The List 772

MAUNGO PELEKEKAE ON THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

It’s a uniform for all tastes, all aesthetics

If our June magazine had an official colour sponsor, it would most likely be black. And before you write to us in your droves, yes, we know that black is technically a shade and not a colour. Nonetheless, the little black dress comes in for serious inspection this issue ahead of a blockbuster exhibition in Edinburgh as we hear from fashion commentators and practitioners about what that tiny garment meant way back when, now, and into the future.

The darkest of all the sci-fi anthology series out there, Black Mirror, returns with a galaxy of stars propping up yet more innovative tales of dystopian chaos and futuristic trauma. But with a biting wit from time to time. And at 21 years young, Ballet Black still have a spring in their step as they bring us a double bill including a piece inspired by the life and work of Nina Simone.

The little black dress is a core element of our Art Special which also features an interview with Monster Chetwynd about moths while we take a trip to Belfast and visit that troubled city’s peace lines which play a prominent part in a new opera film. And Edinburgh’s New Town is the home for a fresh festival, NT Art Month, with that area’s galleries collaborating in order to get more people coming through their doors.

Other festivals worth shouting loudly about are Spit It Out, the grassroots event in Glasgow, Edinburgh and online which helps give a voice to marginalised communities, and Riverside Festival which enjoys its tenth birthday this year. We speak to women DJs who reflect on changes that still need to be made in their industry to make them feel both safer and included. And Glasgow Jazz Festival is back with Orphy Robinson and Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra leading the way.

Coming under the reviewing microscope are Rufus Wainwright with an album of folky hook-ups; Medusa Deluxe, a new British film about competitive hairdressing; Dear Billy, a theatrical exploration of Scotland’s love for the Big Yin; Scottish Opera’s lively take on Carmen; Scottish debut author K Patrick with the compelling Mrs S; and podcast Believe In Magic about one woman’s scamming of many people including One Direction. Spoiler: we really liked them all.

Brian Donaldson EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLISHING

CEO

Sheri Friers

Editor

Brian Donaldson

Art Director

Seonaid Rafferty

Sub Editors

Paul McLean

Megan Merino Designer Carys Tennant

Writers

Ailsa Sheldon, Becca Inglis, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, Claire Stuart, Craig McLean, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Greg Thomas, Haneen ElAid, James Mottram, Jay Thundercliffe, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Leah Bauer, Lisette May Monroe, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Mark Fisher, Megan Merino, Miranda Heggie, Murray Robertson, Neil Cooper, Rachel Ashenden, Rachel Cronin, Rory Doherty, 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 & Events Manager

Leah Bauer

Events Assistant

Eve Johnston

JAMES

RILEY KEOUGH

PICTURE: LEWIS KNAGGS

HEAVY VAPOURS WILL RISE FOR ARDBEG DAY 2023

Ardbeg Day is a global celebration of the iconic Islay Distillery, held annually on the last Saturday of Islay’s Festival Of Music And Malt, Fèis Ìle. With festivities taking place at the distillery and across the globe on Saturday 3 June, Ardbeg will mark the event by releasing an experimental Limited Edition whisky, Ardbeg Heavy Vapours.

Following the distillery’s Planet Ardbeg comic launch last year, a dramatic new storyline in the series will be revealed alongside this new expression, inspired by its unusual creation. And so this year, whisky lovers are invited to celebrate the theme of ‘Planet’ Ardbeg Day, where they can expect to be transported into Ardbeg’s mythical, graphic novel universe.

For the first time ever at Ardbeg its whisky has been distilled without a purifier; the apparatus on the still responsible for maintaining Ardbeg’s unrivalled balance between extreme peat and floral fruitiness. This creative experiment by Director Of Whisky Creation, Dr Bill Lumsden, has allowed the heaviest and untamed vapours to rise up the still during the distillation process, before being captured, matured and bottled. On the nose, intense and aromatic smoke rises with hints of sweetness. On the palate, surges of bittersweetness disturb ashy coal dust, peppermint and cardamom, before clouds of dark chocolate and eucalyptus roll into disguise Ardbeg’s iconic balance.

The expression’s unusual distillation process and resulting flavour has been brought to life in the accompanying graphic novel created by celebrated comic artist and illustrator, Dilraj Mann. The plot follows Agent 46 (a.k.a Jackie Thomson, Ardbeg Visitor Centre Manager and Committee Chair), a plucky interplanetary detective on a quest to locate the elusive purifier and restore Ardbeg’s signature balance.

Ardbeg’s Director Of Whisky Creation, Dr Bill Lumsden, says: ‘A missing purifier is unprecedented for Ardbeg. This experiment was something I’ve always imagined trying. What would happen to the flavour and character of Ardbeg as we know and love it, by distilling in this unique way? Well, it’s now time for Ardbeg fans to find out. This is a full-blown dram where Ardbeg’s exalted balance has been disrupted in the most fantastic of ways; a truly captivating dram.’

Ardbeg Heavy Vapours will be available to buy worldwide from Ardbeg Embassies, whisky specialists, online retailers, and from the Distillery Visitor Centre.

For more news on Ardbeg Day 2023 and all things Ardbeg, smoky malt whisky fans can join the Ardbeg Committee at ardbeg.com/en-gb/committee

drinkaware.co.uk for the facts

mouthpiece

Theatre critic Mark Fisher argues there’s an intriguing link between stories of badly behaved audiences and recent criticism that musicals are pushing plays out of the West End

What is happening to popular theatre? Ever since February when Edinburgh Playhouse theatre director Colin Marr said he was ‘disgusted and angry’ with the behaviour of unruly audiences, there have been reports of disruption across the country. Marr was writing in the aftermath of a brawl during Jersey Boys in his Greenside Place venue.

Two months later, a disturbance in a Manchester theatre brought The Bodyguard to a premature end.

It has got so bad that BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications And Theatre Union) has launched a campaign to tackle what it calls ‘increasing and extreme anti-social behaviour’ among audiences. Playing on the name of a musical, the campaign is called Anything Doesn’t Go. The union said more than 90% of theatre workers who responded to a survey had ‘personal experience of bullying, violence, intimidation, harassment or abuse at work’.

Certain shows have a reputation for attracting the worst behaviour; rows often kick off between those trying to out-sing the lead actors and those who wish they’d shut up. But no show is immune. A London production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It was interrupted by a man claiming it was ‘discriminating against hearing people’ on account of deaf actor Rose Ayling-Ellis playing a lead role. Add to this the comments by playwright David Hare that

musicals were ‘strangling everything in their path’, and that straight plays no longer had a place in London’s West End, and you would think the end of civilisation was nigh.

You would think this even more if you read all the reactions to Hare’s comments, which he made in a brief diary piece in The Spectator and hardly represent his most considered thoughts. Everyone from Andrew Lloyd Webber to the Daily Mail weighed in, rubbishing Hare’s opinions and championing the art of the musical. The arguments against Hare are easily made: the West End has always had a lot of musicals, you can see plenty of straight plays elsewhere, and many musicals are bold and adventurous (if you’re anywhere near London’s Bridge Theatre, do everything you can to see Guys & Dolls). It is also right to endorse BECTU’s campaign as no worker should be abused.

But both stories have something fascinating in common: the age-old concern about public space. How interesting that, whether on-stage or off, we are still arguing over the ancient business of theatre, still monitoring each other’s behaviour, and still making moral judgements about how we like to be entertained.

 Mark Fisher is a theatre critic, feature writer, editor and freelance journalist; markfisher.theatrescotland.com, @markffisher on Twitter

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, Lucy Ribchester tells us which things . . .

Made me cry: Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire is devastating. Seeing Blanche’s breakdown through movement rather than words makes her story all the more raw.

Made me angry: The BBC podcast The Shamima Begum Story reveals that Begum’s infamously remorseless comments about ISIS were made days after giving birth, while surrounded by journalists and ISIS members. The podcast presents her as a changed woman. What kind of country are we that instead of giving the chance to be tried and reformed in our own justice system, we strip citizenship from a woman who made a catastrophic mistake when she was 15?

Made me laugh: Lynsey May’s debut novel, Weak Teeth. I have always admired Lynsey’s brilliant, incisive eye for observing human nature, and her absolutely wild gallows humour, both of which breathe magic into this sharply written break-up tale.

Made me think: I’ve had a silk-bound volume of 17th-century Japanese author Ihara Saikaku’s erotic short stories on my bookshelf for years but only just got round to reading them. They’re amazing! Saikaku cuts through the years with his sensual descriptions of the body and nature.

Made me think twice: In Drag Race: Canada Vs The World, Victoria Scone confronted Stephanie Prince about using the word ‘fishy’, which in drag culture refers to someone presenting as feminine. I was glad Scone brought it up, but it was also fascinating to see Prince’s response. The moment was beautifully handled, and I think everyone learned something.

PICTURE: LOTTIE FISHER

Summer School 2023

3rd July to 20th August

1 week Art Retreat with Ewan McClure Auchencairn House, 6-12 August

Children - Botanic Gardens, Art History Edinburgh Castle, Animal & Pet Painting

Adults - Landscape, Portrait, En Plein Air, Seascapes, Life drawing & Painting, Lino Printing, Floral Painting

Artists - Fee Dickson Reid, Penelope Anstice Ingrid Nilsson, Grace Payne Kumar, Jonathan Freemantle, Jane Weatherley, Christine Frew, Helen Jackson, Siri France Betsey Kilpatrick

playLIST

Explore the soundtrack to this jazz-heavy issue with songs by Miles Davis, Orphy Robinson, Robert Glasper (covering Radiohead) and Camilla George, as well as new music from Avalon Emerson, The War On Drugs, James, Christine And The Queens and more . . .

Scan and listen as you read:

head head2

MEGAN

There’s nothing like a cheeky public stunt to raise one’s profile when the dust on fame is settling a little too thickly. Take the recently speculated Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner PR relationship, or the random social media video from yesteryear’s Taylor Lautner weighing in on his influence on Taylor Swift’s next rerecording project. Do you smell that, ladies and gents? It’s the heavy scent of desperation.

When first becoming acquainted with The View’s public brawl, I wondered if we had one such PR stunt on our hands. After all, it’s the most those lads have been talked about since their peak in the mid 2000s. But after being assured by trusted sources that this wasn’t the case, we can safely assume it was just a good oldfashioned public display of male aggression. Not quite the mature behaviour we’d expect from a band handing over their songs to a new stage musical about post-natal depression. However, it does explain that peculiar stench in the air: it’s Kyle Falconer’s dirty laundry hanging out on stage for all to see. No wonder he’s had the same jeans on for four days . . .

from the archive

In this brand new segment, we look through The List’s 38-year back catalogue to see what was making headlines this month in decades gone by

In our inaugural entry, we dash back to the star-studded issue 124, released in June 1990. Miles Davis took to Glasgow’s SECC for the fourth Glasgow Jazz Festival, while record producer Elliot Meadow gave a fly-on-the-wall account of Frank Sinatra’s fan interactions ahead of his Ibrox Stadium show. Plus, rising tensions were captured in The Rolling Stones preview as their Steel Wheels tour arrived at Hampden Park. Choosing one cover star out of this trio of icons would have been a tricky decision, no doubt, but Davis’ passing just a year later makes his appearance particularly poignant.

 Head to archive.list.co.uk to read past issues of The List.

Once again, we sit Megan Merino and Kevin Fullerton down in front of a contentious bit of current culture and ask them to write about it straight from the heart. This month, the pair ponder some recent onstage fisticuffs among members of The View (the band, not the Whoopi Goldberg-fronted chat show): very naughty boys or a blast of excitement among soulless gigs?

KEVIN

I could never condone the grotesquery of Kyle Falconer assaulting a fellow band member onstage, but a part of me wanted to witness his Dryburgh southpaw up close. Perhaps I’ve become jaded from decades of gig-going, but there’s something thrilling about an unexpected disruption from the usual ‘let’s bash out a few album tracks then play the song you actually want to hear in the encore’ format. And these little acts of chaos don’t have to be as outright horrible as The View’s Fight Night extravaganza.

Example: last month I attended a gig in Newcastle and became embroiled in a wild set by the samba jazz quartet Dilutey Juice. A conga line formed, a mosh pit erupted, people tore their shirts off in a frenzy and, in an act of pedestrian behaviour which felt subversive given the circumstances, a woman began eating a banana while headbanging in the front row. Potassium and all, these are the gigs that anecdotes are made from, not whatever soulless arena show you just spaffed half your monthly salary on. So, while Falconer’s jaw-breaking swing was indeed an example of male toxicity, it’s at least a more memorable moment than their last four albums.

TO A FLAME

Located on the Isle Of Bute, the neo-gothic Mount Stuart is a grand host for Monster Chetwynd’s latest multi-layered work.

To kick off our Art Special, Lisette May Monroe asks the artist why moths became an unlikely focal point of her new creation

Monster Chetwynd is well known for her practice combining performance, sculpture, painting, installation and video. Her works take iconic moments from cultural history (folk tales, literature, popular culture) as starting points for immersive creations, components which are then filtered through to form energetic new narratives. These pieces are imbued with social and political histories, using techniques of theatre to restage and represent moments.

In her large-scale performances and installations, Chetwynd also invites groups of performers to collaboratively make handmade costumes, props and sets. She describes the work as ‘impatiently made’, using easily accessible materials such as cotton wool and kitchen roll to build large-scale environments. Collaboration is key, with performers emphasising the collective action and spontaneity that informs so much of her output.

Chetwynd is set to launch her new work, Moths, at Mount Stuart on the Isle Of Bute, addressing the global climate emergency through a series of sculptures, works on paper, and a new film made with Glasgow-based artist Margaret Salmon. For the commission, she will also be recycling a previous work, ‘Folding House’ (2011), which will be remade into Moth Hub; this space is to be used in collaboration with volunteers at Bute Museum & Natural History Society, who currently use the grounds for regular moth counts.

‘It is such a rich fruitcake of history and there is such showmanship of the decorative arts, I just thought, “how can I add to this?”’ says Chetwynd of Mount Stuart. ‘I soon realised that I preferred being outside the house; I was very drawn to the ferns, the large gunnera which looks almost alien. When I was walking out there I got caught by a small sign; it was a poster for the moth count, where they collect moths at night and count them. I asked for more information and when Morven Gregor [Mount Stuart curator] sent through pictures of the moths, I was blown away.’

Chetwynd was especially taken by their ‘fluffy faces’ and the varied types such as the pink elephant hawk moth (‘a triangle shape, like a Harrier bomber’), the ermine moth, and the tiger garden moth (‘it has developed anti-radar to interrupt bats and has its own clicking ability’). Chetwynd has previously spoken of her work focusing on the underdog, an idea which fits well with these insects.

‘Moths are so unknown and yet have thousands of species; the butterfly is only a sub-group of moth. It just seemed to chime with that thing of the neglected nocturnal creature, which people don’t bother to learn about. I made replicas of them which are used for the parade [featuring performer guides and local schoolchildren] and will then exist as sculptures within the house for this exhibition.’

One of Chetwynd’s key motivations for this new work was to spread a little magic around, and to bring out something of the magical within this impressive venue. In the house is a bookcase behind which lives a winding staircase that leads to a room at the top. ‘During the filming we used the door like a character,’ she recalls. ‘The moth handlers went through it which felt like a direct way to connect and bring nature and magic into the house. It’s perhaps more about knowing than anticipating magic. It’s more transparent; it’s about making a decision.’

The project is also about creating a group consensus in that idea of the magical or surreal. Everyone involved in the making of Moths acknowledges that what is being created is an illusion, but there is also a joyous escapism and disconnect from the day-today. ‘The thing I find really hard is that sometimes you don’t know what you’re doing at the beginning,’ states Chetwynd. ‘You turn up with the ingredients and a lot of goodwill and energy, but you get so much from that group agreement. I always have faith but it is the people who come and participate that bring so much. It is this not-knowing and conjuring together where the best things happen.’

The artist notes that escaping our own selves and being part of a connected different state helps create a contemplative, playful space which then leads to a desire for learning. None of this happens by chance, of course, and Chetwynd’s hands-on approach to research can have a crucial knock-on effect for the audience. ‘I really get over-excited about research; I have this thing about fan culture. I really enjoy people like Fred Dibnah [the late steeplejack and TV personality], those that have a natural enthusiasm for their subject matter and history. A friend actually put me down as an enthusiast, and I’ve realised that this is exactly what I am. I feel like this is definitely an aspect of the way I plunge around in research with totally over-enthusiastic enthusiasm.’

Monster Chetwynd: Moths, Mount Stuart, Isle Of Bute, Saturday 10 June–Sunday 20 August.

ART SPECIAL MONSTER CHETWYND

Monster Chetwynd

Both fun and funereal, the evolution of a wardrobe staple is celebrated in National Museum Of Scotland’s big summer exhibition. Megan Merino asks a number of leading fashion voices what the little black dress means to them

Fashion trends, much like the seasons they follow, perpetually fade in and out. Few garments manage to weather the storms of incoming colours, cuts and patterns for even a matter of months, never mind years or decades. But one piece that has defiantly succeeded in standing this test of time is the little black dress.

Attributed to Coco Chanel in the early 1900s, the first iterations of this item were designed in WWI’s aftermath, a social backdrop that Justine Picardie (fashion historian and author of Coco Chanel: The Legend And The Life) believes is fundamental to understanding this garment’s creation. ‘If you think of how many people were grieving after the First World War, and then there was the influenza epidemic that killed enormous numbers,’ says Picardie. ‘So black was associated at that point with the colour of mourning, of bereavement. People wore black to funerals and also in the aftermath.’

Chanel herself had suffered a major bereavement: her lover, a British captain called Arthur Capel, who’d been ‘the great love of her life’, explains Picardie. ‘He survived his military service but then died in a car crash at the end of 1919 in the South Of France. Chanel wore black as a symbol of mourning. As she emerged from that terrible grief, which was a really defining episode in her own life, she then starts to use black in a really radical way. Now it’s absolutely integral to the language of the Chanel brand.’

Using the colour black wasn’t the only groundbreaking element of Chanel’s early designs. After a trip to Venice where she had to negotiate getting on and off a gondola, Chanel designed (and wore) trousers, which until this point were reserved for men. ‘When half of the male population die, and females enter the workforce for the first time, they’re not going to work in a full-length Victorian dress, right? It’s not possible,’ adds Lynne Coleman, Scottish fashion writer and author of How Scotland Dressed The World. ‘What Coco Chanel does is absolutely seizes that moment and knows that she can put women in trousers. It was a way of modernising women’s wardrobes. Men didn’t sit with corsets and long skirts for eight hours making bullets or sewing frontline uniforms. So this was a way of pulling clothes into what’s happening in society.’

BACK IN BLACK

Dress to impress: (designers from far left, clockwise) Olivier Theyskens, Judy R Clark, Cimone, Coco Chanel, Christopher Kane

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Maungo

This evolving idea of the ‘modern woman’ remained at the forefront of people’s minds, with suffrage movements building across France and Britain. ‘Chanel has her own company in her name, yet she’s still not allowed to vote,’ Picardie notes. ‘That tells you how far from emancipation women were. But nevertheless, they were making gains. And Chanel’s little black dress became a symbol of women’s freedom and independence in the 1920s. It’s as if she makes a decision that black is going to become symbolic of strength as well as grief.’

1926 is considered a significant moment in the conception of the little black dress, a notion Picardie partially disputes. ‘Chanel had actually designed little black dresses before then,’ she notes. ‘But it became famous when American Vogue published a Chanel sketch in 1926, proclaiming it the “Ford dress”. That reference came at a time when Ford motor cars were becoming very popular right across America. It was a democratisation, I suppose; what Ford represented in cars was being mirrored in this idea that a little black dress could be something everybody could own.’ Compounded by postwar textile rations and financial struggles faced by many in the Great Depression, the little black dress, whether for its elegance, block colour or simplicity, was embraced by all. But reimaginings of its design are most likely responsible for a continual resurgence and ability to transcend eras.

Post WWII, Christian Dior updated the silhouette with a more cinched waist and fuller skirt; the 60s gave way to Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head’s iconic Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s; in the 90s, Princess Diana donned the infamous revenge dress, and Posh Spice came along with her short spaghetti-strapped number; even the viral Fleabag SilkFred jumpsuit (costing a reasonable £50) could be seen as yet another take.

Vogue’s 1926 article claimed ‘the LBD was “a uniform for people of taste”,’ quotes ScottishBotswanian fashion model Maungo Pelekekae. ‘To me, that means the colour being flattering and also just easy to dress, to add on top of it. We can all go to a party: I’m wearing a little black dress; you’re wearing a little black dress. We all look elegant, and you can’t even tell that mine is H&M and yours is Chanel. Some people may even think mine is more expensive, just by the way that I’ve layered, accessorised and styled my hair. It’s a uniform for all tastes, all aesthetics; whether you consider yourself middle, upper or lower class, it doesn’t matter.’

‘It’s that universal uniform of a woman who knows exactly what she’s doing, for whatever occasion,’ adds Coleman. ‘Maybe she’s burying her father; maybe she’s going for the job interview; maybe she’s going on a date. There’s a little black dress that has its name all over that.’

Despite being in the public consciousness for nearly a century, the little black dress still holds immense power for both top fashion houses and everyday shoppers. ‘There’s that famous Chanel quote that says “fashion fades, style is forever”,’ recalls Picardie. ‘The exact French translation is “fashion passes, style is eternal”. I think the little black dress symbolises that.’

Beyond The Little Black Dress, National Museum Of Scotland, Edinburgh, Saturday 1 July–Sunday 29 October.

Designer: Ying Gao

Shipping Roots

Artist Keg de Souza explores the complex relationship between plants, people and place in this beautiful, sensory exhibition. She traces the legacies of plants, such as the prickly pear, transported through the British Empire and impacting global habitats today.

Open Daily 10.30am – 5.15pm

Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The capital’s New Town isn’t just about cobbles, cafés and charity shops. The art is strong in this part of Edinburgh, and the inaugural NT Art Month pays tribute to eleven galleries. Some are very old (the most senior began in 1842), others are quite new (the youngest launched in 2021), but all are flinging open their doors for art lovers (or just the plain curious) to discover paintings, sculpture, ceramics and more. Here we look at some of the art to be found within these walls

&GALLERY

Realignment is the debut solo exhibition of Scottish artist Molly Thomson whose work uses the conventional painting panel as a springboard for action and a vehicle for thought. Frances Priest’s Chevron | Stripe | Asanoha showcases the artist’s process of sampling and collage, giving a new twist to familiar motifs and creating unexpected relationships.

n 3 Dundas Street, Saturday 3–Wednesday 28 June.

THE ATELIER GALLERY

In its support and close collaboration with its artists, The Atelier Gallery presents the inspirational stories behind the lives of each artist and how their passion for art has transformed into a full-time career.

n 5 Howard Street, Thursday 8–Friday 30 June.

BACCO WINE

James Glossop’s photography pop-up, A Means To An End, questions the purpose of image-making and its role in the art world. His work tries to find meaning in the seemingly banal and encourages the viewer to look closer at their surroundings and find beauty in the mysterious subtlety of the everyday.

n 136 Dundas Street, Thursday 8–Friday 30 June.

BIRCH TREE GALLERY

In Through Clouds, Paula Dunn’s atmospheric landscape paintings are echoed in the patterns of Steve Smith’s smoke-fired ceramics. Dunn’s work plays with combinations of colours, textures and expressive marks to create mood, atmosphere and drama.

n 23a Dundas Street, Wednesday 7–Friday 30 June.

THE TALK

OF THE NEW

From top left, clockwise: Frances Priest/&Gallery, Tania Still/Harvey & Woodd, James Glossop/Bacco Wine, Sheila McInnes/Open Eye Gallery, Angela Reilly/Heriot Gallery, Paula Dunn/Birch Tree Gallery

THE FINE ART SOCIETY

History Of The New includes a group of pictures by Glasgow Boys including John Lavery, Joseph Crawhall, James Guthrie and Stuart Park, plus work by Scottish Colourist FCB Cadell and a rare, early wartime piece by Keith Vaughan.

n 6 Dundas Street, Thursday 1 June–Saturday 29 July.

HARVEY & WOODD

A mixed exhibition displays a selection of oil and watercolours predominantly by Scottish artists working from the 19th century to present day. This particular focus on Scottish works has been a major part in the gallery forging its reputation.

n 4 Dundas Street, Thursday 8–Friday 30 June.

HERIOT GALLERY

Angela Reilly is an award-winning Scottish artist specialising in still life and figurative work while Edinburgh artist Ruaridh Crighton’s contemporary paintings include colourful and enigmatic portraits where his sitters capture the audience with mesmerising gazes.

n 20a Dundas Street, Thursday 1–Friday 30 June.

OPEN EYE GALLERY

Sheila McInnes’ new paintings have a common thread of finding beauty in everyday things: dog walking, Scotland’s landscape, and our connection with the natural world. Also on display are oil paintings and works on paper from Ffiona Lewis who is engrossed in the slow rebuilding of detailed ecosystems at her farm in coastal Suffolk.

n 34 Abercromby Place, Friday 2–Saturday 24 June.

POWDERHALL BRONZE EDITIONS

This welcome addition to Edinburgh’s gallery scene will showcase a large variety of bronze sculpture cast in their own fine-art foundry, Powderhall Bronze. If you’re unaware of this alloy’s artistic possibilities, this is your chance to experience it close up.

n 4–5 Summer Place, Thursday 8–Friday 30 June.

THE SCOTTISH GALLERY

William Gillies is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest landscape and still-life painters, with 2023 marking the 50th anniversary of his death. Donnie Munro’s new series of paintings feature the spectacular view from his home on Skye, while Oliver Cook’s work uses everyday objects such as vases and bowls to explore the relationship between light and movement.

n 16 Dundas Street, Thursday 1–Saturday 24 June.

WATSON GALLERY

For their contribution, Watson Gallery will display a selection of artworks from 12 of their most collected artists including David Yarrow, David Escarabajal, Colin Wilson and Paitoon Jumee.

n 39 Queen Street, Thursday 8–Friday 30 June.

From top left, clockwise: Brian Caster/Powderhall Bronze Editions, Jan Van Kessel/The Fine Art Society, Oliver Cook/The Scottish Gallery, David Escarabajel/Watson Gallery, Iain Holman/The Atelier Gallery

City Observatory, Calton Hill collective-edinburgh.art

23 June - 01 October 2023 09 June - 27 August 2023

Rabindranath X Bhose

DANCE IN THE SACRED DOMAIN

I wear my wounds on my tongue (ii)

Summer Exhibitions

Tarek Lakhrissi

DIRECTED BY Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir BY IAIN MCCLURE

History enters the body “ “

A powerful opera film aims to express the trauma of growing up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Prior to History Of The Present being screened at Art Night Dundee, Greg Thomas travelled to Belfast for its premiere on the Good Friday Agreement’s 25th anniversary

The opening scene in History Of The Present shows opera singer Héloïse Werner attempting to recreate the sound of a military helicopter using only her voice. In Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon’s film, which is soundtracked by Annea Lockwood, Werner’s head twitches and her cheeks puff. She seems almost fatigued by the process, as if struggling to relate something beyond the reach of language.

Earlier in the day, I was part of a press tour of north Belfast’s so-called ‘peace lines’, vast, corrugated iron walls that run between, behind and

through streets, dividing up areas of loyalist and republican sentiment. We’re here on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which was supposed to mean that all those walls would be torn down by now. Instead, they’ve got bigger.

Immediately behind where we’re standing, in the district of Ardoyne (where librettist Fusco grew up), one of these structures splits two semidetached houses. Though one house looks abandoned, might families from across the divide have once shared architectural foundations, overlapping brickwork, domestic ambient noises?

Fusco and Salmon’s new work is about growing up with a sense of conflict, of the latent threat of violence infiltrating your most intimate experiences, and the struggle to relate that in memory. It splices shots of Werner’s vocal improvisations with Salmon’s spare street footage and long cityscape sequences, showing the sprawl of Belfast city centre and harbour by day and night.

Lockwood’s extraordinary soundtrack was created by attaching geophones (a device that converts ground movement into voltage) to the peace lines and ‘playing’ them, as the composer puts it; that is, striking them to pick up vibrations imperceptible to the human ear. These noises are accompanied by audio-clips of Fusco as a child learning to speak, some later family recordings of her mother’s voice, and one archived recording of a riot unfolding, its sound an oddly celebratory cacophony of whistles and whoops.

Prior to the screening, Fusco and Salmon explain their decision not to use any archived video footage or photography of The Troubles, a 30-year period of violence sparked off by riots in August 1969 but fuelled by centuries of Catholic grievance at political repression. ‘There’s a visual score of images of that period that’s already circulating,’ Salmon says. To break through a set of pre-determined responses in audiences, it was necessary to forego the familiar, emotive clips of raids and assassinations, and the platitudes of documentary-style storytelling, which would not have broken any new ground in the audience’s emotional reckoning.

What is left, though, when the visual cliches and po-faced narration are stripped away? The answer is something more abstract, something harder to unpick. Throughout the film, there’s a sense of repressed trauma struggling to find a meaningful outlet. The sounds Lockwood wrings from the walls, almost impossibly low and resonant, suggest something deep in the city’s body, straining to escape. They form a neat bridge with Werner’s

oral renderings of warfare; the vocalist also responds to the noise of a Saracen armoured car and, more audaciously, an interview in 1994 between journalist Jon Snow and republican leader Gerry Adams during an era of BBC restrictions when Adams’ words had to be voiced by an actor. In all cases, as with the walls’ vibrations, the coded effect is of something like displaced speech or articulation.

Then again, this film is not only about being unable to speak but also about being prevented from speaking. ‘A central question is about who has the right to speak and, crucially, in what way,’ Fusco says. ‘Are we allowed to speak with our own voices or are other people’s voices overlaid onto ours? Obviously that’s important in a colonised country, and that concern is inflected with an interest in working-class women’s voices.’ The artist’s libretto, made up of three spaced-out sections of recorded speech, comes closer than any other aspect of the work to expressing the rage and grief at this suppression of voice (and at the wider injustices of colonial rule) which is elsewhere only gestured at.

Having debuted in Belfast, History Of The Present will tour to Art Night Dundee, Edinburgh Art Festival and London’s Royal Opera House. After the screening, a couple of women stick up their hands and introduce themselves as Ardoyne residents. One of them doesn’t like the film and feels let down by the lack of reparative facts. The other says that although she didn’t ‘get it’, she ‘felt it in here’, gesturing to her chest. Perhaps she understood the film better than anyone. As Fusco puts it prior to the screening, ‘history enters the body; we experience it there first.’

History Of The Present, Dundee Rep, Saturday 24 June, part of Art Night; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Friday 11 August, part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

There’s a lot of art kicking about as summer moves up a gear. Here are 11 ongoing or upcoming exhibitions which should have you flocking to the nation’s galleries

PETER HOWSON

Now 65, what better time to have a retrospective of Howson’s art. When The Apple Ripens features around 100 works from across his lengthy career, many of which have yet to be seen in Scotland.

n City Art Centre, Edinburgh, until Sunday 1 October.

HELEN DE MAIN & MANDY MCINTOSH

Fabric, paper and sculptural works from these Glasgow-based artists make up Repeat Patterns, which discusses how inequity ripples through the generations.

n Gallery Of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sunday 15 October.

TARTAN

One of the world’s best-known textiles is given its moment in the sun as this instantly recognisable symbol of Scotland displays its versatility from high fashion to biscuit tins and most things in between.

n V&A Dundee, until Sunday 14 January.

GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART DEGREE SHOW

A new generation of artists show off their wares with this physical exhibition running alongside a digital showcase.

n GSA Garnethill Campus, Glasgow, Friday 2–Sunday 11 June.

TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 2022

The cream of contemporary photography’s crop gathers up in this exhibition which drew on over 4000 entries from 62 countries. Amateurs rub shoulders with professionals across a wide range of subjects.

n Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Saturday 17 June–Sunday 10 September

JALA WAHID

Exploring the relationship between Kurdistan and Britain, Wahid’s debut Scottish exhibition, Conflagration, touches on identity, nationhood and legacies through the lens of oil.

n Tramway, Glasgow, Friday 23 June–Sunday 10 September.

GRAYSON PERRY

Another modern heavyweight gets the retrospective treatment as a 40-year career is marked in the appropriately titled Smash Hits. He’s come a long way from attending pottery classes to becoming a renowned artist who tackles politics, religion and gender.

n Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Saturday 22 July–Sunday 12 November.

CHRISTIAN NOELLE CHARLES

Racial identity, inequality and care are explored and examined in What A Feeling!/Act 1 from this Glasgow-based US artist whose work straddles video, printmaking and performance.

n Edinburgh Printmakers, Friday 28 July–Sunday 17 September.

MARKÉTA LUSKAČOVÁ

This Prague-born but now UK-based photographer has succeeded in stepping out from the long shadow of her male peers to offer something different, with her exhibition focusing on children as the subject.

n Stills, Edinburgh, Saturday 12 August–Saturday 7 October.

BILLIE ZANGEWA

Malawi artist Zangewa has her inaugural showcase in Scotland, creating delicate figurative collages from fragments of raw silk, aiming to challenge entrenched stereotypes which have been used to objectify Black women.

n Tramway, Glasgow, Saturday 30 September–Sunday 4 February

BEYOND REALISM: DADA AND SURREALISM

Tap into your unconscious with this blockbuster display featuring Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington, Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró and René Magritte.

n Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art, Edinburgh, daily.

ART OF GOLD

From top: Tartan, Christian Noelle Charles, Glasgow School Of Art Degree Show, Grayson Perry, Peter Howson

PICTURE: JONATHAN BIRCH

PICTURE: ANTONIO PARENTE

Primal Scream present Screamadelica

Franz

Franz Ferdinand

Primal Scream present Screamadelica

Future Islands | Confidence Man | Jockstrap

Franz Ferdinand

Kruder & Dorfmeister | David Holmes

Future Islands | Confidence Man | Jockstrap

Kruder & Dorfmeister | David Holmes

House Gospel Choir

Fred again..

House Gospel Choir

Fred again..

Young Fathers | Róisín Murphy

Fred again..

MUNA | Friendly Fires | Olivia Dean

Young Fathers | Róisín Murphy

Kelly Lee Owens | Biig Piig | Optimo (Espacio)

MUNA | Friendly Fires | Olivia Dean

Éclair Fifi | Rachel Chinouriri | TAAHLIAH | Leith Ross

Kelly Lee Owens | Biig Piig | Optimo (Espacio)

Éclair Fifi | Rachel Chinouriri |

| Leith Ross

boygenius | Loyle Carner

Raye | Public Service Broadcasting

Arab Strap | Lightning Seeds

Raye | Public Service Broadcasting

Beth Orton | Daniel Avery

Arab Strap | Lightning Seeds

Beth Orton | Daniel Avery

Wunderhorse | Katie Gregson-MacLeod

Wunderhorse | Katie Gregson-MacLeod

Whose line is it

British jazz icon Orphy Robinson is teaming up with Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra at this month’s Glasgow Jazz Festival, and declares to Stewart Smith that nothing is off limits for their show

Orphy Robinson’s journey from the slickly tailored 1980s British jazz boom to the wilder shores of free improvisation has been a fascinating one. That journey has taken in collaborations with Nigel Kennedy and Robert Wyatt, reimaginings of Nick Drake and Van Morrison, and a celebration of the great Jamaican songbook. This month, he brings his vibraphone and electronics to The Old Hairdresser’s for a first-time collaboration with Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. ‘I think of myself as genre fluid,’ he relates with an infectious enthusiasm. ‘I was one of those nosy kids into music full stop; it didn’t really matter what it was.’ Growing up in London’s Stoke Newington, Robinson was exposed to reggae, jazz, funk and rock. He even took an interest in Scottish bagpipe music, playing snare drum in a youth band.

A virtuoso on vibraphone and marimba, Robinson received his jazz initiation through mentors Ray Carless and Claude Deppa. Carless, a great saxophonist who sadly passed away last year, encouraged Robinson to attend workshops by John Stevens, the pioneering free improviser and community music specialist. ‘Ray had said “you need to try different stuff out, you can’t just be dreaming of being in Earth, Wind & Fire!” And so he sent me off to this workshop in Dalston.’

While he made his breakthrough in the mid-80s as a member of Jazz Warriors, (the all-Black group that launched the careers of Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson, Cleveland Watkiss and Gary Crosby, among others), Robinson found himself increasingly drawn to avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. ‘I remember touring with Courtney Pine and being on the same bill as Sun Ra Arkestra and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. And that completely blew my mind. We look like estate agents in our suits, and there’s the Sun Ra Arkestra, who are not dressed like that in any way! Coming back off that tour, I’d turn up at a lot of improv gigs, just checking things out. And then I got more and more involved.’

Robinson’s contemporary jazz albums for Blue Note in the early 90s drew on his love of reggae, funk and groove. But in 1997, he was approached to play in the American cornetist and composer

Butch Morris’ London Skyscraper project. Morris was the originator of conduction, a type of free improvisation where the composer directs and conducts an ensemble through a system of hand and baton gestures. That project steeped Robinson in different ways of organising sound and introduced him to several leading improvisers, including Pat Thomas, his partner in the collaborative platform Black Top. The tour with Morris led to the formation of London Improvisers Orchestra. ‘I always enjoyed it,’ he adds, ‘even getting in a conduction once in a while.’

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra shares LIO’s interest in conduction, but also works with graphic scores and other stimuli. GIO’s Raymond MacDonald outlines the plan for their gig with Robinson. ‘Drawing on Orphy’s extensive experience of collaborating and improvising in a dazzling array of situations, this performance will include a new piece exploring the possibilities of large ensemble improvising and composition.’ The emphasis, he continues, will be on ‘co-creation’ with a new piece emerging from a workshop led by Robinson on the morning of the gig. ‘This is a unique opportunity to hear Orphy, one of the UK’s leading jazz voices, in a small intimate environment with a large ensemble dedicated to exploring all the avenues available for improvisation.’

Robinson is happy to go with whatever GIO throws at him. ‘I’m absolutely up for anything,’ he grins. Free improvisation is often seen as abstract, even austere music, but the beauty of it is that nothing is off limits. Robinson lights up when I tell him about the curveballs

GIO’s guests have thrown over the years: drummer Ken Hyder locking into funk groove, vocalist Maggie Nicols quoting a jazz ballad. ‘It’s all music. It’s all sound. It’s all frequencies. It’s when the musical conversation feels right to go in a particular direction,’ says Robinson. ‘But the great thing that I always found with 360-degree improvisers was that they could go in any direction. When I came into free improv it made me more of a complete musician.’

GIO plus Orphy Robinson, The Old Hairdresser’s, Glasgow, Saturday 17 June.

PICTURE: BRIAN HARTLEY

Jazzed up

5 more to see

Ever wanted to hear your favourite band’s music performed live, but in a completely different genre with a completely different sound? No?

Tough, it’s what you’re getting. To mark Radiohead Reimagined at this year’s Glasgow Jazz Festival, Kevin Fullerton has come up with a few acts he’d love to see given the sax treatment

CANNIBAL CORPSE: THE BUBLÉ VARIATIONS

The king of swing is at it again: for one night only, Michael Bublé will lend his instantly recognisable croon to the songs of thrash-metal pioneers Cannibal Corpse. Hear ‘I Cum Blood’ and ‘Hammer Smashed Face’ as they were originally intended, with the winsome smile of Canada’s favourite philanderer and a full symphony orchestra. Expect original members of Cannibal Corpse to appear onstage during the grand finale to attack Michael with a claw hammer (for legal reasons, let’s imagine the hammers are made of foam). Finally, you and your gran can sing ‘Stabbing compulsion overwhelms my mind/ Terrorised screaming follows the thrust of my knife’ in perfect unison.

ARAB SCAT

‘It was the biggest cock you’d ever seen, skee-bap-bee-doo-wap, but you’ve no idea where that cock has been, skrat-a-tat-tat-tat.’ If ever there was a band that could benefit from an accompanying scat singer, it’s the filth-drenched world of Arab Strap. Just imagine lines like ‘this cunted circus never ends’ or ‘let’s squeeze the maggots from our flesh like tiny poison pustules’ given a quick ‘beep-bap-dee-doo’ flourish. Delightful. If Aidan Moffat ever directly writes about scatology, it’s a marriage made in heaven.

FOUR TET X FRED AGAIN.. X SKRILLEX X THE TEMPORARILY CORPOREAL GHOST OF MILES DAVIS

The superstar DJ trio will enjoy a residency at Berghain in which they crack open a Ouija board and contact the dead over a four-four beat, summoning the spirit of jazz pioneer Miles Davis to the bafflement of dance and electronica fans everywhere. If you’ve ever wanted to see an overly long sax freak-out battling against anxiety-inducing EDM, then take a step into the astral plane with Four Tet and his enthusiastic apprentices. It’s the Ghostbusters spin-off you never knew you needed in your life.

‘MY HEART WILL GO ON’: CORTO.ALTO’S NEVER-ENDING IMPROV

One of the main problems with Celine Dion’s mega-hit ‘My Heart Will Go On’ is that it didn’t go on nearly long enough for some people. To signify the true nature of everlasting love, jazz wunderkinds corto.alto will take to a darkened cupboard in Òran Mór to play an endurance jazz version of the song for all time. When they inevitably perish, their musical voyage will be reinterpreted by an AI until the eventual heat death of the universe. Their hearts may stop, but the music will last forever. The only question is, how long are you willing to watch them for?

OASIS BUT IT’S JAZZ

Look, you get the premise by now. Liam Gallagher and his massive-eyebrowed brother but with an incongruous relation to jazz. Visualise that (perhaps one of the Gallagher brothers headbutts a bassoonist or something) and have a chuckle to yourself. Job done.

Radiohead Reimagined: Like A Cat Tied To A Stick, Òran Mór, Glasgow, Thursday 15 June.

MARCO MEZQUIDA TRIO

‘Playing the piano and connecting with the piano is a necessity for me,’ says Barcelona-based Marco Mezquida. He combines inside-piano experiments with a mastery of the keyboard, infusing his modern jazz with flamenco, tango and bolero flavours.

n St Luke’s, Glasgow, Thursday 15 June.

XHOSA COLE

One of the UK’s most exciting talents, saxophonist, flautist, composer and improviser Xhosa Cole seems open to everything, from reimaginings of Thelonious Monk, to free improvisation with Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas’ Black Top. On his latest album, Ibeji, Cole explores the Yoruba orisha concept of duality via a series of improvised duets with percussionists of African descent.

n Drygate, Glasgow, Thursday 15 June

CAMILLA GEORGE

Saxophonist Camilla George blends contemporary jazz with Afrofuturism and hip hop. Her forthcoming third album, Ibio-Ibio, is a tribute to the Ibibio people of south-eastern coastal Nigeria, featuring the cream of the London jazz scene and Birmingham-based rapper Lady Sanity.

n St Luke’s, Glasgow, Friday 16 June

SUNNA GUNNLAUGS & FERGUS MCCREADIE

An evening of solo piano from acclaimed Icelandic pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs and SAY Award winner Fergus McCreadie. Gunnlaugs describes her style as NordicAmericana, with its lyrical evocations of places both imagined and real.

n Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, Glasgow, Friday 16 June.

STEVE TURRE

A master trombonist, Steve Turre’s career spans hard bop, salsa, blues and pop. He’s also a pioneer of seashells as a jazz instrument, having learned them from the legendary multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

n St Luke’s, Glasgow, Sunday 18 June.

Xhosa Cole

raise your voice

The name may have changed but their core issues remain. As Spit It Out Festival returns, Haneen AlEid hears from its founders about giving a platform to those who are marginalised in society

apper Bee Asha and filmmaker Léa Luiz de Oliveira entered the world of non-profits after collaborating on a BBC Scotland documentary which explored Asha’s journey of sexual trauma and recovery through honest, and sometimes controversial art. The collaborative process raised questions. ‘How can we make a change as artists?’ says Asha, ‘What issues or topics affect the people within our community? What do they want to explore and how can we support them in exploring that?’ The answer was to create the Spit It Out initiative, hosting a huge range of events, from exhibitions and live

Out of that partnership came last year’s Aye Festival. It returns for its sophomore effort under a new moniker, Spit It Out Festival, but it’s still embracing issues of consent, mental-health education, community and transformative justice. ‘In 2021, when we started preparing the first festival, Bee was like, “this is bullshit; all of the other festivals promote inclusivity and diversity, but this is not true”,’ recalls co-founder de Oliveira. ‘When you look around, most people are white and most people are men. It was just really annoying. We started creating something that would promote marginalised voices in a way that was actually fun, and not just being like, “this is what we’re

This year, the festival’s diverse range of live performances includes Hak Baker at King Tut’s in Glasgow and JGrrey at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, with a line-up of workshops including embroidery and boxing, and conversations delving into men’s mental health and allyship. The festival will also welcome three exclusive exhibitions: a video, photography and sound exhibition from Regina Mosch titled Over/Exposed

explores the experience of micro-aggressions against queer people; photography series Snake Lotus by Nikki Kilburn colourfully reflects themes of ancestry and social constructs; and Sophia Bharmal’s show Coming Home will look at her British-Indian background and identity as a Muslim woman. ‘Sophia created this entire collection around her heritage and her relationship with religion and her culture,’ says de Oliveira. ‘There’s a lot about her mum as well; the way she sacrificed so much but achieved so

Spit It Out aims to welcome everyone, trying to make sure the experience is not only entertaining and memorable, but also a safe and all-embracing space. This has led to much consideration and tailoring when it comes to event planning. For example, this year, free alcohol will not be promoted; instead, there will be dry poetry events and exhibition openings to ensure more inclusivity.

The project has its roots in providing open spaces to develop conversations around sometimes challenging subjects such as sex education, racism, LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health and body image. There are many ways to build community, and Spit It Out values the fundamental need to feel heard. ‘People would tell me, “Spit It Out? Isn’t that aggressive?”’, notes Asha. ‘And I would reply, “we’re not saying it in a way that is malicious or angry, or telling people to do something against their will”. It’s very much like allowing yourself to be honest. Allow yourself

The festival is a great reminder that art, music and conversation are powerful forces that have been used for centuries to deconstruct harmful narratives and develop communities with open minds and hearts. ‘I think our main community is people who have experienced trauma, wherever they come from, whatever their story is,’ says de Oliveira. ‘I like to think that we give a chance for people to grow, and to try new things and find some sense of belonging. People can come and go, but we’re always

Spit It Out Festival, various venues, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and online, Thursday 15–Sunday 25 June.

Talking up: (from previous pages) Sophia Bharmal, JGrrey; (this page) the Spit It Out team, Nikki Kilburn

eat drink shop

BOWHOUSE

Part of Balcaskie Estate in Fife, Bowhouse provides a link between the East Neuk’s local growers and consumers. Monthly market weekends see the warehouse-sized space turned into a fresh produce market. It’s a hub for small businesses selling locally grown fruit and veg, locally reared meat, and an abundance of artisan jams, pickles and flours. This month, Bowhouse is also hosting organic food festival Spots On My Apples. Presented by on-site brewery Futtle, the day will feature workshops, talks, outdoor cooking sessions and tastings with plenty of food and drink too. Time to embrace those wonky vegetables and spotty fruits. (Suzy Pope)

n Market Weekend, Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 June (and second weekend of every month, except January & February); Spots On My Apples, Saturday 17 June; both at Bowhouse, St Monans.

On the UP

Glasgow’s Barras Market is having something of a revival, and the places to eat around the East End institution are following suit, says David

Kirkwood

The Barras never went away: that was the message from venue manager Ashleigh Elliot when we spoke to her for our February issue about how the famous Glasgow market is being rejuvenated, successfully combining a new generation of vendors with the old guard that made the place so loved.

In more good news, the food options in and around the Barras are now starting to get more exciting too. Since last February, Colin Jenkinson has run Monster Munchies, a hole-inthe-wall from which he impressively slings out swathes of Taiwanese-style bao and pancakes every weekend. ‘It’s been a whirlwind,’ he says. ‘It’s such a tiny unit that I thought “will I have enough to make this work financially?” but I was blown away within two weekends.’ It’s a tight window of opportunity, with stalls coming to life from 10am-ish onwards and winding down about 4pm. In between, it’s game on: ‘for fun, we worked it out, and we reckon we’ve served 14,000 customers since I started!’

‘Peak queue’ was the end of March when The Barras hosted its first Hong Kong market, and huge numbers headed to the East End to check it out. ‘Our queue was right up through the market and round the corner,’ says Jenkinson. ‘I know that Chris from Fishball Revolution, just outside, was the same.’ Some might have been frustrated at the wait (or even left disappointingly empty-handed and hungry), but, as Ashleigh Elliot told us, ‘things like this just really get us in front of new people.’ Job done.

The beneficiaries that weekend were the cafés and bars nearby, which all reported an unexpected surge. Chris Mears is the owner-chef at Scran, a café with a quirky and stylish take on brunch, where scampi rolls and homemade shawarma sit alongside eggs benedict and the like. It began life in Dennistoun, but last year he decided to move to London Road on the perimeter of the market.

‘When we took the unit on, it was in terrible shape, but we thought it was worth the risk to invest pretty much every last penny of the business into doing it up as I felt that it’s all about to kick off down this neck of the woods. We open at 10am Saturdays and Sundays and, by 10.01am, the café is usually full and that’s us until 3.30pm when the kitchen closes,’ he laughs. ‘But you can put your name down and go for a wander round the market.’ Monster Munchies say the same thing: folk are perfectly happy to womble as they wait. And folk have options. Smokey Trotters, next door to Scran, is a cult favourite for all things loaded, pimped and meaty (think patty melts and chicken katsu loaded fries), while achingly cool artisan bakery and café Outlier, just down the road, is another on the weekend bucket list. The newest arrival is in the market itself, with Pizza Cult joining the ranks this month and hanging their hat on glorious options like pizza with their own Italian sausage, caramelised shallots and spicy honey.

The big flavours, the guilty toppings, fast and furious street food and that intense focus on those weekend hours; for all that it’s evolving, the urgency and swagger of The Barras is utterly intact. And long may that continue.

The Barras Market, 244 Gallowgate, Glasgow, barrasmarket.com; instagram.com/barras_market

THE GLASSHOUSE, THE SNUG

Conveniently located in Edinburgh City Centre, The Glasshouse Hotel is classified as one of Edinburgh's best kept secrets!

Winner of the 2020 Scottish Hotel Awards, Best Regional Whisky Bar, The Snug offers a unique setting to relax and unwind with an exclusive selection of over 160 Whiskies.

With a large range of alternative premium drinks, cocktails and whisky flights to choose from, guests can take advantage of our exclusive Rooftop Garden. Boasting stunning views of Calton Hill, the Roof garden is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh City and enjoy a cocktail!

Festival of Flavours

Celebrating fabulous seasonal food at the Botanics on selected weekends from 9 June to 20 August. Enjoy tasty tempting treats and refreshing drinks from food trucks and cafes whilst enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the Garden. For dates visit www.rbge.org.uk

Jay Thundercliffe reports on the latest news and openings with cocktails, curry and charity ventures in the spotlight

Now the sun’s finally out (a bit), diners can crank up the Mediterranean vibes with a couple of new openers. Edinburgh recently welcomed Kuzina on Howe Street, dishing out classy Greek dishes, while Glasgow’s Finnieston is expecting Usta, a shish specialist and sister venue to nearby Turkish grillers Meze Meze.

Other openings include The Merchant Steakhouse, bringing some bovine treats to Glasgow’s Ingram Street, and a new flagship store for charitable enterprise Social Bite on Sauchiehall Street. Also big on donating is reborn Beat 6 in Bearsden, Nico Simeone’s restaurant raising funds for Beatson Cancer Charity.

Edinburgh’s Rose Street is home to new Italian Assaggini, specialising in small plates and plenty of cocktails. Speaking of which, The Cocktail Geeks have opened a themed Cantina bar (yes, as in Star Wars) close to Waverley Station, and Bruntsfield is awaiting the imminent arrival of Patron Saint, a bar-diner from the team behind The Cocktail Mafia and The Raging Bull, with a focus on Bloody Marys and brunchy dishes.

The 15th annual Scottish Curry Awards recently paid tribute to the country’s spice scene, with Edinburgh and Glasgow bringing in a haul of gongs. In the capital, honours went to Chennai’s Marina (outstanding takeaway) and Kahani (best in Edinburgh); out west, winners included Bearsden’s Raja Rani (kitchen of the year), and Glasgow’s Swadish (oustanding restaurant) and Madras Café (best in Glasgow).

side dishes

street food

BROSS BAGELS

The original Bross Bagels was a tiny hole-in-the-wall café: it’s been replaced in Portobello by this bright and airy hangout, with stacks of Canadian flour part of the décor. Order a classic Montreal bagel (cream cheese, lox, pickles, capers), or go bold with the ‘Schnizza’ (chicken schnitzel and Doritos). Hole-based puns optional.

GREEK ARTISAN PASTRIES

Move over sausage rolls; the pastries from Greek Artisan Pastries are the real deal. Take a generous wedge of spinach and feta bougatsa or chicken pie to the beach, and pick up a box of the best baklava in town. Inside there’s a simple seating area to enjoy your pastries with a coffee.

PASSEY’S

With pineapple wallpaper, kitsch artwork and plush leather furniture, Passey’s coffee shop and bistro is a relaxed and welcoming space for all, with LGBTQ+ inclusivity at the core of the business. There’s a hearty pub food menu (burgers are a speciality) and the popular steak nights are a lot of fun.

SMITH & GERTRUDE

Adding to its Stockbridge original, this gorgeous neighbourhood wine bar has a relaxed vibe, with expert staff and interesting wine choices. While you can simply pop in for a glass, the real fun lies in the wine flights with artisanal cheese pairing. These change monthly and are a brilliant way to expand your palate.

TANIFIKI

Benjamin Murenzi started roasting Rafiki Coffee from his native Rwanda, and then opened Tanifiki café with South African business partner, Jonathan Quinton. Aiming to create a genuine African coffee experience, they’ve gone for warm earthy interiors, comfortable leather seating, and no formal counter dividing staff and customers; and, of course, incredible coffee.

We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Ailsa Sheldon heads to the seaside where she checks out bagels, bougatsa and more on Portobello High Street

Assaggini

RESTAURANT BANCA DI ROMA

Restaurant openings in Glasgow rarely get the razzamatazz employed by this Italian newcomer, from its extended trailing to flashy opening bash. That it’s in a glitzy former banking hall in the city’s blingiest square is fitting for an operation that promises affordable luxury.

Beneath the impressively decorative domed ceiling, the luxe trappings are present: crisp white tablecloths, embroidered napkins, staff slicking around in aprons or smart suits. Helming in the open kitchen are the Cozzolino brothers (Antonio, Pasquale and Simone), looking to bring some family flavours from their upbringing on a tomato farm near Naples. The trio also have plenty of hands-on kitchen experience from London’s Sartoria, run by Francesco Mazzei.

Chunky leather-bound drinks menus include a hefty wine list breaking down Italy into regions, and a cocktail selection leaning towards Spritzes and Negronis, arguably Italy’s two greatest concoctions. The Smoked Negroni is a real winner, arriving theatrically under a smoke-filled cloche.

Starters are mainly either deep-fried or of the raw variety, with tartares joining enjoyable calamari fritti and cauliflower cheese croquettes. Pizza here is padellino style, cooked in small round pans, so it’s thicker, airier and crisper than the Neapolitan version we (and presumably the brothers) are more familiar with.

From the fish and meat offerings cooked up in a Pira oven (an enclosed charcoal grill), whole baby chicken with salsa verde comes quartered, falling off the bone with its crisp, salty, smoky skin stealing the show. More theatrics end the meal, with the mousse-filled gold bullion bar arriving in a wee treasure chest.

(Jay Thundercliffe)

n 31 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow, bancadiroma.co.uk

RESTAURANT TIPO

Tipo is somewhat hidden, up a flight of stairs on Hanover Street. But step inside and you’re met by a honey-hued lightwood interior, with big sash windows letting the sunlight stream in. Make the most of this elevated spot by bagging a window table; a great opportunity to people-watch over a glass or two of light and crisp soave. It’s the latest venture from Stuart Ralston, chef-patron of Aizle and Noto, and combines the smart-casual feel of a small plates place with quality Italian cooking.

Alongside those small dishes, there’s pasta made in-house plus main-sized meals, so you can follow the trend of tapas-style eating or buck it for a filling bowl of strozzapreti. Duck liver parfait is as smooth as silk and zeppole (puffed dough balls), with a snowdrift rather than a dusting of castelmagno cheese, embraces the rusticana of southern Italy: it’s a delicious wine snack. Salumi plates show off a fine selection of hand-cured meats and the chefs at Tipo plan to work with the supplier to come up with their own cured meat creations in future.

For something more substantial, pappardelle with crab is creamy, cut with a welcome chilli kick and a lingering sweetness, while strozzapreti with sausage ragù is a delightful detour from British-Italian cream and/or tomato sauces, with its green, basil base. If you’re looking for an Italian with chequered tablecloths and candles in bottles, this is not the place: it’s a sleek spot where independent winemakers are celebrated and each dish is carefully crafted. (Suzy Pope)

n 110 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, tipoedinburgh.co.uk

Drinking games

In our brand-new regular drinks column, Kevin Fullerton’s hitting the road face-first and setting himself challenges in bars across the central belt. This month’s challenge . . . what will the bartender recommend?

For almost a year-and-a-half, The List’s maniacal editor has kept me locked in his spare room, forcing me to drink alcoholic beverages and provide him with print-worthy review copy [Ed: you’ll be hearing from a firm of lawyers on this matter presently]. Then two days ago, he unchained me and, white foam streaming from his rabies-addled mouth, screamed, ‘Begone! Write bar musings instead!’ Still woozy from the tracker chip he fitted underneath the skin of my left buttock, I find myself reviewing three booze-drenched pits of sin in Edinburgh. What better way to refresh my social skills than to ask bartenders in three bars what drink they’d recommend from their menu?

I first tramped into Rose Street’s hip hangout Fierce Beer, mumbled ‘what would you recommend?’ and was presented with a refreshingly fruity IPA featuring minimal acidity. Having liquid poured into my mouth with a makeshift funnel for over a year has lowered my standards, but even I could see this was a bar with an unpretentious atmosphere. If I’m allowed to leave my editor’s spare room again, I’ll return to this relaxed and vibrant spot [Ed: nothing here is helping your case].

A few minutes from Fierce is Never Really Here, a speakeasy-style bar in which customers are granted entry (the bar’s Instagram bio reads, ‘doors always locked so please knock’). In lieu of a set menu, the bartender asked me to describe the cocktail I desired. Specific ingredients, emotions, fears, existential panics, you name it. I replied, ‘what would you recommend?’, feeling the premise of my article slip away from me, and was presented with a subtly flavoured cocktail with overtones of watermelon vodka. The quiet ambience here is perfect for a man who’s been handcuffed to a radiator [Ed: enough!!], a haven from the stag and hen dos of Rose Street’s main thoroughfare.

Finally, The Cocktail Geeks on East Market Street is a bar that concocts drinks and atmosphere around pop-culture touchstones. This time, it’s the Cantina from Star Wars, so a taste profile via an online quiz recommended a coconutty drink to me based on my answers to Star Wars-related questions, throwing my ‘what would you recommend?’ question under an AT-AT. I didn’t like it but, given that I’ve just spent the past 350 words pretending to have a tracker chip implanted in me, I’m probably not the target audience. Lovers of Funko Pop! will no doubt enjoy getting a selfie next to Han Solo’s carbonite corpse.

BAR FILES

Creative folks reveal their favourite watering hole ARTIST AND GAMEMAKER BENJAMIN HALL

I do love Bonjour in Glasgow. As a space co-operatively and non-hierarchically owned by its workers, it’s the exact type of model I believe we need more of absolutely everywhere: driven by supporting and celebrating the local queer community and never by profit. Film screenings! Poetry readings! Community kitchens! Sexy club nights! Karaoke! My favourite £5 cocktail in there is the Alien Abduction because it’s green and has a cherry in it. I cannot currently tie a knot in its stem with my tongue, but I’m getting closer every time. Save Bonjour forever!

n Cryptic Nights: Lampfire, CCA, Glasgow, Thursday 8 June.

Researched and compiled by The List’s food and drink team, our tipLISTs suggest the places worth knowing about around Edinburgh and Glasgow in different themes, categories and locations. This month, we’re tuning our antennae to some favourite delicatessens and fine-food shops, chosen both for the quality on offer and their location near likely picnic spots in parks and public gardens

Delis and places to pick up a picnic

tipLIST

Grab a bite near . . .

Glasgow’s Riverside Museum

EDINBURGH GLASGOW

EAST COAST CURED

3 Restalrig Road, eastcoastcured.com

A tiny deli punching well above its weight, producing incredible charcuterie using only highwelfare Scottish meat. Pick up their highly rated porcini and truffle salami, plus Kvasa bread, Mossgiel milk, local eggs and tasty olives.

HERBIE OF EDINBURGH

66 Raeburn Place, fb.com/herbieofedinburgh

Celebrating its 30th birthday, this Stockbridge institution has a real dedication to flavour and provenance: they air-dry their own hams, age their Brie de Meaux to squidgy perfection, and produce the best chicken liver pâté.

IJ MELLIS CHEESEMONGER

30 Victoria Street / 6 Bakers Place / 330 Morningside Road, mellischeese.net

From Anster to Wee Comrie, artisan Scottish cheese is a specialty in this cave-like shop near the Royal Mile. Here, as well as at branches in Stockbridge and Morningside, well-informed staff are happy to introduce unfamiliar cheeses, and you can stock up on fresh bread, wine and more.

VALVONA & CROLLA

19 Elm Row, valvonacrolla.co.uk

This emporium of Italian delights never fails to charm. The shelves are stacked high with olive oils, wine and pasta and almost everything arrives direct from Italy, including huge knobbly Amalfi lemons, baby globe artichokes, cime di rapa, oozing gorgonzola and the sweetest tomatoes.

VICTOR HUGO

26–29 Melville Terrace / 104 George Street / 38 The Shore, victorhugodeli.com

Founded in 1955 and in its Meadows location since 1969, this place has retained its charm. Gleaming cabinets display sandwiches, cakes and pastries, with coffee roasted in house. Sit in the sun and order the house special: pastrami on rye with sweet gherkins and Emmental cheese. Also on George Street and The Shore.

CELINOS

620 Alexandra Parade / 235 Dumbarton Road, celinos.com

The original Celinos has been dishing out treats since 1982, and was joined in 2017 by a Partick partner. Now run by the founder’s son, both delirestaurants pride themselves on a range of topnotch Italian produce, from charcuterie, cheeses and wine to pastries, cakes and ice-cream.

EUSEBI DELI

152 Park Road, eusebideli.com

While this corner spot opposite Kelvingrove Park has expanded to sit-down restaurant, there is still a range of deli items, from pizza and prepared meals to dolci, pastries and breads from their bakery in the original Shettleston deli.

LOCAVORE

349 Victoria Road / 449 Dumbarton Road, locavore.scot

A Southside institution with local, sustainable food at its heart, whether grown in their nurseries for veg boxes or cooked up and created for their delishop-café in Govanhill. From local dairy, prepared salads and savouries to breads and cakes, there’s always a focus on the community.

ROOTS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS

455 Great Western Road / 1137 Argyle Street, rootsfruitsandflowers.com

For a healthy hit, few places top this Glasgow favourite. The deli-café at Kelvinbridge offers a few seats among loaded shelves and counters full of tasty treats and healthy goodness, with lots of vegan, GF and organic products.

SANTA LUCIA DELI

181 Byres Road, santaluciadeli.com

This sister to the Merchant City restaurant brings Italian deli treats and produce to the West End. There are cured meats, cheeses, desserts and coffee to go, plus a variety of homemade breads and a few seats for sit in. Their antipasto boxes make a handy picnic pick-up.

EL JEFE’S 1166–1170 Argyle Street, eljefes.co.uk

Alongside complimentary tortilla chips and salsa, the crowd-pleasing continues here with loaded soft tacos including Baja fish or slow-cooked lamb with mint. The crowd is young and the vibe fun.

MURPHY’S PAKORA BAR

1293 Argyle Street, murphyspakorabar.co.uk

A triumphant return for this 90s legend, relaunched last year. Tapas-portion curries and crowd-pleasers like Indian fish and chips or keema burger sliders join 15 types of pakora on the menu.

RAMEN DAYO

1126 Argyle Street, ramendayo.com

One of Glasgow’s most popular Japanese spots, with picture-perfect bowls of ramen. Flavours are clean and well-defined. Choose from classic pork to ‘new wave chicken’ along with sesame or soy versions.

SANO

1146 Argyle Street, sano.pizza/ finneston

Finnieston gets a Neapolitan pizza fix, from simple marinaras to meatfest the ‘Vesuvius’ (Calabrian salami and nduja and fresh chilli). Their rucola (parma ham and rocket) is particularly well-rendered.

SILLA

1138 Argyle Street, sillakoreanrestaurant.co.uk

Feeding Glasgow kimchi pancakes and Korean fried chicken well before they became on-trend, Silla remains a firm favourite in this area. Walk-ins only.

Valvona & Crolla Locavore

PLAID YOUR CARDS RIGHT

Glasgow-based Siobhan Mackenzie is injecting new life into traditional tartan. Claire Stuart talks to the designer about her goal of creating a worldleading Scottish brand and pursuing a commitment to sustainability

Siobhan Mackenzie was 21 when she set up her eponymous label in 2014. Just nine years later, Mackenzie’s career already reads as a series of remarkable highlights. Known for a signature contemporary take on tartan and kilt-making, Mackenzie has designed pieces for Justin Bieber and Team Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games; been recognised by the International Design Awards for her work in fashion and sustainability; is one of only two Scottish designers stocked in the illustrious Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York; and, as of April, has designs displayed at the V&A Dundee’s Tartan exhibition. ‘It was certainly a pinch-me moment to realise my work was going to be featured amongst greats such as Chanel, Gucci, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. As a designer based in Scotland, I’m pleased to represent the homegrown element of designers on display.’

Scotland’s rich history of craftsmanship has been key in the creation of Mackenzie’s brand. ‘My mantra as a student, and still now, is that if Scottish textiles are good enough for the biggest brands in the world, why aren’t we creating world-leading brands?’ When creating her own boundary-pushing label, Mackenzie first wanted to make sure she understood and preserved the heritage of kilt-making. ‘Before modernising or experimenting with something so historic, I wanted to learn the traditional craft first. I approached John Culbert from Glenisla Kilts, who gave me an internship. This experience was crucial in executing my product well and I believe truly helped me to form my brand’s footprint.’

Mackenzie’s brand ethos is also largely inspired by her own tightknit family, from her debut collection Clan Mackenzie (which pays homage to her roots) to her sustainability commitments. ‘My dad was an environment officer for over 30 years so my upbringing heavily focused around being sustainable.’ Mackenzie carefully considers the environmental impact of materials she uses as well as how much waste can be prevented in the production process. ‘Working with local Scottish textiles was a given; they use natural fibres and the level of craftsmanship means the quality is superb. Manufacturing in Scotland means I can create one-offs by only ordering the quantity I need. It keeps wastage of fabric and labour to an absolute minimum. My ready-to-wear collections now focus around repurposing leftover materials, and everything else is custom designed.’

In a recent custom commission, Mackenzie was approached to dress Nadia El-Nakla, First Minister Humza Yousaf’s wife, for King Charles’ coronation. As a Prince’s Trust business alumni, Mackenzie was honoured to showcase Scottish design on the world stage, collaborating with fellow Scot and milliner William Chambers for the final piece. ‘I put together a design marrying elegance with a flair for style. When considering a headpiece, I knew that William’s work would perfectly bring the outfit to life; I was delighted he agreed.’

siobhanmackenzie.com, @siobhan__mackenzie on Instagram.

what’s in the bag?

ARMADALE BY WILKIE COLLINS

This is my dog-eared copy of my favourite Wilkie Collins book. I love Wilkie Collins and am working my way through all of his books! I’ve always been an avid reader so I like to have a book in my bag that I can pull out and seize any opportunity to read.

PAPER DIARY

I am old skool! I managed to wipe my electronic diary one year just before I was about to do my taxes, which was not fun, so I decided paper and pen would be best. This diary comes everywhere with me. I really don’t know what I would do if I lost it.

LIP BALM

As a saxophone player, I want to make sure that my lips don’t get dry and chafed, so I always make sure I have good old Dr PawPaw in my bag. It’s an absolute staple.

shop talk

JORUM STUDIO

GLASSES

I recently discovered that my eyesight is much worse than I had previously thought and I am supposed to be wearing my glasses most of the time. I still don’t but having them in my bag increases the chances of me remembering to wear them. My band always makes fun of me for the fact that (in their opinion) I’m a terrible driver partly because I can’t see. This is, of course, nonsense. I am an excellent driver!

BOSE NOISECANCELLING EARBUDS

These have been a godsend for touring when I haven’t had enough space in my bag to carry my big noise-cancelling headphones. I always seem to have A LOT of stuff in my hand luggage! These earbuds are tiny and the quality of sound is amazing so I can lose myself in my music.

Camilla George plays St Luke’s, Glasgow, Friday 16 June, as part of Glasgow Jazz Festival.

Claire Stuart is back with three more local retail recommendations spanning menswear, fragrance and homeware

Independent fragrance brand Jorum Studio creates unisex scents inspired by the natural world, from Scottish forests and lavender fields to Mediterranean olive groves. Scottish perfumer Euan McCall heads up the brand, where scents are as much stories as they are fragrances.

Jorum’s current Odyessy Collection explores Scottish folklore through olfactory means in a run of perfumes that are playful and creative.

 12 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh, jorumstudio.com

ORZEL

Independent menswear store Orzel first launched during the pandemic, and this month their bricksand-mortar store celebrates its first birthday.

Located in the Thornwood area of Glasgow, Orzel focuses on stocking a collection of carefully selected brands and an ethos to buy better. Find the likes of Corridor, OrSlow, Kestin, YMC, Lady White Co, and Camber, or spend some time discovering new favourites.

 678 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, orzel.store

LIFESTORY

From Scandi pieces to locally made treasures, Lifestory prioritises personality-led design for the shopper seeking beautiful things for their home.

Owner Susan Doherty curates every piece, ranging from ceramics in an assortment of candylike glazes to elegant rippled glassware, plus vibrant and colourful throws.

 53 London Street, Edinburgh, lifestoryshop.com

ASTEROID CITY

Some consider the visual similarities of Wes Anderson’s films a flaw. Maybe it’s better to call him singular, preferably with a thick French accent and a pretentious gesture. His latest, Asteroid City, packs in the same pastel colours and mannered composition of pre-New Wave French cinema, but is his first film set on American soil since 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom. It combines familiar territory (a dysfunctional family, a stacked cast of regulars, youthful innocence triumphing over adult cynicism) with new ground (the American frontier, a flirtation with sci-fi, Tom Hanks?!). Like Jordan Peele with last year's Nope, Anderson looks to be aping Spielberg, blurring the line between spectacle and character drama deep in the west. (Rory Doherty)

n In cinemas from Friday 23 June.

going out

Plantainchipps

“ “

Riverside Festival is celebrating a decade of bringing the best electronic music to Glasgow. Becca Inglis talks to women DJs about how things have changed in that time and their continuing fight to level the playing field in a male-dominated scene

Since its inception at The Arches, Pressure has been synonymous with Glasgow dance music. In 2013, this brainchild of Slam DJs Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle plus Soma Records director Dave Clarke added another string to their bow, joining forces with Electric Frog to create Riverside. This electronic music festival on the banks of the Clyde is now a cornerstone in Glasgow’s club culture and celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

Looking at Riverside’s inaugural poster, a wider story unfolds about dance music’s changing landscape: of 15 artists listed, Nina Kraviz was the only woman. Fast forward a decade, and the 2023 line-up includes the likes of Avalon Emerson, Sherelle, Taahliah, Eclair Fifi and Paula Temple, signalling a dissolving of the boys’ club.

‘The representation of women in electronic music is a lot better than it was,’ says Feena, a Miss World resident playing her first Riverside. ‘When I was first going out in 2011, I went to a lot of dubstep and deep house nights. I remember feeling I had to justify my being in that space.’

According to music networking organisation female:pressure, the proportion of women performing at electronic music festivals rose from 9.2% to 26.9% between 2012 and 2021. Non-binary representation increased from 0.4% to 1.3%. It’s a modest jump, but an encouraging one. ‘It’s not acceptable any more to have 80% male line-ups, or your token female name as a onehour opening slot,’ says Feena. ‘But there’s still a lot more to do in terms of women running nights and creating those spaces for themselves.’

Women and non-binary-led nights (Club Sylkie and FUSE are two prime examples) are multiplying in Scotland, prioritising inclusive bookings and zerotolerance policies towards harassment. Feena hopes these club nights will inspire more non-male promoters. ‘Then women are in control of this space,’ she says. ‘Men can be as feminist as they want, and they can be amazing allies, but you can’t have men running the show forever.’

EHFM, the community radio station where Feena is co-director, leads by example. Two of three paid staff members are women, and the team carefully monitors their residents’ diversity; a fresh approach compared with statistics released last year which revealed that 1% of dance music getting radio play is made by women and non-binary producers. ‘I think it’s about the amount of women producing,’ says Feena. ‘I felt very intimidated trying to start producing music, and I imagine a lot of other women feel the same. There’s a lot of internalised impostor syndrome.’ She credits groups like Saffron Records, who get women producing thanks to dedicated workshops.

It was a Grassroots Glasgow workshop run by Sarra Wild that gave Plantainchipps her first entry into DJing. Wild later booked her for OH141 and Jupiter Artland’s 2021 Resident Rising programme. Nowadays, Plantainchipps finds herself embedded in a tight-knit music community, with a Clyde Built Radio residency and regular back-tobacks with VAJ.Power and Junglehussi. She says that camaraderie has played a ‘huge role’ in her career. ‘The community I’m part of in Glasgow has not only shaped what I play, but also how I feel when playing. Knowing they’re watching is so uplifting.’

It’s also been crucial for encouraging Black women to jump behind the decks, which Plantainchipps is seeing more of. ‘Sometimes you need to see somebody do it, then you think, actually, I can give it a go,’ she says. ‘Also the space to have Black women that don’t necessarily play R&B or whatever is expected; if they want to play techno, they can.’ 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement highlighted discrimination in dance music, with journalist Marcus Barnes estimating that 18% of festival acts in 2019 were Black. He pointed out that while artists such as Sherelle, Carista and Honey Dijon have increased Black women’s visibility, promoters frequently recycle the same familiar names. ‘There came a point where I felt like I was hitting the glass ceiling, because I was only getting booked in Glasgow,’ says Plantainchipps. ‘It’s a matter of promoters not going with the safest option. Take a risk, even if it’s just one person.’

This year will be Plantainchipps’ second time at Riverside: it was her first festival booking in 2021. ‘It never occurred to me that I would fit the bill for that kind of festival,’ she says. ‘There were so many people I knew on the line-up as well. It was the whole community showing up to Riverside and cheering each other on. It was a big achievement for a lot of us.’

Riverside Festival, Glasgow, Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 June.

Feena

As Grammy Award-winning band The War On Drugs hit Glasgow’s Hydro, Kevin Fullerton spoke to frontman Adam Granduciel about finding inspiration, making the jump to arenas and archiving his own creative process

You’re about to embark on a worldwide arena tour. Do you ever feel rusty after time off? I do, but sometimes those can be the best gigs. I remember last summer we played this outdoor festival in Canada, and we hadn’t played for a month. Going into the gig I was like, ‘are we going to remember everything?’ But that opens up some inspired moments because you’re playing to catch up with the song in this really cool way. Last year we played 120 shows. You’re not going through the motions in every one but you’re not thinking that much about what comes next or what pedal to hit. But sometimes the best way to have a great gig is to remind yourself that performing is a special thing.

Can arena crowds appreciate the quieter moments of a gig, or does every performance have to be maximalist to work in such a huge venue? It helps to go to a couple of arena shows and understand what the vibe is. When we played Madison Square Garden last year it wasn’t as crowded as you want it to be, probably 10 or 11,000 people; granted there was a crazy blizzard outside and it was the beginning of a new covid wave. And yet it felt really intimate. You can tailor the room to whatever you want it to be. It’s amazing because you initially feel like

you’d have to go out there, shred it and blow it up. But sometimes it’s just nice to have a quieter moment. People appreciate a dynamic show, for their ears and just their general enjoyment of the flow. Once you realise that, then it’s easy to be like, ‘let’s just go play our music, play our show, play our flow the way we want, and turn this arena into a theatre or into a club.’ If you’re open to the moment and your shared experience, that’s where the best connections can be made.

Your lyrics contain murky existentialist questions, to which the soaring music itself feels like a rebuttal. Are you consciously striking a balance between melancholy and joy when you’re writing? Sometimes the songs I’m most proud of start with a symbiotic relationship between a small lyrical idea and a musical idea. It’s rare that I have a book of poetry or a bunch of lyrics that I don’t have music to yet. And it’s rare that I have music without any sort of melodic structure. I feel those moments happen. You’re futzing around in the studio, you hit three chords, you start singing in this way and magic happens. There’s a very simple lyrical idea and it tends to work perfectly with whatever music is coming out, and you’re like, ‘oh wow, there’s something here that’s making the hair stand up on my arms’.

If you’re open to the moment, that’s where the best connections can be made

Given the length of your career, it’s amazing that there hasn’t been a B-side or rarities collection yet. Is there a vault of unused material searching for a home? It’s funny you ask because I’m trying to write another record but I don’t have the motivation. So I’ve just been going through all my archives, transferring all my old tapes. I’d like to start releasing a lot of stuff that would excite fans of our band, a document of us learning how to record and learning how to try to write songs and arriving at how certain songs may have started. There isn’t a crazy trove of songs but there’s a lot of stuff people would like to hear; trial and error experimentation. But it’s rare that I finish a song and don’t put it on the record. I’m kicking ideas around trying to find something unlike the last few records I’ve made. I’d like to try something else in terms of how this band can interpret music on the stage. So I’m just trying to work as much as I can and try to be aware of what’s making me excited when I hit on something.

Can you write on tour? Last year in Paris I wrote a song on an off-day with an acoustic guitar in my hotel room, and it’s the song I have going right now that I’m most excited about. Sometimes you hit a chord and you have a melody, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on tour or if you’re stressed and exhausted, it just works. That’s what you always look for, like tuning your guitar a different way; anything to be inspired. So, I can write on tour as long as my mind is open.

The War On Drugs, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Tuesday 20 June.

ARTS

GAELIC CULTURE

An Lòchran’s Gaelic Conversation Circle runs in their Partickbased centre every Tuesday night (6.30–8pm until 4 July and every Thursday morning 11am–1pm); drop in for a coffee, cake and a catch-up. In Edinburgh, meet Gaelic-speaking friends old and new and listen to Gaelic poetry from Martin MacIntyre at Bothan Dhùn Èideann (9 June, 7.30pm) in Kilderkin, with music from Fraser Fifield. From 6pm, attendees can join in a creative writing workshop with MacIntyre.

Open Book are running creative writing sessions at Breadalbane Community Library, Aberfeldy (1 June, 5.30pm), and on the same date at Inverurie Library (6.30pm), Gaelic writers are welcome to attend. The Highland Book Prize winner will be announced on 6 June, with the award aiming to recognise the region’s literary talent, and the rich and diverse work inspired by its culture, heritage and landscape. Among those shortlisted is Lewis-born Duncan Gilles with his volume of short stories Crann Fìge (‘Fig Tree’). On 24 June at the Larick Centre in Tayport, Gaelic poetry will feature alongside readings from Beth McDonough and Andy Jackson.

For children, Aberdeen’s Cleas agus Cànan runs through June, with fun, free online sessions for P1–4 children, delivered by Cumbernauld’s Katie MacDonald (Tuesdays, 6.20pm). In Edinburgh, Club Leughaidh, a Gaelic reading session for children aged up to 5 restarts on 10 June (11.30am–noon) at Edinburgh Central Library. And on 23 June, Rachel Walker and Aaron Jones bring their critically acclaimed album Despite The Wind And Rain to St Mary’s Space in Appin. (Marcas Mac an Tuairneir)

Aaron Jones and Rachel Walker

PICTURE: ARCHIE MACFARLANE

PICTURES: JIMMY FONTAINE

The Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland has long been a key incubator for contemporary musicians. But a particularly bright spotlight is shining over a number of RCS jazz alumni who have built a vibrant and highly collaborative community within Glasgow’s music scene. Liam Shortall, trombonist, guitarist, producer and bandleader of corto.alto, is one of these cross-pollinating figures.

Since graduating in 2017, he’s co-founded funk ensemble Tom McGuire & The Brassholes, played in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and experimental trio AKU!, alongside corporate gigs and producing for other artists. On stage you’ll see him joined by fellow RCS graduate and pianist of the moment, Fergus McCreadie, and STRATA drummer Graham Costello, among a rotating group of equally impeccable musicians.

‘It wasn’t really supposed to be a band,’ Shortall admits. ‘Corto.alto started as a Facebook page I made to put out some videos. We did this thing called Live From 435. The concept was to release a new single every three weeks. The first few came out and then I ended up doing a third, a fourth and a fifth until I had done a year of releasing a new single every third Friday.’ The singles featured artists such as kitti and Soweto Kinch and were each accompanied by a self-produced video. ‘When I was doing the videos, I was like, “wouldn’t it be cool if we had ten screens and we timed everyone playing?” Then when it came to figuring it out, it was such a pain. You had to press play on five different keyboards then get someone behind the camera to also hit play at the same time. And then you have to play the thing right because you’ve only got one take. But that’s the fun in a lot of creativity; knowing it’s possible to figure out.’

As Liam Shortall summons his gang of Glasgow’s top jazzers for summer festival season, Megan Merino hears from the corto.alto bandleader, producer and multiinstrumentalist about creative hunger and embracing the live experience

What started as a fluid space to produce and release music has since solidified as a more intentional solo project. Shortall’s love for producing in the studio, calling upon friends to send in parts for him to chop and layer, gives corto.alto a weightier sound, akin to that of Snarky Puppy or Hiatus Kaiyote.

‘When I listen back to the series now, genre-wise it’s really all over the place. The EP Not For Now is closer to what I feel like is my “sound” right now. It very much defines what my music is to me: very produced, with hip hop and drum & bass grooves, and just the right proportion of jazz influence.’

Despite corto.alto’s strong studio origins, Shortall is embracing live shows with a number of festival appearances this year, from Edinburgh’s Hidden Door to Glastonbury. ‘When I make music, I don’t think about playing it live. Even if I’ve made the most unplayable thing, I’m still going to make it a song. I think there’s nothing wrong with playing something live completely different to how it is on the album.’

In favour of letting his musicians shine, he adds, ‘we never do setlists or rehearsals. I have Fergus McCreadie playing in my band! I’m not going to write a certain piano part for him because that just restrains him. I like to empower them to do whatever they want. Sometimes that falls on its arse,’ he laughs, ‘but that’s the risk you take. I’d rather that than have people feeling scared to express themselves.’

Corto.alto play The Complex, Edinburgh, Thursday 1 June, as part of Hidden Door.

It wasn’t really supposed to be a band “

COMEDY MY COMEDY HERO Sooz Kempner on the Marx Brothers

I was lucky enough to grow up in a household with lots of comedy on VHS and cassette. I would watch standup from Victoria Wood and Eddie Murphy and Steve Coogan over and over again when I was way too young to understand why it was funny; I just knew it was funny. We had a cassette of Derek And Clive that I definitely was listening to far too young and, again, why it was funny (hopefully) went over my head. I was on the floor laughing anyway.

But my earliest comedy heroes, the first people who directly influenced the nonsense I come out with now, were the Marx Brothers. At seven, it was Harpo’s physical comedy that grabbed me, but 30-plus years later I know that I was influenced bit by bit by their evisceration of upper-class values, their complete and hilarious lack of respect for the establishment.

Duck Soup, in particular, at 90 years young this year, is the greatest anti-war satire ever made. Its casual skewering of politics, politicians and how we are just pawns in a game still feels as sharp and funny as it must have done nearly a century ago. There’s both horror and comfort in realising, via the Marx Brothers, that nothing truly changes.

 The Stand, Edinburgh, Thursday 1 June; The Stand, Glasgow, Saturday 3 June; Sooz Kempner: Y2K Woman, Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh, Wednesday 2–Sunday 27 August.

comedy• •ydemoc

ART DOMINIQUE CAMERON

Fife-based artist Dominique Cameron’s new exhibition, Up With The Larks, is billed as a celebration of ‘Scotland’s quiet places’. It takes the viewer on a cross-country tour of coastlines, waterways and hinterlands, from Peterhead Harbour in the east to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse in the west. In between, Cameron offers up scenes of fishing ports, market towns and desolate train stations, bringing varying degrees of abstract verve to her canvases.

‘Peterhead Harbour’ is a scratchy crayon sketch on Yupo paper, an atmospheric, bucolic scene that brings to mind some of Sylvia Wishart’s more gesturally expressive Orkney drawings. A similar tone is rendered in pictures of Sanna, a hamlet on the far-west tip of Ardnamurchan, and, in charcoal, the imposing Lairig Gartain pass in Glencoe.

But it’s in the larger, colourful abstract canvases that we find the real riches. ‘Orkney’ is a delectable square of intersecting colour planes, scrubbed greens, blues and ochres. ‘Corrour Station’, depicting the famously isolated train stop in the central Highlands where a scene from Trainspotting was filmed, is a sea of bright orange with childlike yet precise little details picked out. There is an interesting push and pull between figuration and abstraction in these works which shows an artist on an imaginative as well as geographical journey. (Greg Thomas)

 Fidra Fine Art, Gullane, until Sunday 18 June.

PICTURE: STEVE ULLATHORNE

SISTER SLEDGE

DARA O BRIAIN

PEAT & DIESEL

SPLASH TEST DUMMIES

PATRICK GRANT

TRAVIS

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200+ music, comedy, literature, wellbeing and exploration events across 10 days in North Berwick.

Riding high

Riley Keough and Gina Gammelll’s War Pony scooped best first feature at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but getting it made wasn’t plain sailing. They speak to James Mottram about people failing to understand their vision and the optics of two white filmmakers creating a story about indigenous Americans

When actress Riley Keough and her friend Gina Gammell set out to codirect their first feature, War Pony, they met a lot of resistance from film-industry folk. Set on the poverty-stricken Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, this masculine-oriented drama seemed to baffle some. ‘There were a lot of people who didn't really get it, or who had very strange feedback, or very strange opinions about things that didn’t resonate with us,’ says Keough. ‘A lot of people would read and kind of go, “I don’t understand what this is, this world”, which was really frustrating.’

The granddaughter of rock’n’roll icon Elvis Presley, Keough has a strong track record in indies (films like The House That Jack Built and Under The Silver Lake). So it’s no surprise she and Gammell approached Pine Ridge with sensitivity and a desire to authentically shoot the story they wanted to tell. It began when Keough met indigenous writers, Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, who hail from Pine Ridge, on the set of Andrea Arnold’s 2016 tale of youthful abandon American Honey. Befriending them, and spending time on the reservation, she and Gammell began to forge War Pony

‘It was everyone’s first time doing this together,’ says Australian-born Gammell. ‘There was a playful energy always from the very beginning of how we’d collaborate and work together.’ What emerged was a story of survival, looking at two young Oglala Lakota males, whose paths occasionally cross. Wildcard 12-year-old Matho (LaDainian Crazy Thunder)

steals drugs from his addict-father, selling them on for profit. Meanwhile, at 23, Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) is already a father of two kids via different mothers; his latest scheme involves breeding dogs for cash.

The film, which last year won the Camera d’Or at Cannes (the prize awarded for best first feature), has been recognised as a genuine portrayal of indigenous lives. But were they ever concerned that, as two white women in the film industry, this was a story they should tell? After years of work with Reddy and Bob, there was no turning back, says Keough. ‘We don’t want to just say “oops, you know what guys? Sorry, we’re not gonna do it because Gina and I are afraid of getting in trouble” or whatever. So, at the end of the day, we just chose to move forward; we’re not indigenous, and that won’t sit well with some people.’

Indeed, it’s hard to find fault with a film so in tune with its characters. ‘It started with the writing,’ admits Gammell. Regularly, they would record dialogue with Bob and Reddy, who would fine-tune it to the way Matho, Bill and the others would speak. ‘Frank, is very, very astute about making sure the dialogue was very, very, very dialled in,’ says Gammell. The organic nature of the project also helped, adds Keough. ‘This wasn’t a story of two filmmakers going into a community . . . [and saying] “where’s the story here?” This is a story of four friends who were in their early twenties, just wanting to hang out.’ Intriguingly, it offers a very different slant on Pine Ridge than the more elegiac, poetic take seen in Chloé Zhao’s 2017 film The Rider, the film she made before winning an Oscar for Nomadland. ‘Look, it’s an area of the world where there is a lot of devastation. Historically, it is one of the most devastating American stories there is,’ says Keough. ‘Our intention isn’t to tell a dark, sad story. Our intention is to tell an honest, true story about their lives.’ No wonder they made friends for life on the reservation. ‘This is oncein-a-lifetime,’ says Gammell, ‘this family that we have created on this film.’

War Pony is in cinemas from Friday 9 June.

FILM LA SYNDICALISTE

In 2004, Irish-born union official Maureen Kearney hit the headlines. She was violently attacked in her own home after revealing a secret contract between the Chinese state and the French nuclear energy company she worked for. Now this gripping whistleblower tale is a feature, La Syndicaliste, starring French cinema legend Isabelle Huppert. ‘Everybody seems to have forgotten about the story,’ she shrugs. ‘I didn’t know it. I knew it when I read the book and the script.’

The film re-teams her with Jean-Paul Salomé, the director with whom she made 2020’s Mama Weed, although the subject matter will immediately draw comparisons to Elle, Paul Verhoeven’s 2016 rape-revenge movie that saw Huppert nominated for her first ever Oscar. ‘I didn’t connect it as I was doing it. But then, I thought, “oh, yeah, there are some kind of connections”. You can compare, a little bit, the reactions to what happened to her: very cool, a little bit cold.’

What ‘happened’ is that Kearney’s account of her home invasion attack becomes increasingly discredited, highlighting the way women can often be dismissed or, worse, turned upon when it comes to reporting abuse. Huppert, though, brushes off the idea that her participation was vital to get the film off the ground. ‘Certainly people will speak about this story because I did the film, but maybe someone else would have done it if I didn’t do it,’ she sniffs. ‘Everybody is subject to be replaced.’

Still, it’s nigh-on impossible to replace an actress like Huppert, with over 140 movie credits and two best actress wins at the Cannes Film Festival to her name. After all this time, on screen and stage, what draws her to a role? ‘Different things every time but let’s say the director and, more concretely, the dialogue,’ she answers. ‘I remember many times, that I was immediately attracted to a film through the dialogue. And it’s really difficult to write good dialogue.’ (James Mottram)

 In cinemas from Friday 30 June.

THEATRE STAGEHD FESTIVAL

With Edinburgh Castle as a spectacular backdrop, the StagEHd Festival returns with a two-day celebration of emerging artists and homegrown talent. Held in Princes Street Gardens’ Ross Bandstand, the performing arts festival was started in 2020 by a group of theatre enthusiasts and practitioners, following a critique of the commercialisation of arts and closure of public spaces during covid.

The 2023 programme, supported by The National Lottery Awards For All Scotland fund, begins on a high note, with students of Momentum Performing Arts bringing us Musical Mania, a series of familiar musicals, old and new. On the opening day, organisers hope to engage audiences with everything from one-act comedy The Book Club Of Little Witterington to spooky tales in The Wheel Of Misfortune, plus a familyfriendly clown and physical-comedy workshop.

The second day of festivities offers a feminist pastiche on Shakespeare in The Not-So-Rude Mechanicals as well as emerging playwright Kate Macsween’s drama Letters From Holloway. The theatrics come to a close in the evening with laughs as well as a slightly more serious note on the absurdity of human nature in an adaptation of Molière’s comedy, The Bourgeois Gentleman. (Haneen AlEid)

 Ross Bandstand, Edinburgh, Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 June.

Old haunts

Edinburgh is not only staging the world premiere of Iain McClure’s psychological thriller ChildMinder, the city also has a strong presence in his play. This real-life child psychiatrist talks to Neil Cooper about the vulnerability of young boys and his own beliefs about the spirit world

Ghosts are everywhere in Iain McClure’s ChildMinder. Directed by Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir, the production has Cal MacAninch playing Joseph, a fiftysomething child psychiatrist returning home from New York to Edinburgh. Here, Joseph’s luxury flat turns out to be the site of a former hospital room where he once assessed a 13-year-old boy in what became a life-changing moment for both of them. With the boy’s spirit remaining, Joseph becomes haunted on every level.

Given that McClure is himself a consultant child psychiatrist who once worked in Edinburgh’s former Royal Infirmary, where the residential Quartermile development now stands, all this sounds pretty close to home.

‘I think one of the big themes of my career has been an awareness of the vulnerability of young boys and young men in society, and what gets branded now as this idea of toxic masculinity,’ McClure says. ‘I don’t really like the phrase, but I can understand how it’s come about.’

What goes wrong for boys is something McClure is very interested in.

‘I’ve been in situations assessing children that are very stressful, because you don’t want to get it wrong,’ he says. ‘Out of that, I’ve written a play where big events from the past come back to haunt the psychiatrist.’ While ChildMinder reflects how psychiatrists can be spooked by their patients on a metaphorical level, McClure’s own beliefs take this idea to something more literal. ‘I do believe in ghosts,’ he admits. ‘I’ve had experiences where

I’ve encountered a ghost or something. Not many, but I have. Some people think it’s nonsense, but I don’t. And I think hospitals are places which have a high potential to be haunted, particularly older hospitals, because there is such intensity taking place on a daily basis there.’

McClure’s involvement in theatre dates back to his student days at Cambridge University. His first professionally produced work, BBC Radio 4 production Paint Your Well, starred David Tennant. More radio and stage plays followed, with ChildMinder dating back to 2015 when it reached the top 20 of the Bruntwood Prize For Playwriting. A new piece, The Garden Of Love, is currently being developed with former Tron Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director, Michael Boyd. In the meantime, ChildMinder remains something of a labour of love.

‘I wanted to write a play about a child,’ McClure says. ‘I wanted to write a play about a child psychiatrist. I wanted to write a play about ghosts. People will say, “oh, this is a play about child psychiatry because you’re a child psychiatrist”, but fundamentally, it’s actually a story about a boy searching for his lost mother.’

ChildMinder, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thursday 8–Saturday 10 June; Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Wednesday 14 & Thursday 15 June; Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 June.

eht a tre• the a •ert

Simmonds looks Medusa Deluxe straight in the eye and declares it a blast

film of

The scalping of a stylist is our starting point for a flamboyant, devious and wickedly funny interrogation of the world of competitive hairdressing, which marks a dazzling debut from British director Thomas Hardiman. With exploding cars and drug dealing rubbing up against bitchiness, grievous bodily harm and backstabbing, Medusa Deluxe is often riotously entertaining as Hardiman delves deep into what turns out to be a very dangerous business indeed.

We find ourselves backstage at a regional hairdressing competition, in or around London, in the aftermath of the murder of Mosca (a briefly glimpsed John Alan Roberts), a serially unfaithful character who was in a relationship with Luke Pasqualino’s Angel. Police are holding everyone in place while they investigate, with the shifting focus allowing us to size up the suspects. Among them are Mosca’s fiercest rival Cleve (Clare Perkins), who had recently ‘wonked’ him with a glass conditioner bottle; his ex and the event’s organiser Rene (a spectacularly bequiffed Darrell D’Silva); Harriet Webb’s shady, suspected competition cheat Kendra; and security guard Gac (Heider Ali), who’s weird and wild-eyed yet oddly vulnerable.

The film couldn’t be further from an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit, offering an invigorating, deliciously earthy twist on the traditional murder mystery. Refusing to play by the established rules, Medusa Deluxe swaps the stiff upper lips of the country pile-dwelling upper classes for loose lips and estuary accents. It riffs heavily on the confessional nature of the hairdressing profession, a world in which secrets are easily extracted and gossip is king. In interviews, Hardiman (who impressed with the shorts Radical Hardcore and Pitch

In a subversive and fresh take on the murder-mystery genre, toffs and stately homes are ditched for a cut-throat modern-day competitive hairdressing scene. Emma

the month

Black Panacea) comes across as puppyish and enthusiastic. His love for hairdressing seems very real as he talks of inheriting this interest from his hair-fixated Irish mum, of immersing himself in the London hairdressing scene, and of wanting to give it its ‘time in the spotlight’. He has a fundamental understanding of hair as an obsession and communicates it with intensity.

For all Medusa Deluxe’s humour and irreverence, it draws plentiful attention to its characters’ incredible professional skills. No less than Eugene Souleiman (one of the biggest names in the biz, who worked with John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood) is responsible for the epic, eye-popping coiffures. That juxtaposition of avant-garde artistry with the working-class nature of this business recalls the work of Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, In Fabric), who also likes to bring his eccentric offerings crashing down to earth, in similarly amusing fashion.

Characters undermine their own mystery and menace, and with the script offering up lines like, ‘I’m a freelance security guard; I’m not selling body parts’, it’s often a laugh a minute. The gloriously soapy feel to some shenanigans is emphasised by the casting of EastEnders alumnus Perkins as the film’s MVP Cleve, a volatile personality who wouldn’t be out of place swapping slaps on ‘the Square’ and who delivers a priceless opening rant. That it’s not always a perfectly polished production adds to the ramshackle

charm but, impressively, Hardiman has secured the services of the brilliant, Oscar-nominated director of photography Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, American Honey) with whom he had worked on Daniel and Matthew Wolfe’s Catch Me Daddy. Ryan’s roving camerawork combs the cavernous backstage areas of the conference centre in a way that feels curious and interrogatory but also disorientating and deranged.

Inspired by Robert Altman’s seminal Nashville, characters are picked up and dropped on their journeys around the building, shifts in perspective that gradually piece together the puzzle. Meanwhile, the stripped-back, seesawing score from electro artist Lewis Roberts (aka Koreless) thrums, buzzes and snakes in the background, cultivating an offbeat sense of unease.

In a film full of memorable moments, the appearance of a baby (who is passed between participants and makes a cute counterpoint to the bloody crime) and a climactic dance routine are highlights. Clearly made on a shoestring, Medusa Deluxe feels like a successful experiment in creating something subversive, slippery and fresh. The grisly discovery at the film’s centre is appropriately hair-raising and its atmosphere entertainingly aggressive but, best of all, this is an absolute hoot.

Medusa Deluxe is in cinemas from Friday 9 June and on MUBI from Friday 4 August.

ART

PEN REID

Behind The Curtain 

The basement viewing rooms of Compass Gallery offer a suitably homely setting for Pen Reid’s bountiful new selection of paintings and drawings (48 in all). These works mostly allude to gardens and domestic spaces while using an expressionist colour palette and surreal compositional arrangements to suggest an encroaching dream-world. Introducing the series, Jill Berber writes that Reid’s studio is located ‘down a winding pathway at the bottom of her garden . . . it is expansive and breathing, a place flooded with light . . . the windows look back up onto her garden which feeds her interest in the garden as “a controlled space”.’

The naturalistic cue for this new sequence is evident in its strongly figurative aspects, often homing in on the details of backyards, tenements or houses. There are bathtubs, deckchairs, little paved courtyards, kids, birds, trees, mirrors, a washing line: a domestic idyll of sorts is evoked. The colour palette is sweet, almost self-consciously cloying at times, with pinks and purples in abundance. But something’s not hanging together; and it’s not meant to. The bathroom is filling with water, and there are otters swimming in the flood. A birch tree is growing through the living-room floor. A section of building appears as a stage set with a wider landscape of abstract planes. A pink picket fence opens onto an interior with a pram and a door that swings back to reveal a deep-space swirl of blue.

There are ample art-historical references to help us unpick this world of dreams and anxieties. Peter Doig’s woozy tonal range and play at the abstract-figurative threshold seem an influence at times. At others, Moyna Flannigan’s macabre fairytale collages spring to mind. Gerber mentions the influence of Carel Weight’s intimistic paintings, in which ‘a sense of foreboding hangs over those experiencing what appear to be insignificant domestic events’. The exhibition text also points to traces of inspiration from Hiroshige, such as the use of eye-catching pattern to flatten and draw attention to sections of canvas. This show offers, as its name suggests, a look behind the curtain at an artistic universe in which the lightness and the dark are enticingly mixed. (Greg Thomas)  Compass Gallery, Glasgow, until Wednesday 7 June.

THEATRE ANNA KARENINA

(Directed by Polina Kalinina) 

Don’t be deceived by the bustle dresses and military frock coats, as this new adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel is very much a play for today. Yes, it’s still set in 19th-century Moscow and St Petersburg, and the inconceivably unfair laws of marriage and parenthood still apply. But writer Lesley Hart and director Polina Kalinina look at this Russian epic through 21st-century eyes, and with an empathy for the plight of women and children that Tolstoy felt but couldn’t possibly embody.

A clever theatrical device, whereby conversations and interactions that happen in different places and times appear in the same scene, takes a moment to grasp but then drives the action along at a consistently engaging pace. So much so, that at first you wonder if, amid the swear words, sex scenes and witty repartee, we’ll find time for emotional engagement.

But find it we most certainly do, in the tumultuous romantic relationships, and the inner angst and outward rage of this very human cast of characters. Against an atmospheric soundscape of screeching trains and crunching knuckles, they search for love in a world of relentless infidelity. Most poignant of all is the heartbreaking impact these adults and their actions have on Anna’s young son, who looks on in a state of confusion and loss. (Kelly Apter)

 Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Saturday 3 June.

Scottish Opera give Bizet’s Carmen a shot in the arm by moving focus from its titular character to her murderous lover and shifting the action to Franco-era Spain, says Miranda Heggie

Spoiler alert: she gets killed. This is a Carmen which begins at the end, so to speak, with Don José (not the opera’s titular character, but really its central one) being questioned by police over the murder of his former lover, Carmen. One of the first things we see in the backdrop (a live projection of the investigator’s desk) is a photograph of a murdered woman. She’s been brutally stabbed and left to die, reminding the audience straight away that the tragic victim of this tale is not the broken-hearted lover but this woman he so violently killed.

The police investigator, serving the role of narrator, is expertly portrayed here by Scottish actor Carmen Pieraccini, whose clear disdain for José is expertly balanced by her professional candour. The addition of a narrator might seem new, but that role is central to the original 1845 novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. And it’s an important tool in telling the story on stage. Carmen is far too often seen as a wicked temptress; a wily whore with a smart mouth who got what was coming to her.

This production reminds us that the story we watch unfold is told through the lens of José, a mixed up and angry man whose account of events may be unreliable to say the least. It also gives the production quite a unique vibe. Set in Franco’s Spain, the sepia hues and vintage posters of designer Sarah Beaton’s set sometimes make you feel like you’re watching

a 1970s cop drama. Christina Cunningham’s swirly 70s-style outfits are particularly effective on the chorus as they swarm around the bullring ahead of toreador Escamillo’s final-act big fight.

Lithuanian mezzo Justina Gringytė returns to Scottish Opera as Carmen. Though hers is a gorgeous voice, dark and richly hued, it’s a bit heavy for this particular role. Her English diction is less than clear, though her acting is more convincing. Tenor Alok Kumar, in his Scottish Opera debut, gives a stronger performance as Don José, skilfully portraying the passions and motives of the character as soldier, son, lover and murderer, while Phillip Rhodes is a powerful and commanding Escamillo. Hye-Youn Lee really shines in the role of Micäela, singing with a true tenderness, and Scottish Opera’s quartet of emerging artists (Colin Murray, Osian Wyn Bowen, Zoe Drummond and Lea Shaw) show an outstanding depth of new talent.

Despite great individual performances on opening night, as a whole, the cast seemed to lack chemistry, though that’s something which will likely grow as its run progresses. The chorus was on sparkling form as usual, and the orchestra, under conductor Dane Lam, fizzed with fiery passion.

Scottish Opera: Carmen, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Friday 9, Sunday 11, Tuesday 13, Thursday 15, Saturday 17 June; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.

opera of the month

PICTURES: JAMES GLOSSOP

THEATRE STRICTLY BALLROOM: THE MUSICAL

(Directed by Craig Revel Horwood) 

In the event you fall asleep after the first half hour of Strictly Ballroom and wake up just in time to see Act One’s final scene, you’d be forgiven for thinking somebody had transported you to a different show. Because nothing in this disappointing stage version of Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 film comes remotely close to that pre-interval number; and all three of the stars awarded in this review go to that one scene.

Luhrmann’s dated script limps along with few genuine laughs, and so little for director Craig Revel Horwood to work with that he’s forced to squeeze humour through the tiniest of cracks. Screeching Australian accents come and go, hindered further by the poor sound quality, and dance routines do little to capture the slick, whip-quick majesty of Latin and ballroom dancing. Even star dancer Kevin Clifton, in the leading role of Scott Hastings, proves more of a double than triple threat (he’s a surprisingly good singer).

But all is briefly forgiven when talented flamenco dancer Jose Agudo offers to show Hastings how to really dance the paso doble. As the routine builds, recruiting more and more dancers, building to a magnificent swell that has the crowd whooping, we finally see how ‘fab-u-lous’ Revel Horwood’s choreography can be. (Kelly Apter)

 Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Monday 5–Saturday 10 June; reviewed at Edinburgh Playhouse.

FILM REALITY (Directed by Tina Satter) 

Set in 2017, this unflashy but penetratingly observed drama focuses on Reality Winner, the NSA translator turned Trump-era whistleblower, transforming the real transcripts of her first FBI interrogation into gripping cinematic fodder. Working with co-writer James Paul Dallas and adapting her own 2019 stage play Is This A Room, Tina Satter delivers an assured and illuminating directorial debut featuring rising star Sydney Sweeney as Winner.

Best known for her work in TV’s Euphoria and The White Lotus, Sweeney gives a plausible, persistently intriguing performance as a young woman who seems taken aback when the FBI arrive at her Georgia home. Winner’s air-force background and love of guns make her an unlikely candidate to leak an intelligence report about Russian election interference to a left-leaning news website (which is what she’s accused of), and yet she is gradually revealed to know more than she initially lets on.

The tension inherent in this situation is only ratcheted up further by the inclusion of a number of relatively trivial conversational digressions: chit-chat from officers about Winner’s routines, concern for the welfare and containment of her pets. Led by Josh Hamilton’s awkwardly paternal Garrick and Marchánt Davis’ Taylor, the interrogators’ attempts at affability emphasise just how unthreatening Winner is, with their manner morphing into something more sinister as things take a chilling turn.

Satter knows the value of letting events unfold naturally, keeping her camera steady and action stylistically spare, with the exception of cutaways to the transcript itself and Winner’s social-media posts, references to redactions and a surreal moment where we’re plunged into this 25-year-old’s spiralling headspace. With acts of dissent increasingly under threat, this mundane horror story acts as a worrying reminder of what happens when you push back against those in power. (Emma Simmonds)

 In cinemas from Friday 2 June.

THEATRE DEAR BILLY (Directed by Joe Douglas) 

The Anderston guy who was a welder on the shipyards but fancied life as a folk singer, went on to make quite the name for himself. But rather than forging a career in music, Billy Connolly just went ahead and reinvented the comedic form as it existed in Britain. After one lifealtering appearance on Parkinson in 1975, storytelling stand-up was never to be the same again, and while that genre has dropped in and out of comedy fashion, he remains its colossus. The sheer number of comedians who cite Connolly as a major influence is so extensive that it borders on the dull; something that the Big Yin could never be accused of.

In this eulogy to a man and an entertainer, Gary McNair performs the recollections he’s gathered from individuals all across Scotland, not to try and tie up Connolly’s appeal in a neat bow, but simply to get a sense of what he means to the people of this land. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that the overwhelming majority love him, with a few naysayers grudgingly admiring his comedy and status as a national icon.

It’s not just McNair’s more-than-passing resemblance to Connolly that makes him the ideal person for this task; his own longstanding ability to weave stories with wit and not a little wisdom in productions such as The Gambler’s Guide To Dying and Square Go make him Billyesque. Featuring a lovely live soundtrack played by Jill O’Sullivan and Simon Liddell, McNair carefully structures his 90-minute piece to take in everything from The Crucifixion to the Parkinson’s and cancer diagnoses that have slowed Connolly down this past decade.

McNair even inserts himself into this tale recalling the time he suddenly found himself in a room with the Big Yin but couldn’t bring himself to ask a proper question. You get the impression that Billy Connolly never walked away from a single conversation in his adult life with regrets over what he should have said. (Brian Donaldson)

 Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Saturday 10 June; King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Thursday 22–Saturday 24 June; reviewed at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.

FILM AMANDA

(Directed by Carolina Cavalli) 

This sensationally strange film from Italian writer-director Carolina Cavalli channels the Greek Weird Wave as it finds a lonely young woman from a family of pharmacists aggressively pursuing a friendship. Benedetta Porcaroli (best known from Netflix series Baby) stars as Amanda, a stroppy, unfashionably attired misfit whose clan return to rural Italy after a spell in Paris.

Amanda’s desperation for companionship means she’s been taking the family’s long-suffering housekeeper to raves. Eventually she sets her sights on agoraphobic peer Rebecca (Galatéa Bellugi), the daughter of her mother’s fragile friend Viola (an excellent Giovanna Mezzogiorno), trying to coax her out of a bedroom-based existence and encountering an annoying rival (Giorgia Favoti) in the process.

The absurdism, meticulous visuals and intentionally stiff staging recalls filmmakers from Wes Anderson to Aki Kaurismäki, as well as Cavalli’s countryman Paolo Sorrentino; but the first-time helmer brings her own distinctly female swagger to proceedings while foregrounding women. As odd as it all is, the howling anguish at the film’s core feels real, aided by Porcaroli’s deadpan, entertainingly abrasive performance. In the end, this portrait of being twentysomething in a bewildering and hostile world shows a surprising amount of sincerity. (Emma Simmonds)

 In cinemas from Friday 2 June.

OTHER THINGS WORTH GOING OUT FOR

If you fancy getting out and about this month, there’s plenty culture to sample such as stage productions about climate, an explosion of Latin ’n’ funk, a film tribute to Manchester’s finest boy band, and an optimistic stand-up

ART TAREK LAKHRISSI

This French artist brings us I wear my wounds on my tongue (ii), an exhibition which features newly commissioned sculpture and sound pieces, exploring desire, language and queerness.

 Collective, Edinburgh, Saturday 24 June–Sunday 1 October.

COMEDY

JEN BRISTER

The Optimist has this highly accomplished comic considering whether she is in fact terrible in a crisis. Did the pandemic do this to her or was she actually always this way?

 Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sunday 18 June.

FILM

FOLK FILM GATHERING

This festival which celebrates lived experiences of communities across the globe is back with a focus on Ukrainian cinema (including revolutionary silent lm Arsenal from 1929, with a new soundtrack by Scottish electronic duo Dalhous) plus documentaries on strange phenomena and rare screenings from the BBC’s iconic Play For Today.

 Various venues, Edinburgh, Monday 12–Thursday 29 June.

GREATEST DAYS

Take That’s stage musical is adapted for the big screen starring Aisling Bea and Alice Lowe, as ve pals reunite to discover whether their best days are behind or in front of them.

 In cinemas from Friday 16 June.

KIDS PROTEST

Hannah Lavery’s play tackles modern-day threats to innocence and the climate crisis which only collective action may be able to combat.

 Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thursday 1 & Friday 2 June.

MUSIC MARS VOLTA

Fusing Latin, funk and futurism, guitarist/ composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/ lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala have been following their own idiosyncratic path for over 20 years.

 Barrowland, Glasgow, Friday 16 June.

TIDE LINES

Featuring special guests Idlewild, this Summer Nights On The Southside show will mark the release of the Highland quartet’s An Ocean Full Of Islands

 Queen’s Park, Glasgow, Friday 23 June.

THEATRE PIBROCH

John Bolland’s multi-media production uses poetry, music and visuals to represent the experiences of Piper Alpha survivors and show that 1988 disaster’s relevance to today’s climate crisis.

 Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Sunday 4 June; Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wednesday 7 June.

LAMPFIRE

Cryptic Night’s latest event is a collaboration between dance artist Kirstin Halliday, DJ Grace Fielder and clothing designer Sam Wood, with digital puppetry performance featuring real-time motion capture, game-engine technology and a live DJ set.

 CCA, Glasgow, Thursday 8 June.

IT’S CRIMINAL

Journalism and crime come under interrogation in this collaborative piece by The Ferret, Greater Govanhill magazine and Contemporary Narratives Lab: who chooses the headlines? Is there a tsunami of crime or does the news make things seem worse than they really are?

 Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thursday 22 June.

Protest (and bottom from left), Lampfire, Folk Film Gathering, Mars Volta

PICTURE: CLEMENTE RUIZ

PICTURE: OLUWATOSIN DANIJUE

Kickstart an epic summer with a visit to Johnnie Walker Princes Street

This June, whisky connoisseurs and novices alike can take their pick of the amazing experiences Johnnie Walker Princes Street has to offer. Recently crowned the world’s BEST Visitor Attraction by Whisky Magazine, there is so much to discover in Edinburgh’s five-star attraction.

Johnnie Walker Journey of Flavour Tour (£30pp)

There’s no better way to kick off your Johnnie Walker Princes Street adventure than experiencing the highly immersive Journey of Flavour tour. Here, whisky lovers and those looking for a day out like no other, will spend 90 minutes being taken through the remarkable story of Johnnie Walker, and Scotland’s whisky landscape, while sipping on three customised whisky drinks or non-alcoholic options. Guests are also entitled to a 10% discount on all purchases in the retail store or bar following the tour.

Edinburgh Pride 2023 discount, from 24th June

For all Edinburgh Pride 2023 attendees, Johnnie Walker Princes Street will serve as sponsor of Scotland’s major LGBTQIA+ celebration and will be offering festival guests 20% off the Journey of Flavour tour for a limited time.

Whisky Tastings

Johnnie Walker Princes Street also has some exciting, guided whisky tastings this month:

Discover Johnnie Walker Tasting

(£18 pp), 9th June: Taking place on June 9, the Discover Johnnie Walker Tasting will provide samples of four fantastic blends from Johnnie Walker’s core range, including the iconic Blue Label.

Johnnie Walker x Harris Tweed Deconstructed Tasting (£18 pp), 16th June: This guided tasting of the limited-edition whisky is the perfect celebration of a dram that has intertwined the worlds of Scottish whisky and fashion.

Father’s Day Whisky & Cheese Tasting

STIR – Explorers’ Bothy x James Close, from 21st June

Foodies and whisky enthusiasts will have the chance to attend Johnnie Walker Princes Street’s first- ever cocktails and small bites concept, STIR, in partnership with two Michelin star Chef of Raby Hunt restaurant, James Close from 21 June. Set in the Explorers’ Bothy, the renowned chef will be crafting a unique set of signature dishes, perfectly paired with complex cocktails designed by Johnnie Walker Princes Street’s Head Bartender, Miran Chauhan.

(£50pp), 18th June: If you are looking to treat the father figure in your life to a truly special Father’s Day on 18th June, look no further than this bespoke experience hosted in the Explorers’ Bothy bar. At this curated experience, visitors can enjoy tutored tasting of four exclusive Scotch whiskies, three of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, each paired with artisanal cheese, carefully selected by our head chef.

Discover Mortlach Tasting

(£25 pp), 23rd June: Here, guests will have the chance to explore the expertly crafted and highly esteemed Mortlach range which remains at the core of Speyside whisky.

Fèis Ìle 2022 Celebration Tasting

(£30 pp), 30th June: Guests can pay homage to the spirit and culture of Islay at this tasting by enjoying the unique flavours of the 2022 special bottlings, Lagavulin 12-year-old, and the Caol Ila 15- and 25-year-old.

staying in

THE ICON

Already something of a messianic popculture figure, Abel ‘Weeknd’ Tesfaye stars as Tedros, a cult-leading self-help guru ‘aiding’ a young pop star back on the road to glory after she suffers a breakdown. LilyRose Depp plays the strife-ridden Jocelyn, who inevitably falls for Tedros, triggering a passionate affair. Debuting in Cannes, initial verdicts have been savage, with Variety dubbing it ’a sordid male fantasy’ while Hollywood Reporter reckoned it was ‘more regressive than transgressive’. After that initial Cannes-panning, no episodes were made available to review ahead of transmission. That’s never a good sign, but the proof of this intriguing project will be in the perusing. (Brian Donaldson)

n Sky Atlantic from Sunday 4 June.

PRETTY IN INK

history and culture are put firmly under the microscope in Beneath The

Tattoo

Skin. Rachel Ashenden finds that this podcast’s hosts have myths to debunk and deep dives to undertake

Relatively new on the indie podcast scene, Beneath The Skin is created and hosted by Dr Matt Lodder, an art historian and museum curator, and Thomas O’Mahony, a keen tattoo collector. Steadfast in their belief that ‘tattoos are not just for sailors’, the two enthusiasts set out to explore history through society’s relationship with body art. Featuring interviews with legendary specialists and studies of archival works, they investigate culture’s complex, and often political history of putting ink on our bodies. Going further than skin deep, it might strike the listener as unusual that the podcast is not set up to defend tattooing as a legitimate art form; the hosts are not there to debate value claims.

Lodder and O’Mahony hope their podcast helps reveal that tattoos are ‘a lot older, a lot more complex, and a lot more common than people think’. One myth that the podcast debunks early on in its run is the idea that tattoos are most often tied to a specific time, place and society. By delving into an archive of older tattoo traditions, the duo explore cultural contexts around it.

As an example, this year they undertook a four-part deep dive into Japan’s tattoo history, starting off with an examination of the indigenous people of Ainu, whose unique tattoo tradition has been almost wiped out; that run of episodes ended with the birth of the Yakuza and Japanese tattoo art in traditional culture. On another recent episode, they explored the work of Lyle Tuttle, a famed American artist who worked on celebrities such as Janis Joplin, Cher and Paul Stanley.

Naturally, both hosts are tattooed themselves, although their first forays into being inked could not be more distinct. While Lodder sought out American artist Jack Mosher at a convention for a modest tattoo of three stars, O’Mahony opted for a giant image from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. This dichotomy between the hosts makes this podcast such an intriguing listen. Although their angles and approaches to analysing the art of tattooing are unique, their shared enthusiasm for the medium is ultimately compelling. After tuning in to the podcast, you may well find yourself following Beneath The Skin on social media for snippets of tattoo history and profiles on leading tattoo artists.

 New episodes available every Wednesday at thomasomahonymedia.podbean.com

BINGE FEST

Our alphabetical column on viewing marathons reaches Q

Against a backdrop of aborted spin-offs and various American attempts at producing a worthy cover version, the first eight-episode batch of Queer As Folk (All4) has (just about) stood the test of time. Less said about its two-episode second season the better, but no matter, as Russell T Davies had already embossed his reputation as a genuine TV player with that first foray, as Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly and Charlie Hunnam helped bring the late-90s Manchester gay scene to vibrant life.

For a moment there (or at least as long as it sometimes takes for a grandmaestro to consider their next move), chess was the nation’s passion. And it was all thanks to The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) in which Anya Taylor-Joy played Beth Harmon, whose early life was so miserable that being introduced to rooks, pawns and bishops gave her a purpose that grew into an obsession. If this second-lockdown salvation wasn’t on your radar back then, it’s time to check it out, mate. (Brian Donaldson)

 Other Q binges: Queer Eye (Netflix), QI (BBC iPlayer), Quantum Leap (NOW).

future sound

Our column celebrating music to watch continues with Alice Faye. The Glasgow-based singer-songwriter chats to Fiona Shepherd about the early influence of ABBA bangers, her music fanatic dad and honing her vocal style

Alice Faye has an arresting voice to lean in to, halt the traffic, transport you to some sepiatinted romantic realm. In short, Faye is set to turn heads as she prepares for the summer release of her debut Deadbeat EP.

Her exquisitely controlled performances on recent resonant single ‘Jamie’ and the ravishing ‘Later, Later On’ duet with Julen Santamaria of Awkward Family Portraits have the seductive qualities of an Angel Olsen or Lana Del Rey and she readily admits to the timeless influence of Motown girl groups and other commercial greats from yesteryear. ‘Vocally, it starts and ends with my love of Judy Garland,’ she says. ‘As a kid I would watch her musicals back to back.’ From here, it was a short hop to the music of Rufus Wainwright who has inspired her piano-led songwriting, while her first obsession was the music of ABBA: ‘a good place to start,’ she says, ‘cos it’s pop bangers and they are just great singers too.’

Growing up in Glasgow where she is still based, Faye has always been omnivorous in her tastes and style. ‘My dad is a music fanatic, he made me feel it was cool to like all music.’ She started songwriting at secondary school, gravitating to the piano room in her downtime and also joined the school’s soul band because ‘the jazz band had all the older kids’. Having honed some harmonic soul chops, Faye had her jazz moment, attending the National Youth Jazz Orchestra Of Scotland’s summer programme for some intensive, emotional coaching. She even took some opera tuition for her music course audition at The University Of Glasgow.

‘It’s been so great for helping me have control over my voice,’ she says. ‘All of that has fed into what I try to get my voice to do. I don’t really know what I like to sing the most but I think these days it’s probably some hybrid of 50s music and jazz and trying to sound a bit Edith Piaf-y.’ Faye has high standards for her own songwriting, even studying creative writing to enhance her lyrics. It’s no surprise that she namechecks Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan as influences. ‘I’m having a massive phase of Paul McCartney and The Beatles right now,’ she says. ‘Some of their earlier tunes are just absolutely great. So that has inspired this new EP.’

Faye recorded the EP over one weekend with The Kaisers frontman and retro-music maven George Miller. ‘He has this DIY recording set-up which looks like a Soviet Union bunker with all this supercool analogue equipment. He’s so supportive and nurturing and so kind to a lot of people.’ This summer, Faye’s enchanting music will take her to Perthshire’s Solas Festival via a Sofar Sounds session in Paris before she returns to Glasgow to launch her EP in September. Meanwhile, she is already working towards an album which, on current form, has the potential to calm storms.

Alice Faye’s single Nowhere To Go is released by Holy Smokes Records on Friday 16 June, with her Deadbeat EP out on Friday 28 July; she appears at Solas Festival, Errol, Friday 16–Sunday 18 June, and plays Mono, Glasgow, Friday 8 September.

To hell and back

In late April, the UK’s Competition And Markets Authority (bear with us) blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of games publisher Activision Blizzard. The surprise announcement sent shockwaves through the industry (‘the UK is clearly closed for business’, announced an enraged spokesperson). It’s certainly no surprise that a tech company as ambitious as Microsoft is so keen to take control of Activision Blizzard which owns some of the biggest names in gaming, including Call Of Duty, World Of Warcraft and, er, Candy Crush Saga

While those three titles have sufficient cachet that they’d provoke a pang of recognition in even the most gaming-averse Luddite, one of Activision Blizzard’s most beloved titles is the lesser known Diablo. When the original game was released in 1997, it captivated players with its sprawling isometric dungeons, haunting soundtrack and endless replayability. Three years later, Diablo II vastly improved on its progenitor. It became so popular that more than 20 years on, it was remastered and remains extremely popular to this day.

Gaming history is littered with disastrous launches, and Diablo III was one of the very worst. On its release in 2012, many players couldn’t even start the game due to anti-piracy measures which failed to cope with the demand. It also came with an in-game

auction house from which players were encouraged to spend real money on weapons and equipment. It took a long time (and the wholesale removal of the auction house) before it won back that audience.

After a long hiatus, we’re now on the cusp of an exciting new era for the series. Diablo IV promises a return to the darker aesthetic of those earlier games but with some interesting innovations. For the first time, the game will take place in an open world (a controversial decision that will likely take some time to bed in) and will feature PvP combat. A number of successful beta tests have given players the chance to try out its various systems and the reception has been broadly positive. The series’ signature artwork looks great and the fantasy environments are positively dripping with atmosphere. For the first time in the series, Diablo IV will launch on PC and consoles simultaneously. Although action RPGs tend to play better with a mouse and keyboard, the developer’s experience bringing Diablo III to older consoles has helped ensure that this will be a comfortable experience for PlayStation and Xbox players hoping to slay demons from the solace of their sofas.

Released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on Tuesday 6 June.

After a tricky third outing, Diablo IV promises interesting innovations and a return to the darker aesthetic of this much-loved series’ earlier games, says Murray Robertson

PREVIEWS

first writes

In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. For June, we feature Swedish-born Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days, which looks at male body dysmorphia, women’s reproductive rights and the pitfalls of modern love as its protagonists search for a life with real meaning

What’s the first book you remember reading as a child? I read a lot as a child, mostly books centred around some horse-rescuing gambit. Quite early I got into a Maria Gripe phase, Swedish young adult novels often with some ghost story at the heart. I don’t remember much of the plots but I do remember the eerie but beautiful mood in those books.

What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer? There isn’t that one book. For me it was more storytelling in general, no matter the format, culminating in an urge to make up people and have them do things with each other. Some authors always inspire me to pick up a pen though, like Rachel Cusk, Chekhov, Gwendoline Riley, Françoise Sagan, Raven Leilani, Jean Rhys and Mieko Kawakami.

What’s your favourite first line in a book? It changes weekly, honestly, but listen to this one: ‘This strange new feeling of mine, obsessing me by its sweet languor, is such that I am reluctant to dignify it with the fine, solemn name of “sadness”.’ That’s from Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan.

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you? One debut novel that meant a lot to me is The Picture Of Dorian Gray. It was one of the first books I ever read in English and I remember being floored by how a serious classic could be so easy to read, entertaining, sexy and powerful. It was the gateway drug to ransacking the English language modern classics section in my local bookshop as a 15-year-old. Kafka, Woolf, Bulgakov. Great bewilderment ensued!

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day? Wash my face and brew a large pot of sencha.

What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day? Go for a long walk to process the day’s work and figure out what to write tomorrow.

In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn? Oh man, did other writers answer this? This will surely get me into trouble, but maybe Jane Eyre, simply to force people to pick another book when asked what their favourite is.

What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist? Read, a lot. View rejection as just another part of the process. Nurture and encourage your hubris.

Okay Days is published by Sceptre on Thursday 29 June.

ALBUMS JAMES

As James hurtle toward their 40th anniversary, the indie stalwarts are still looking for innovative ways to spruce up their extensive discography. Written and recorded in Manchester, with the assistance of a 22-piece orchestra and the local Inspirational Voices choir, Be Opened By The Wonderful presents a blissful reimagination of a host of James’ biggest tracks. It’s the perfect collectors’ edition LP for ardent fans who have spent the last few decades rinsing and repeating all 16 of the band’s studio albums. Opting to replace typically extravagant guitar lines with subtle strings, the new-found creative direction on Be Opened By The Wonderful allows their less popular hits, such as ‘Hey Ma’ and ‘Lookaway’, to flourish in a different light. The refined sound also helps breathe a much-needed new lease of life into the big hits, giving a welcome refresh to tracks like ‘Laid’, ‘Sit Down’ and ‘She’s A Star’. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or attempting to get to know the band before seeing them for the first time this summer, James’ venture into the classical world is a must-listen. (Danny Munro)

 Be Opened By The Wonderful is released by Nothing But Love Music, Friday 9 June; James play Slessor Gardens, Dundee, Friday 28 July.

The Music Man

Edinburgh-based Delphian Records has become one of the UK’s most respected independent classical labels. Founder Paul Baxter talks to Carol Main about curating the company’s diverse catalogue, embracing new technology and fostering young talent

When Paul Baxter founded the multi-award winning Delphian label back in 2000, surely not even the Delphi Oracle herself could have prophesised the 21st-century changes that lay ahead for the recording industry. Yet, keeping ahead has been constant in how Baxter and his team have maintained Delphian as an extraordinary leader in its field.

With 35 releases over 2023, including the just-out Piatti Quartet playing Mark-Anthony Turnage, GAIA Duo’s crossover classical/folk/jazz, and Alex Paxton’s Happy Music For Orchestra, the mix is rich and varied. Add in a sweep of the boards of Scottish ensembles and soloists over the years (Mr McFall’s Chamber and Jamie MacDougall’s Mexican chamber music collaboration is out this month) and it’s clear how much Delphian plays a vital role for performers, composers and audiences internationally.

Not too shabby for what originated as a late-90s, needs-must student fundraising initiative, selling recordings of Scots songs made using a CD burner. That timing was, however, critical. ‘Because of when we started the label, we were on a front foot for all the changes,’ says Baxter. ‘I was sending MP3 files instead of masters, PDFs and using ADSL internet connections, all in their early days.’

Embracing the new also meant financial success. ‘Our operating costs from day one were a fraction of the traditional ways of producing recordings, which meant that we could flourish.’ Twenty-odd years later and even Delphian’s

beautifully made CDs are no longer piled high in boxes at Delphi Towers. ‘We’re increasingly doing short-run manufacture,’ explains Baxter. ‘Choral and early music still sell as CDs, but otherwise we do short runs.’ Flexibility runs through the business, although artistically Delphian generally steers clear of the mainstream. ‘We’ve always had a reputation for being a bit quirky, avoiding core repertoire unless it’s something really special.’

Spotting the up-and-coming also scores high reputationally. ‘Guitarist Sean Shibe and The Hermes Experiment started with us and now have major careers,’ says Baxter. ‘They are an example of how we foster young talent and form relationships with artists.’ Others with whom Delphian works closely are St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Hebrides Ensemble, Oxford’s Merton College, pianist Iain Burnside and baritone Roderick Williams.

Motivations for making recordings can be anything from leaving a legacy (‘Brindley Sherratt is at the height of his operatic career, yet until now has never made a solo recording’) to raising profile for emerging artists through PR, media and streaming. ‘The whole model of the last 15 years is entirely changed because of streaming,’ says Baxter. ‘Labels don’t generally commission and artists now choose to fundraise to pay for their own recordings.’ While there’s pressure to grow bigger rather than deeper, he says, ‘we’re not convinced. We think we’re just right.’

delphianrecords.com

TV BLACK MIRROR

It feels like a very long time (and it is) since Charlie Brooker was first in front of the camera, sitting in a dimly-lit lounge bellowing at his telly for Screenwipe. Like Gogglebox if it was on the dark web, our hard-bitten TV critic enjoyably ranted at everything from 24 to Jeremy Kyle with such invective (and bleeped-out cursing) that you feared for his blood pressure.

Now, of course, he’s firmly in the making-chair, and onto the sixth set of Black Mirror, whose roll call of names is quite breathtaking: Salma Hayek, Aaron Paul, Annie Murphy, Michael Cera, Myha’la Herrold, John Hannah and Kate Mara are but a number of those submitting themselves to the futuristic visions of both Brooker and his co-creator Annabel Jones.

No doubt there are some who reckon the show peaked in its opening episode ‘The National Anthem’ when Rory Kinnear’s blackmailed PM went full S&M with a pig, but that would be unfair. It wasn’t just Kinnear who Brooker put through the actorly wringer: Bryce Dallas Howard went from eerily pristine to manically dishevelled in ‘Nosedive’; Domhnall Gleeson reportedly questioned his own digital practices after the AI nightmare of ‘Be Right Back’; and the entire cast went through different levels of torment for 2018’s 90-minute choose-your-own-adventure ‘Bandersnatch’.

Whatever this season brings (did I mention Josh Hartnett, Monica Dolan, Paapa Essiedu and Zazie Beetz are also involved this time around?), thrills, spills and a healthy dose of techno-paranoia are assured. (Brian Donaldson)

 Available on Netflix in mid-June.

my perfect podcast

In this column, we ask a pod person about the ’casts that mean a lot to them. This month it’s Liam Withnail, co-host of Enjoy An Album in which he joins fellow stand-up Christopher Macarthur-Boyd as they aim to compile a playlist of the best music ever

Which podcast educates you? Citations Needed is an incredible show that unpacks all the bullshit of modern media; very handy during the ongoing culture war and perfect if you want to steal opinions in order to win arguments. The best produced pod on the planet.

Which podcast makes you laugh? Some Laugh, a daft laugh with three of the goodest boys in Scottish comedy. Disclaimer: they’re friends of mine and I’ve been a guest, but I think the episodes with Raymond Mearns, Marjolein Robertson and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd are really entertaining starting points.

Which podcast makes you sad or angry? The Rest Is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. The fact that the Iraq War’s spin doctor and a former Tory MP are trying to reinvent themselves as liberal pundits is enough to make me vomit blood. The fact they’re getting away with it is worse. If you can’t print that . . . The Last Days Of August from Jon Ronson. A heart-breaking series about the fallout of the adult industry, as well as a fascinating insight into the rise and effects of free pornography.

Is there a podcast you’d describe as a guilty pleasure? Podcast About List. If Some Laugh is three nice lads having a laugh, this is three horrible boys being gross. I laugh like a drain, but by god it’s dumb.

Who doesn’t have a podcast but should? Raymond Mearns. He’s a Scottish comedian (seen in Limmy’s Show!) who has about three lives-worth of stories and is one of the most naturally funny people alive.

Pitch us a new podcast idea in exactly 25 words Stealing this from my friend Will: a podcast where guests bring their favourite Wikipedia article, eg ‘Exploding Trousers’, ‘Death Erection’ or ‘Lisztomania’ (look them up!).

Liam Withnail performs Chronic Boom at Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, Wednesday 2–Sunday 27 August; new episodes of Enjoy An Album are available every Monday.

album of the month

With a life already fully lived, Rufus Wainwright taps into his folk royalty roots for a raucous new album. Craig McLean finds that this star-studded collection effortlessly avoids the perils of hubris and pitfalls of self-indulgence

Not that he’s ever been an artist to do things by half, but here, at last, is The Full Rufus. You might think that we’d gone there before with the man who, in his hedonistic New York twenties, took so many drugs that he went temporarily blind. With the solo star whose talent blazed so fiercely early in his career that it needed two companion albums, 2003’s Want One and 2004’s Want Two, one straight after the other, to contain it.

With the Broadway diva who tackled nothing less than the entirety of a legendary 1961 Judy Garland concert in a double album, Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall (2007) followed by a film, Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live From The London Palladium (even his titles are extra). Who’s written not one but two operas, Prima Donna (2009) and Hadrian (2018). Whose 2011 boxset, House Of Rufus, ran to 19 discs.

No. In terms of capturing, then distilling the essence of Rufus Wainwright, those were just warm-ups. Presenting, then, Folkocracy, his 17th (give or take) album. Released ahead of the Canadian’s 50th birthday, these 15 covers of classics from the many worlds of folk see a musician who grew up amidst folk royalty partnering up with an array of starry pals. As the son of Loudon Wainwright and Katie McGarrigle says with characteristic immodesty (but equally characteristic truth), ‘I’m from a bona fide folkocracy who mixed extensively with other folkocracies such as the Seegers and the Thompsons.

I spun off into opera and pop. Now I’m back where it all began. The older I get, the more I appreciate how valuable my folk knowledge is, to have had it ingrained in me as a child.’

Not that Wainwright is taking the easy or obvious road. Yes, there’s a simple, picked, banjo’n’fiddle version of Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ (with Andrew Bird and Chris Stills), and a pared-back duet with ANOHNI of his own ‘Going To A Town’ (yes, it is a classic, too). But if you ever wondered what Nicole Scherzinger singing traditional Hawaiian ballad ‘Kaulana Na Pua’ would sound like, wonder no more. And if you didn’t think you needed the mighty Chaka Khan singing on a piano-based version of ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’ (not that one), think again.

Equally, if anyone could ever hope to replicate the golden voice and pure 1967 Californian vibes of The Mamas & The Papas on a cover of their beauteous ‘Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)’, it would only be Wainwright. And only he could call on Stills, Susanna Hoffs and Sheryl Crow to lend a harmonising hand. In lesser hands, Folkocracy would certainly have been ‘My Songbook, At My Half Century, Done By Me-And-My-Famous-Chums’ hubris. But he is Rufus, and he rolls like musical royalty.

Folkocracy is released by BMG on Friday 2 June.

BOOKS CAROLINE O’DONOGHUE The Rachel Incident (Little, Brown) 

‘I want to live inside this book’, makes for a strange promotional quote for The Rachel Incident. It is strange because, besides the unlikely coincidences which conveniently propel Caroline O’Donoghue’s plot forward, the events which unfold inside this book aren’t especially pleasant or distinct from the outside world. Charting the coming-ofage story of protagonist Rachel and her best friend James, The Rachel Incident is mostly an exploration of reproductive rights in Ireland, nepotism, co-dependency and exploitation within the publishing industry.

Set in Cork and London between 2009 and 2022, Rachel and James feel the effects of the Irish economic depression differently because of their class status but they are united by one financial goal: to leave. In their minds, London is the epicentre of potential. Alongside the obstacles to abortion access in Ireland, there are some invigorating themes brewing in the background, especially around bisexual erasure and its disproportionate effect on men who are shamed into silence. However, it is difficult to discern whether Rachel prefers solitude, only latching onto James because she struggles to create meaningful bonds, or whether it is easier to create fewer fully fleshed-out characters who stand on the periphery of this plot.

The narrative structure itself is clichéd from the start, drawing attention to the act of writing (and publishing) in its preface: ‘It was never my plan to write about any of this [ . . . ] Almost all of us are sitting on some big life experience that we’re hoping to turn into a book one day.’ In the early chapters, her narrator jarringly interjects into the flow to actively speak to us (for instance, Rachel asks the reader to ‘have patience’ at the use of a homophobic slur in a conversation that happened in 2009). But overall, The Rachel Incident demonstrates the author’s capacity to distil complex socio-political issues into a likeable page turner.

(Rachel Ashenden)

 Published on Thursday 22 June.

TV THE CROWDED ROOM (Apple TV+) 

Danny Sullivan, aka Tom Holland sporting a long shaggy haircut (it’s the 70s, baby!), recounts his disjointed past in this slow-burning but ultimately intriguing thriller. The skittish schoolboy-turned-societal outcast is interrogated over a gruelling ten episodes by Rya (Amanda Seyfried, but with blue eyeshadow) as he takes us through a series of events that end in his arrest following a shooting at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Writing and executive producing on this head-scratching series is Academy Award-winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, Batman & Robin). Co-stars include Shameless’ Emmy Rossum as ‘chain-smoking, double-shift working mum’ and Conversations With Friends’ Sasha Lane as ‘damaged bisexual party girl’.

The overall style is undecided between classic and cliché, with unnecessary padding and fruitless escapades leaving the intricate but not quite satisfactory plot dragging its feet at times. One particularly longwinded revelation made by our main character will not satisfy all viewers, rendering the labour of sitting through all ten episodes (when six would have been entirely sufficient) a bit of a chore.

However, young Tom Holland redeems things somewhat with his flawless portrayal of a challenging character whose complexity will either leave audiences catching flies or rolling their eyes. Plus, fans of all things 70s who come for the soundtrack and general aesthetic (specifically Seyfried marching a comically enormous tote bag through New York City) won’t be disappointed. (Rachel Cronin)

 Episodes available from Friday 9 June.

A PRIDE HISTORY

Exclusive 1-hour guided tour

Reveal the hidden histories of LGBTQIA+ community life in Edinburgh from as far back as 1546 until 1912.

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS IN JUNE

ALBUMS SAMUEL NICHOLSON Birthday Suit (self-released) 

Edinburgh-born, London-based singer-songwriter Samuel Nicholson has recently been diagnosed with autism. His response: create an album of rich pop melodrama round the theme of neurodiversity as a semi-warning shot to a prospective lover.

The title track of Birthday Suit is an invitation to step into his skin and see things from his perspective. The brooding ‘New Blood For Your Christening’ and ‘Black Dog Funeral’, meanwhile, showcase his world a little more explicitly. Family gatherings can be painful at the best of times, but Nicholson is on the verge of histrionics as he declares ‘I was suited, not suitable’ on the stormy pop of the latter track; the irony is that his evident discomfort is cloaked in our listening pleasure.

Nicholson paints an intriguing picture (‘I’m in Bloemfontein with a head full of sirens’) on the rootsy Ryan Adams-like soul of ‘Gummi’, while ‘God Loves A Trier’ is a devotional lament with mellow organ tones and a burnished guitar solo. ‘West Coast Feeling’ goes to the brink with a fragile vocal that is just hanging on in there, before he lets it all hang out with the bruised desperation of Conor Oberst.

‘Fooling Around’ is suitably named, being 30 seconds of echo-drenched western swing-guitar noodling which dovetails straight into the indie rocking of ‘Heavy Metal T-shirt’. He returns to the theme of rituals and occasions, throwing his toys out of the pram to hail himself as ‘a scream at a wedding, the wrong song at a funeral’ on ‘Birthday Presents Forever’. That track is a great low-slung rock’n’roller blowout before he dials it back on the distorted brooding of ‘Random Action Hero’, an alternative orchestral hoohah. (Fiona Shepherd)

 Released on Friday 9 June.

TV WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS (Sky Atlantic/NOW) 

Anyone expecting a forensic and arch dissection of the Watergate scandal can look away now. Starring Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux at their most playful, White House Plumbers (‘we fix leaks’) goes for a jazzy heist approach rather than anything approaching weighty: there are podcasts for that. This isn’t so much Bernstein and Woodward as . . . (insert name of slapstick doubleact of choice here).

What it does show are the precise lengths to which Richard Nixon’s acolytes would go to take down their liberal enemies in an age of paranoia and war (a bad combination). But their mission to bug the Watergate building HQ of the Democratic National Committee backfired spectacularly when Nixon was eventually forced to resign in ignominy.

But this isn’t about Tricky Dick (he’s essentially a shadowy figure shown only on screens); instead it aims to portray the private lives and working methods of G Gordon Liddy (Theroux) and E Howard Hunt (Harrelson), the key ‘leak-fixers’. But boy, were they daft. An early scene of them disguised in wigs and weird spectacles sets the farce-based mood while Liddy’s choice of dinnerparty tunes are Hitler speeches played at ear-incinerating volumes. Hunt, meanwhile, is great on the piano and a shocking flirt.

An excellent supporting cast (Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Rich Sommer, Kiernan Shipka) helps make this swing merrily along, but the oddball and off-kilter vibe leaves you gasping for something more nourishing. (Brian Donaldson)

 All episodes available now.

book of the month

In a rural English boarding school, against a prim background of straw boaters, hymn books and the distant thwack of tennis balls, repressed sexuality and antiquated systems of power dominate the foreground of this taut debut novel. Glasgowbased writer K Patrick elegantly marries the personal and the political in their exploration of both genderqueer identity and patriarchal hypocrisies, where lust and oppression writhe together one languorous summer.

The central character is a butch 22-year-old who has left behind Australia and now works as matron in the elite allgirls school. Only referred to as ‘Miss’, she befriends the lesbian housemistress, an ally in the otherwise rampantly heteronormative school. Pupils are briskly encouraged to be demure, violently competitive and, ideally, brimming with shame. Before dancing at the social, they get hectoring instructions from the religious nurse to stay one foot apart from boys. There’s also a farcical (yet weirdly plausible sounding) annual tree-slapping sports ritual up a hill which takes on a gory, sinister twist.

Patrick’s slow-burn narrative builds thrilling tension as Miss and the headmaster’s wife Mrs S begin a cautious flirtation that finally melts into a thirsty, clandestine affair. The dragging out of their closeted desire not only works as a vivid erotic device, it also reveals the incredibly slow, agonising peel back

of layers that Miss must allow in order to find her real self, instead of a performative or self-censoring one. Patrick is deft with choice metaphor, and self-consciously acknowledges it with a sheepish, endearing line from Miss: ‘I rely on metaphor, I rely on signs. I forgive myself.’

From Mrs S and Miss transferring pollen on their fingers as they create new hybrids of rose, to the suave headmaster killing a queen wasp with a can of pesticide after losing his cool, Patrick’s strong symbols circle around constantly. Power structures need toppled in this bizarre yet completely recognisable institution, but Miss finds them as rock solid as the marble statue of a famous female author that the girls stroke and lick on their way to lessons.

This is a place where someone exploring gender identity or even mildly different self-expression will be very politely crushed into submission, so woe betide anyone drawn to psychedelic drugs or sex toys. The starched skirts may be regulation kneelength and the dinner times choreographed according to age-old tradition, but an undercurrent of violence and danger is strong from the off. Deliciously paced with machismo, decorum, idolatry and feminine grace all going under the surgeon’s knife, K Patrick uses an outsider’s awkwardness to slice through the bullshit in this bubble of Christian conservatism.

Mrs S is published by 4th Estate on Thursday 8 June.

K Patrick’s debut novel, Mrs S, explores a tense tale of queer love, set in an English boarding school during a smouldering heatwave. Already scooping up awards, Claire Sawers declares it thrilling, erotic and deliciously paced

ALBUMS DJANGO DJANGO Off Planet (Because Music) lllll

Unshackled from the confines of a traditional album length offering, Django Django let their imagination run wild over 21 tracks of psychedelic-tinged electro art-pop. The album has been steadily brought out as a series of shorter releases, with the full opus now available together. All of these tracks were built from the computer up, with drummer Dave Maclean bringing beats that he had put together during lockdown and in the aftermath of 2021’s Glowing In The Dark. It’s not surprising then that the album can at times feel like a collection of vague sketches, albeit one that occasionally sputters to life in unexpected ways.

This record is peppered with guest stars from the UK indiemusic scene, which gives it the distinct feeling of being like a Gorillaz album where you don’t recognise any of the names. One exception is Self Esteem, whose star has ascended since she last joined forces with the band in 2018. Her turn on ‘Complete Me’ is an early highlight, plunging headfirst into early 90s rave. The result is surprisingly fun (and authentic), and later tracks in the same vein (such as ‘Don’t Touch That Dial’) pack a similar punch.

At times though, the album seems to take the kaleidoscopic approach that has made Django Django so interesting in the past and stretch it beyond recognition. Beats and melodies that would be just one ingredient in their psychedelic soup on previous releases are isolated and used as a backbone for entire songs, dulling what makes them so distinct in the first place.

Django Django’s ambition cannot be faulted though, and while there are stretches that drag, the highlights on Off Planet are summer-ready fun. While a little curation could have served up a tighter, more cohesive listen, there is also the distinct impression that if they didn’t throw everything at the wall then we wouldn’t get to see what sticks.

(Sean Greenhorn)

n Released on Friday 16 June.

PODCASTS BELIEVE IN MAGIC (BBC Sounds) lllll

The early days of Twitter were a surreal and unprecedented time when access to your favourite celebrity was just 140 characters away. In that context, 15-year-old Meg Bhari seized on an opportunity to gain the attention of her idol, Harry Styles. Claiming to be battling brain cancer and drumming up support for her children’s charity Believe In Magic, Meg and mother Jean sent upwards of 500 tweets a day to Styles asking for a retweet and support. Their persistence paid off, and soon One Direction were sporting Believe In Magic bracelets on tour and raising over £400m for the charity.

Gripping from start to finish, author and journalist Jamie Bartlett delves into Meg’s rapid rise to charity fame, from being interviewd by then BBC Radio host Jameela Jamil to receiving a Points Of Light Award from Prime Minister David Cameron. Over eight episodes, Bartlett discusses how the vague details surrounding her care soon raised suspicions that led Meg’s narrative to unravel, along with shocking truths about how funds were being used.

Most striking is the penultimate episode which drags listeners through an emotional quagmire as results of a safeguarding review make us question whether Meg was a complicit offender or the original victim of this elaborate scam.

(Leah Bauer)

n All episodes available now.

OTHER THINGS WORTH STAYING IN FOR

A packed month of things to do indoors includes albums with heavyweight cameos, a true Hollywood story that went sour and the return of a classic video game, while another beloved film gets the small-screen reboot treatment

ALBUMS SQUID

The alt-rock experimentalists return with O Monolith, a collection that the band themselves have dubbed ‘a stubborn record’. Honest, at least.

n Warp, Friday 9 June.

CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS

Madonna crops up for three slices of guest vocalising across the 20 tracks of Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, the ‘second part of an operatic gesture’ which kicked off with their 2022 release, Redcar les adorables étoiles. US rapper 070 Shake also drops in for a spot of collaborative action.

n Because Music, Friday 9 June.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS

Further heavyweight cameo action here as Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart is graced by Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Jesse Malin, Jeremy Ivey and Angel Olsen, and marks the Grammy winner’s entrance into her eighth decade.

n Highway 20 Records/Thirty Tigers, Friday 30 June.

BOOKS ELLIOT PAGE

Pageboy: A Memoir tells the frank story of how Page went from being an Oscar nominee for Juno to a noted trans activist, throughout facing scorn and abuse from some of Hollywood’s key players.

n Doubleday, Tuesday 6 June.

VV GANESHANANTHAN

As a vicious civil war tears through her Sri Lankan home town of Jaffna, 16-year-old Sashi parks her dreams of becoming a doctor and picks up the political fight. Brotherless Night has already received great acclaim from the likes of Celeste Ng and Curtis Sittenfeld.

n Viking, Thursday 29 June.

GAMES

STREET FIGHTER 6

Developed and published by Capcom, the Street Fighter franchise keeps on bludgeoning its way to game-playing glory, here featuring three overarching game modes: Fighting Ground, World Tour and Battle Hub.

n PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Friday 2 June.

PODCASTS

OUR PLANT STORIES

Those humble plants might have more to tell us about the core of our human experience than we might think.

n ourplantstories.com, new episodes every Monday.

TV FLAMIN’ HOT

Directed by Eva Longoria, this tells the true story of a janitor who turned Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a snack into a global phenomenon.

n Disney+, Friday 9 June.

THE FULL MONTY

Robert Carlyle, Hugo Speer and Mark Addy roll back the years as we follow the lives of Sheffield brothers in this TV version of a beloved 90s film.

n Disney+, Wednesday 14 June.

HIJACK

‘High’ ‘octane’ and ‘thriller’ will be readily bandied around for this series about the negotiators trying to bring an end to some hostage-taking in the skies, starring Idris Elba and Archie Panjabi.

n Apple TV+, Wednesday 28 June.

The Full Monty (and bottom from left), Christine And The Queens, Flamin’ Hot, Squid

back

Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? Danielle Brooks.

What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? If I told you, you’d know my favourite joke on my tour! I guess you’ll just have to come and see it live.

If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? I originally would have said an elephant but I want to be a black panther, because in this world you have to be a survivor.

If you were playing in an escape room name two other people (well-known or otherwise) you’d recruit to help you get out? I’d go for intelligence, fun and looks: Louis Theroux and Anthony Joshua.

When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? Last week, someone thought I was the other Black woman on Loose Women. They didn’t even say which one.

Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? M&S voiceover.

Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? Multiple dating. And saving money.

Describe your perfect Saturday evening? On the sofa with the children, watching Saturday night TV, with our favourite snack and my favourite wine.

If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? No one because if they weren’t worth my time or energy when I was alive, they’re surely not worth it when I’m not.

If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? Any day that I’ve had special moments with my mum and my children.

THE Q& A WITH JUDI LOVE

From Loose Women to Strictly and Taskmaster, comedian and presenter Judi Love is all over the telly, and now she’s out on tour. In our Q&A, she talks of destroying toilets, the soothing nature of M&S ads and her lack of interest in becoming a ghost

Did you have a nickname at school that you were OK with? Yes I did and I was fine with it. But I’m not telling you what it was.

If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to? All the Black artists that have never been recognised for their great work.

When were you most recently astonished by something? When I saw Dynamo do a magic trick. 2019, I think.

What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? Usher’s ‘U Remind Me’.

Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Myself, even though I find it weird to call myself famous. I just like my own space.

As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? ‘You’re my favourite and I love your hair; it’s just like mine’.

Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I can be shy.

When did you last cry? Not sure; I don’t keep a diary as I’m not a TikTok influencer. What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? My phone. I swear it does everything!

What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? Learning another language; it’s not too late I suppose, but damn it’s hard.

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 cupboard that has all the junk it in that you’ve convinced yourself you still need. No, actually that’s got pictures and wine in it . . . I’d destroy the toilet and then put a toilet in the bathroom.

If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Jamaica or Zanzibar.

Judi Love: The One Like Judi Love, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thursday 8 June.

hot shots

Now in their 21st year, Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black return to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre at the end of June for a double bill by Olivier Award-winning choreographers, Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November. ‘Then And Now’ is joined by ‘Pioneer’ which celebrates the life and work of Nina Simone.

Back on the road and once again in our hearts, Chvrches, led by Lauren Mayberry (formerly of The List parish), bring their synth-pop magic to Barrowlands for two nights and Fat Sams in Dundee for one in June. It’s been a couple of years since their last album, Screen Violence, so time for another one, right?

At Glasgow’s Old Hairdresser’s comes 1.5 Months, a DIY gig series which is almost monthly and promises ‘a night of electronic and experimental noise’. On 9 June, they welcome an array of acts headlined by the electronic improvisations of Lauren Sarah Hayes.