a surrogate family of writers. These scenes, with the cast and crew working through script and personal issues (the two frequently overlap) are nicely sketched thanks to an easy chemistry between Barbara and her brash co-star Clive (Tom Bateman) and sensitive producer Dennis (Arsher Ali).

Sixties London is painted as a gaudy metropolis in stark contrast with the north: neon signs cast deep shadows on its seedy streets, and a fug of tobacco hangs over every room. Arterton, who appears in practically every scene, is deft at physical comedy and convincing in the more serious moments. It’s a shame that the women around her are given short shrift. Barbara yearns to make her dad proud, and to settle down with a nice man, while her female companions only endure to propel the plot, not enrich it. Although sexual, racial and class politics of the era are addressed, conflicts are wrapped up a bit too neatly. Arterton is a charming lead but the comedy and drama are both rather slight for such a complex historical moment.

(Murray Robertson)

 Starts on Thursday 9 February.

In crime fiction, it’s been said that it doesn’t much matter who did it and why, only where the story is set. Solving the crime is simply a vehicle to travel through territory. While not of that genre, Bosnian-American author Aleksandar Hemon’s new work is all about taking us to places. It opens with a map titled ‘the world’ and heads each section with a date and location: Galicia, 1916; Taklamakan Desert, 1926; Shanghai, 1932. But that opening maxim only holds partly true here; this is a work that gives equal weight to the intimately human, alongside the grand scenes from history played out in these times and locations.

It begins in Sarajevo, 1914. Pinto is a Jewish pharmacist with a taste for his own wares, but also of indulging romantic fantasies to feed the desires he must keep hidden. He is witness to the spark that sets the world aflame, when the assassination of a ‘somebody’ means that millions of ‘nothings and nobodies’ will follow him into death. Pinto is fed into the war machine, soon to meet the love of his life, Osman, a Bosnian Muslim. Theirs is a love hidden in plain sight as these two men hold each other tight in the trenches, caressing and kissing when the lights go down.

Their conflicting cultures go beyond performing a perfunctory metaphor, demonstrating that love endures across boundaries. Likewise, a relevance to contemporary issues such as forced migration and political turmoil rests on there being empathy at the centre of this work, rather than the fingerprints of performative literary technique, something that would feel largely redundant in the face of such human tragedy.

Hemon paints this calamity like a living, moving fresco with a cast of thousands, whether it’s a caravan of refugees trekking across a pitiless desert, or stateless masses bursting Shanghai at the seams in the 1930s. Pinto self-medicates through the horror of it all (laudanum, morphine, opium) as he continues his long walk across countries and borders. Even when remaining still, the wave of history washes borders over him. And like waves, there is a pattern: a war is followed by a war, a revolution by a revolution.

Much is familiar. When using love as the driver of an epic journey, Pasternak long beats Hemon to the punch, while Dustin Hoffman’s Little Big Man was an insignificant witness to moments of historical significance more than 40 years before Pinto appeared on the page. But there is a fresh and contemporary feel to this telling. This is partly the book’s kinetic nature and a postmodern cynicism, shaking the dust off more traditional norms of historical fiction. This narrative velocity is also, in part, a challenge. When considering historical context, Hemon never slows to allow an appreciation of the backdrop.

The novel also plays with language, stitching Uyghur, Bosnian and German into a self-designed Nadsat, with no concession given. The nonpolyglot must simply revel in the look and feel of unfamiliar vocabulary. In a meta epilogue, the author himself muses on his right to tell such a story: ‘you can experience and understand history only when you’re inside it’. The patiently painted characters and empathy at the core of this work allows others at least to imagine.

The World And All That It Holds is published by Picador on Thursday 2 February.

of the month

In Aleksandar Hemon’s continent-spanning new novel, Alan Bett finds a sprawling tale of war, revolution and migration that doesn’t lose sight of the intimately human story at its heart

ALBUMS TENNIS

Pollen (Mutually Detrimental) 

Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley’s sixth Tennis record drifts deeply into dream pop territory, with elements of disco and yacht rock providing deeper grooves than we’ve heard from them before. Pollen lives in the same sonic universe as previous album Swimmer, revelling in synths and keyboards as opposed to the raw drums and guitar of the band’s earlier work. A few heavier indie moments do come in ‘Glorietta’ and ‘Never Been Wrong’ but the driving force of this latest release is the juicy bassline heard in almost every track.

The vagueness and indistinguishability of many lyrics (‘early morning/quiet in the spring time/without warning/dancing in a fever’) paired with the maximalism of the instrumentation make Pollen an album to dance and escape to rather than dissect. This could be a testament to Riley’s production skills, which he successfully uses to create full and ethereal soundscapes throughout (especially in the title track and ‘Pillow For A Cloud’).

The cream of the crop is ‘Let’s Make A Mistake Tonight’, the album’s first single, which has the anthemic quality of Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ with a depth of groove akin to Jungle’s ‘Casio’. Opening track ‘Forbidden Doors’ also leaves a lasting impression, conjuring up a Tame Impala-esque psychedelic tinge which resurfaces a few times in the succeeding nine tracks. All in all, the highly consistent pair deliver a solid body of work in Pollen, even if a few great songs do bear the load of more forgettable moments. (Megan Merino)

 Released on Friday 10 February.

TV DEEP FAKE NEIGHBOUR WARS (ITVX)

Brace yourselves luddites: the future is here. Gone are the days when a puppet with wonky eyes or a man in a dodgy wig could be used to impersonate or send up celebrities. Now we have technology to graft the actual faces of the rich and famous onto actors’ bodies, with the aim of making them get up to preposterous and incongruous hi-jinks for our entertainment.

The premise here is that we see celebrities transformed using deep fake technology into ‘normal people’ and put into the kind of petty, neighbourly squabbles that are catnip to reality TV producers. In episode one, gardeningobsessive ‘Idris Elba’ is annoyed when bus driver ‘Kim Kardashian’ leaves her sun loungers on his carefully tended lawn. Meanwhile, single mother ‘Greta Thunberg’ is appalled by next-door neighbours ‘Conor McGregor’ and ‘Ariana Grande’ who festoon their house with Christmas decorations in July.

There are some choice moments: ‘Thunberg’ calling her baby Algae, or ‘Elba’ selling homemade perfume on Etsy. But the humour seems to punch down an awful lot. When we are invited to laugh at ‘Kardashian’ and her pride over finally having the bus route she really wanted, or at ‘Thunberg’ in a baggy t-shirt pushing a buggy, who are we really laughing at? The privileged celebrity? Or the workingclass, economically disadvantaged people they’re being made to imitate?

In a cost-of-living crisis, it sits particularly queasily. Why wouldn’t it have been enough to have the celebrities deepfaked as themselves (instead of as avatars of ‘everyday people’) and forced to deal with petty scenarios? The trouble with Deep Fake Neighbour Wars is not with the ethics of the tech at all; it’s with the choice of target. (Lucy Ribchester)

 All episodes available now.

BOOKS KIRSTY SEDGMAN On Being Unreasonable (Faber) lllll

The rise of social media has led to an age of digital dissent; we’re constantly at each other’s throats these days. So what’s making us seem so unreasonable to our peers and how can we overcome our own innate prejudices?

Bristol-based academic and cultural-values whizz Kirsty Sedgman takes a measured, considered look at the subject of reasonableness and how we apply it in this chatty, informal book that offers wide-ranging research to back up her theories.

‘All progress depends on the unreasonable man’, is her contention; Sedgman kicks off with the surprising degree to which we seek out and trust the company of strangers, and why this cornerstone of our existence has abruptly changed in recent times. So if a person becomes a person through interaction with other people, as Xhosa philosophy contends, what happens when our conflicting value systems rub each other the wrong way? Sedgman notes that a Socratic sense of stoicism has served us well in the past, but systems often change for the better due to unreasonable actions that challenge the status quo, so why bother conforming at all?

This is, as Sedgman says, ‘a book about behaviour’, examining the roots of reasonable and unreasonable behaviour in two main segments. While current social-media trends provide many of the examples, Sedgman also looks at the historical context behind our current, abrasive discourse, ending with a resolute call to arms. Her prose style is airy and accessible, mixing historical examples with wry personal anecdotes, switching from Martin Luther King’s notions of anti-violent protest to her husband’s snoring in the space of a few lines. By the end, you may well agree with Sedgman that, in today’s contorted world, multiple wrongs might just make a right. Or as her musical heroine Matilda says, ‘sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty’. (Eddie Harrison)

n Published on Thursday 16 February.

PODCAST WITHIN THE WIRES (Night Vale Present) lllll

This inventive fiction podcast from writers Janina Matthewson and Jeffrey Cranor is now in its seventh season, with each series presenting a new story from their alternative Within The Wires universe. This latest is subtitled ‘Scavenger Hunt’ and draws you in from the start by casting you (the listener) as Anita, a woman to whom recorded tapes are being addressed. These tapes are from Elena, a woman who knew your mother, although you yourself never met her. The intrigue is eked out through Cranor and Matthewson’s skilful drip-feeding and strange teasing glimpses of their world; references to ‘the reckoning’ or the prohibition of families, for example; or the fact that Elena is speaking on cassette tapes which she has to stop and turn over halfway through each episode. Narrator April Ortiz’s warm, maternal tone make Elena’s chatty levels of exposition plausible: she’s a likeable character with a tendency to ramble on.

What seems at first like it might be heading into sinister, thriller territory emerges instead in the following episodes into a love story, rich in tender, bittersweet and curious details. It promises a slow simmer rather than a wild ride, but is nevertheless an absorbing and soothing tale to sink into.

(Lucy Ribchester)

n Episodes available at nightvalepresents.com

OTHER THINGS WORTH STAYING IN FOR

A packed month of things to do indoors or consume on your travels include a classic comedy rescued from the archives and some juicy covers of country songs

ALBUMS

ANNA B SAVAGE

inFLUX is this London singer-songwriter’s second album, upon which she muses about the pleasures and pain of love, as well as considering loss and connection.

 City Slang, Friday 17 February.

BRIA

‘Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?’ asks Bria Salmena on her CuntryCovers Vol 2 EP, a follow-up collection of noir-infused alt-country rock featuring her versions of tunes by Gillian Welch and Glen Campbell.

 Sub Pop, Friday 24 February.

BOOKS

CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS

From the author of The Slap and Damascus comes 7½, in which the novel’s narrator arrives at a house on the coast to write a book about a retired porn star.

 Atlantic, Friday 3 February.

EMMA GREEN

Female Innovators Who Changed Our World offers a concise portrait of 46 trailblazing women in science, technology, engineering and maths, explaining their lives and achievements.

 Pen & Sword, Tuesday 28 February.

PODCASTS

15 STOREYS HIGH

The late, great Sean Lock was never especially happy with the BBC’s treatment of his superb sitcom; some amends are being made with the earlier radio version now available.

 BBC Sounds.

SHRINK THE BOX

Fronted by Ben Bailey Smith (aka rapping comic Doc Brown) and psychotherapist Sasha Bates, this series looks at ctional TV characters (Fleabag, Don Draper and Shiv Roy among them) and puts them on the couch (back on the couch in Tony Soprano’s case).

TV NOLLY

Those who remember the wooden hell of Crossroads will lap up this mini-series about its star actress, Noele Gordon. Helena Bonham Carter is the perfect choice for this lead role.

 ITVX, Thursday 2 February.

FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE

Based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s 2019 novel, a doctor juggles single parenthood with a stressful job while also attempting to get back into the dating game. Boy, is he (Fleishman) in trouble.

Jesse Eisenberg is in the lead role with support coming from Claire Danes and Lizzy Caplan.

 Disney+, Wednesday 22 February.

LIAISON

 Podcast24. 

Vincent Cassel and Eva Green star in this six-part drama brimful of espionage and political intrigue while also nding time for lovey-dovey stuff as characters try desperately to learn from the past. Apple TV+, Friday 23 February.

Bria (and bottom from left), Liaison, Ben Bailey Smith, Sean Lock

DJ and broadcaster Arielle Free is a well-known name on the electronic house scene, as well as being a former host of Love Island: The Morning After podcast. In our Q&A, she considers the joy of kiwi-fruit skins, chewing gum-related disappointments, and shrinking in stature

Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Anna Friel. I think she plays the manic but lovely character quite well, and I think that’s pretty much me. Maybe more manic than lovely though . . .

What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? Doug (makes sense when said with a strong Glaswegian accent like mine).

If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? I’ve always loved dolphins. Not because it’s the name of

my favourite weekend pub, but they always seem happy and joyous. My singing voice isn’t too far from a dolphin’s so it could work!

Did you have a nickname at school that you were OK with and/or one that you hated? My nickname was Azy that then became Az, then Az Baz. I liked all three. I’m now Ari purely because I couldn’t be arsed correcting people who called me Ariel or Oriel when I told them my full name and they can’t compute that my name isn’t the Disney version.

PICTURE: EDWARD COOKE

If you were playing in an escape room, name two other people you’d recruit to help you get out? I definitely wouldn’t choose AmyElle. We once did The Crystal Maze and she was pants! I’d say Syreeta because she’s always so calm, and then LP Giobbi because she always finds the funny in any situation.

When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? Angela Scanlon in the toilets of a bar in Glasgow. The person was really annoyed when I said I wasn’t her.

What’s the best cover version ever? Arctic Monkeys covering Girls Aloud’s ‘Love Machine’.

Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? Benji B; his voice was made for the radio.

Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? That the skin of a kiwi fruit is bloody delicious to eat.

Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Pre-drinks, trainers on, hit the rave, stumble home, sleep until noon.

If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? Don’t think I want to haunt anyone. Sounds boring.

If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? The day I got to support Calvin Harris at Hampden Stadium in front of my family.

What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? I remember not winning a cricket competition at school. They kicked me out of the team the week before they all won a tournament and a year’s supply of chewing gum as it was sponsored by Wrigley!

If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, what would it be called? Shania Pain. Because I love her, but my singing is painful.

THE Q& A WITH ARIELLE FREE

When were you most recently astonished by something? When the doctor told me I’m actually 5ft 3” not 5ft 4”.

What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private?

‘Spice Up Your Life’. That choreography deserves to be unleashed on all occasions.

Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Adele. Bet she’d be a right laugh.

As an adult, what has a child said to you that had a powerful impact?

That I should have got a TikTok account years ago.

Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I’m actually quite shy.

When did you last cry? Usually happens every Tuesday afternoon.

What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? My electric garlic grinder.

What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? How to play the drums. Girl drummers are so badass.

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 room of doom. It has everything piled in it including the kitchen sink. I play Room Roulette with it every time I open the door; you never know what’s going to come crashing down or topple on top of you.

If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? I know it’s more Indiana Jones, but I’d love to see the pyramids of Giza.

Arielle Free’s remix of Gorgon City’s ‘Tell Me It’s True’ is out now as an Amazon Original.

NEXT TIME

Glasgow goes festival crazy in March with fans of comedy and film being particularly well-catered for. Among those making the city rock with hilarity are Fern Brady, Phil Wang, Susie McCabe, Eshaan Akbar, Mr Swallow and Zoe Lyons. On the film front, acting talent such as Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Nicolas Cage and Jena Malone will be up on Glasgow’s silver screens plus there’s Adura Onashile’s directorial debut and the terrifying return of FrightFest. Other treats in the mag include jazz star Fergus McCreadie, Booker-winning Eleanor Catton, and Filth director Jon S Baird, while Charlie And The Chocolate Factory gets all musical. n Next copy of The List will be out on Wednesday 1 March.

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hot shots

Steven Knight created Peaky Blinders for TV and has written Rambert’s contemporary dance version which stomps its way to Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Subtitled ‘The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby’, this piece grunges up the story to provide yet more visceral thrills.

With an Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer and a Netflix special behind her, Catherine Cohen must be riding a large wave, right? In Come For Me (which storms into Glasgow Glee), the comic/cabaret star might not be coping too well now she’s entered her thirties and faces a life of uncertainty ahead. It’ll be funny, though.

The current era of prestige television has clearly reached a new zenith when Harrison Ford is out there recording episode after episode of a show. On Apple TV+, Shrinking features Jason Segel as a grieving therapist who decides to tell his patients what he really thinks of them. Ford plays his disapproving mentor.