The Skinny February 2023

Belle and Sebastian — A Summer Wasting

Runrig — Loch Lomond

Queen and David Bowie — Under Pressure

Kenny Lo ins — Danger Zone

Journey — Don't Stop Believin'

Bastien Keb — Flowers

Otis Redding – (Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay

Ma ie Rogers — That's Where I Am

The Beach Boys — I Get Around

Boston — More Than a Feeling

Porridge Radio — Eugh

Mal Blum — New Year's Eve

Lil Mariko and Full Tac — Shiny

The Chemical — BrothersStar Guitar

Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for 'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code

Issue 205, February 2023 © Radge Media Ltd.

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Meet the team

We asked – Tell us about a time you've been asked to keep the noise down?

Rosamund West

Editor-in-Chief

"I was once booed off in karaoke by a bunch of dickheads after a frankly incandescent performance of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights inc. dance moves."

Peter Simpson

Digital Editor, Food & Drink Editor

"Mitski shushed me at a gig in Edinburgh six years ago. I *was* talking, and she was on stage at the time, so it was a fair cop. Sorry!"

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor

"My neighbour once turned up in a dressing gown and fluffy slippers at 1am to shout at me for laughing too loudly at Sleeping With Other People (dir. Leslye Headland, 2015)."

Jamie Dunn

Film Editor, Online Journalist

"I'm more of a shusher than a shushee."

Tallah Brash Music Editor

"I was asked politely to 'keep it down' when visiting my mum at hospital on New Year's Day. I was still drunk from NYE, the nurse looked like Steve Martin, we were all singing the song from The Man With Two Brains. iykyk"

Heléna Stanton Clubs Editor

"I had a neighbour in Glasgow about five years ago who was pretty unpleasant to be around. One time I was talking on the phone to my mum at 2 in the afternoon and he started banging on my floor from his ceiling with a broom. Still think about his audacity to this day."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor

"Polis came to a building-shuddering Fringe afterparty. Fair play, it was a Tuesday morning around 5am. Even better was the guy trying to convince the police that no-one lived in the flat and asking them where they got their costumes from."

Rho Chung Theatre Editor

"In middle school, a librarian shushed my group by saying, 'Close your mouths, and open your minds.'"

Business

Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor

"My friend was told to stop playing her medieval love ballads playlist so loudly in the library. I am not so edgy but I was there! "

Production

Harvey Dimond Art Editor "n/a"

Editorial Sales

Lewis Robertson Digital Editorial Assistant

"When I did the Duke of Edinburgh award as a teen I was perpetually shushed through the part that actually talked about the royals."

Laurie Presswood General Manager

"This is actually an extremely tri ering question for me as I used to get called 'foghorn' as a child."

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager

"They don’t call me ADHDD for no reason."

Phoebe Willison Designer

"Every single day of my life for trying to play the beat of 9 to 5 on my nails a la Dolly Parton."

Sandy Park

Commercial Director

"Being threatened with an ASBO by my mum's neighbour for having 50+ folk in the house while she was away in Barcelona."

George Sully

Sales and Brand Strategist

"I used to annoy my dad to no end by constantly dropping my ju ling balls while practicing in my room above the lounge. Really rock'n'roll."

Tom McCarthy Creative Projects Manager

"I found out that the studio space in my garage, while inaudable in my house, was causing everything to shake in a house across the road and three doors up. I'd been using the studio for three years before they worked out where the noise was coming from."

Editorial

Words: Rosamund West

Ishouldn’t be writing this editorial – we should have handed that responsibility / honour to Young Fathers, given they’ve been responsible for curating a lot of the content for this issue. However, we only thought of that when it was too late to foist it on them so here I am, back once again to talk you through the magazine.

It’s a Young Fathers Takeover! To celebrate the release of the Edinburgh trio’s fourth album, Heavy Heavy, and their upcoming sell-out dates, our music editor Tallah has been working closely with them to pull together an extra special edition reflecting some of their interests and preoccupations. The extensive interview was conducted in the band’s Leith rehearsal space while a special shoot by Nico Utuk took place in their nearby studio.

To go alongside this, we have been in touch with their former manager and producer, Tim London, who worked alongside them way back, before they were even called Young Fathers. He’s penned a letter, a list of remembrances of their journey and reflections on what they’ve achieved. We asked the band to send us recommendations of things to cover and they sent us so many recommendations we have made it into a spread, reflecting their diverse influences and inspirations. G, aka Graham Hastings, highlighted the Singeli Movement, a hyperspeed sound emerging from Tanzania, so we take a deep dive into that and the Nyege Nyege Tapes label which promotes it.

Other Young Fathers selections are scattered throughout the issue – the centre pages feature a poster by their choice of artist, Stephen Lee. Scotland on Screen focuses on Adura Onashile, partially at their su estion and partially (full disclosure) because our film editor Jamie wanted to talk to her anyway. The inside back Q&A features longtime collaborator and soon tour mate, Callum Easter, who you will no doubt be familiar with.

Beyond the Young Fathersphere, Art takes a tour of the Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡 exhibition currently residing in Collective, which examines Britain’s colonial legacy in Hong Kong. Intersections talks to Ally Zlatar, founder of multi awardwinning The Starving Artist, which seeks to platform the subjective experiences of those with eating disorders. We also have a first person piece by composer Finn Anderson about his work exploring the hidden histories of LGBTQ+ people within the Scottish folk tradition.

Film meets Georgia Oakley, the director of 80s-set drama Blue Jean, which explores the experience of living under the repressive homophobic legislation Section 28 through the character of a gay PE teacher. Legendary Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski introduces his donkey road-trip movie EO, and we talk to Hollywood icon, documentary pioneer and all round excellent interviewee Lee Grant ahead of her Glasgow Film Festival retrospective.

Clubs looks forward to the arrival in Glasgow of Berlin party Ismus, which began with the simple yet mildly terrifying premise of “Berlin with Scottish club energy.” We also meet Ponyboy, creators of one of Glasgow’s most spectacular club nights, a space to platform and amplify queer beauty, ahead of their Stereo takeover this month.

Theatre looks forward to the live return of MANIPULATE, the festival of visual theatre, puppetry and performance. Books meets Orsola Casagrande, whose anthology of Kurdish speculative fiction, Kurdistan +100, resists the erasure of the Kurdish identity from the historical record. Comedy meets Catherine Cohen, who returns to the Scottish stage with her first live show since 2019.

And that’s the February issue! Hope you like Young Fathers! Enjoy!

Cover Artist

Nico Utuk is a photographer based in Edinburgh, but with Nigerian roots. He is a keen photographer with the intention of capturing details, documenting moments, people and places he comes across in a manner that is true and honest.

nicoutuk.com

I: nico_utuk

Love Bites: Revelling in Re aeton

Words: Megan Merino

While visiting my paternal family in Chile one spring, my aunt brought me to a crowded rooftop full of cigarette smoke and tipsy 30-something-year-olds. Amid the clinking of glasses and ambient chatter, my ears locked on to the music playing. A repetitive rhythm, seemingly uncomplicated, but with a depth of groove that led to an immediate infatuation. “It’s called re aeton,” my aunt explained. “It’s very inappropriate. When you’re older you’ll understand.”

I believe my aunt’s nervousness stemmed from the explicitness of re aeton. Born out of Caribbean dancehall and American hip-hop across Panama, New York and Puerto Rico in the 80s, its roots in el barrio meant songs tended to be about social unrest, police brutality or courtship and sex, mostly from the perspective of straight cis men. This would also give way for el perreo (re aeton’s equivalent to twerking and da ering).

Despite my continued flirtations with re aeton, I never managed to fully embrace fandom, even when it was staring me in the face. During a two year stint in South Florida, where being a commercial re aeton fan was the norm among my high school peers, I clung to the safety of indie or hip-hop to assert my “individuality” and to avoid exposing my limited Latin pop knowledge. Before I knew it, I was back in the UK and my encounters with re aeton became limited to hearing Despacito or Gasolina on a night out (if I was lucky).

Immaturity definitely stood between my teenage self and feeling worthy of embracing an innately South American cultural phenomenon; the same way it stood between me and my understanding of re aeton’s explicit nature on that rooftop with my aunt. But with the gift of time, and delving into the more experimental sounds of Arca, Rosalía and Tokischa, as well as re aeton royalty Ivy Queen and El General, I’m learning to wholeheartedly and shamelessly revel in re aeton.

This month’s columnist reflects on a trip to Chile, embracing re aeton, and letting go of shame

Heads Up

Elizabeth Price: SLOW DANS

GOMA, Glasgow, until 14 May

Turner Prize-winning artist Elizabeth Price brings her critically acclaimed moving image installation to Glasgow for its Scottish premiere. Three ten screen videos - entitled KOHL, FELT TIP, and THE TEACHERS - present a fictional past, parallel present, and imagined future that examine entangled narratives of gender, labour, and sexual history, and the ephemeral state of our changing relationship with the material and digital.

Sophie Duker: Hag

The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 25

Feb, 5pm

Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominee Sophie Duker returns to the city for one night to perform her latest show Hag, a sharp and often merciless exploration of sex, race, and queer identity. In her own words, the baby you know from Taskmaster is all grown up - Hag heralds a new stage of Duker’s life and career, one that is just as hilarious and chaotic as before.

In honour of our Young Fathers takeover we spotlight a lot of amazing musicians, Scottish and otherwise, playing this month. There’s also art, gi les, and puppets galore.

Compiled

by Anahit Behrooz

Macbeth (an undoing)

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Glasgow, 4-25 Feb Lyceum Associate Artistic Director Zinnie Harris is known for her feminist reinterpretations of the theatre canon, with her remarkable The Duchess (of Malfi) reigniting the female silences in John Webster’s Jacobean original. This year sees her tackle one of the most famous women in early modern theatre, intertwining new writing with Shakespeare’s own words to place Lady Macbeth’s haunted interiority in a whole new light.

Weyes Blood

QMU, Glasgow, 10 Feb, 7pm

Alt indie star Weyes Blood hits up Scotland all the way from California for her latest tour. Her first album in over three years And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow was released last November to wide acclaim: exploring themes of disenchantment, the sacred and the profane, it showcases an artist whose work is as lyrically as it is melodically ground-breaking.

Fern Brady: Strong Female Character

The Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh, 10 Feb, 7:30pm

SPECTRA

Various venues, Aberdeen, 9-12 Feb

TAAHLIAH

SWG3, Glasgow, 18 Feb, 11pm

One of the most remarkable rising stars in Glasgow’s clubs scene, SAY Award nominee and Scottish Alternative Music Award-winner TAAHLIAH premieres her first live show this month. The Ultimate Angels takes place at SWG3, and draws as much from Glasgow’s various underground subcultures as it does the rich history of the queer scene, offering a genre-bending music experience like no other.

MANIPULATE Festival

Various venues, Edinburgh, 2-12 Feb

Grab your masks (no, the other ones) and put on your strings, Scotland’s festival dedicated to all things puppetry and physical theatre is back. After several years of online or last-minute shortened programmes, this year sees MANIPULATE Festival at full and dazzling capacity. Highlights include aerial theatre piece Arthropoda exploring toxicity in relationships and Moč (The Power), a marionette show about the fine balance of power.

Tuan Andrew Nguyen: All That We Are Is What We Hold In Our Outstretched Hands

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, 11 Feb-25 Mar

Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, 2 Feb-16 Mar

Bernie Reid: Ornamental Breakdown

SPECTRA

Fern Brady

Figure with Sports Sock, Bernie Reid All That We Are Is What We Hold

Photo: James Robertson

Photo: Parer Studio

Image: courtesy of Edinburgh Printmakers

Image: courtesy of CCA

Photo: Andrew Lee

Photo: Sarah Harry Isaacs

Photo: Laurence Winram

Photo: Spit Turner

Photo: Urska Boljkovac

Photo: Eliot Lee Hazel

Slow Dans 2, Elizabeth Price

Sophie Duker

Macbeth (an undoing), 2023

TAAHLIAH

Mo č (the Power) Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, MANIPULATE Festival

Weyes Blood

Nova Twins

La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, 24 Feb, 7pm

Punk rockers and The Skinny faves

Nova Twins return to Edinburgh to tear up La Belle Angele with their propulsive brand of grunge-y rap and rock fusion. Having only released their debut album in 2020, the most dynamic of duos have had a remarkable few years, with their latest album Supernova nominated for the 2022 Mercury Prize.

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me

Glee Club Glasgow, Glasgow, 9 Feb, 7pm

New York comedian Catherine Cohen is back with her chaotically musical and out of control horny brand of comedy. Having released her Netflix special The Twist...? She’s Gorgeous back in 2022 based on her 2019 Fringe show, she is now touring the equally iconic Come For Me, a wry exploration of what it means to enter your thirties as a woman both online and off.

On Clo er Lane

Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 21 Feb, 6:30pm

Andrew Black’s experimental film On Clo er Lane, the winner of the prestigious Margaret Tait Award 2021, examines the effects of capitalist infrastructures on the material landscape, uncovering the traces left by surveillance stations, reservoirs, and the graves of child labourers. Haunted and radically ecological, his sweeping documentary is screening for free for one night only at Glasgow Film Theatre.

Hamish Hawk Church, Dundee, 15 Feb, 7pm

With his latest album Angel Numbers set for release 3 February, Edinburgh lad Hamish Hawk is spending the month on tour all round the UK. Catch his irresistibly catchy, lyrically innovative (we’re particularly big fans of The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973) brand of indie pop around the country, including a stop-off at Dundee.

Robert Fry: Remapped

Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, until 5 Mar Robert Fry’s otherworldly etchings and drawings interrogate the history of the human form, from the prehistoric to the ancient Egyptian, medieval, Renaissance and beyond to examine the psychological, emotional, and spiritual nature of our embodied existence, and the boundaries that we navigate between our inner and outer selves.

Heaters // Hypnotikk: Saachi

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 15 Feb, 11pm

Sneaky’s regular midweek party welcomes Saachi to the gang. A London-based DJ and a member of the prolific Daytimers collective, Saachi’s sets blend house, UK garage, bassline and electro sounds to genre-bending effect. Find them in the Sneaky’s sweatbox this month, with support from Heaters regular Hypnotikk.

All details were correct at the time of writing, but are subject to change. Please check organisers’ websites for up to date information.

Rachel Sermanni

The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 23 Feb, 7pm

FLY Club

Sub Club, Glasgow, 9+16+23

11pm

Metropolis

Image: courtesy of Cameo

Image: courtesy of artist

Image: courtesy of artist

Viv Latifa

Rachel Sermanni

Image: courtesy of Sub Club

Image: courtesy of Gaby Jerrard PR

Photo: Emanuele Centi

Image: courtesy of artist

Image: courtesy of artist and Arusha Gallery

Image: courtesy of artist

Photo: Federica Burelli

Catherine Cohen

Hamish Hawk

Saachi

Mutually vulnerable, Robert Fry

On Clo er Lane

Nova Twins

What's On

Music

Celebrating its tenth edition, the beginning of the month sees us arrive a couple of days into the 2023 UK-wide Independent Venue Week (IVW). While you won’t catch this year’s Scottish Ambassadors Young Fathers anywhere nearby (they play Norwich Arts Centre on 1 Feb), you can catch English rock legends Suede in a basement on Glasgow’s Renfield Lane as they play Stereo (3 Feb).

There’s crossover at the start of the month in Glasgow between IVW and Celtic Connections (until 5 Feb), meaning you can double down and enjoy a festival at the same time as supporting your favourite venues. Highlights include all-female and non-binary collective Hen Hoose at St Luke’s (4 Feb), and Lost Map Records at Òran Mór (5 Feb), celebrating ten years of the iconic Scottish label. In Edinburgh, following opening shows from Callum Easter and Maranta last month, Leith Depot continue their grand return with IVW shows from the likes of Pocket Monica and Hailey Beavis (1 Feb) and The Honey Farm and Queen of Harps (3 Feb). AMPLIFI is back at The Queen’s Hall with producer and disability rights activist Supermann on da beat, randombrownkid and Viv Latifa (1 Feb), and Summerhall welcomes Jill Lorean and Poster Paints for a co-headline show (2 Feb), before Grace & The Flatboys play Sneaky Pete’s (5 Feb).

Outwith all of that IVW excitement, Canadian popstar supreme Carly Rae Jepsen rolls into Glasgow’s O2 Academy (8 Feb) to celebrate her latest album The Loneliest Time, Weyes Blood brings And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow to QMU (10 Feb), Cate Le Bon affiliate Sweet Baboo plays The Hug & Pint and Dry Cleaning’s deadpan delights can be caught at the iconic Barrowlands on the 17th. A slew of local talent can be caught in Glasgow throughout the month too. In honour of his latest album, Angel Numbers, Hamish Hawk plays St Luke’s on the 16th (note: he also plays dates in Dundee and Aberdeen this month), TAAHLIAH plays her debut live show at SWG3 (18 Feb), Rachel Sermanni plays The Glad Cafe (23 Feb), Health and Beauty plays The Poetry Club (24 Feb) and A. Wesley Chung plays The Flying Duck (25 Feb).

In Edinburgh, She Drew the Gun plays Voodoo Rooms (23 Feb), while the following day, pick between Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs at The Liquid Room or Nova Twins at La Belle Angele. Or keep things local with Edinburgh singer-songwriter SILVI at Sneaky Pete’s (8 Feb), Wavetable’s 14th instalment at Whitespace (23 Feb) or check out 249’s Blind Date Special featuring Glasgow outfit Maz & The Phantasms on the 24th. [Tallah Brash]

Film

February sees the welcome return of Sarah Polley, whose fantastic fourth feature Women Talking is released 10 February (see p. 59). To mark the occasion, GFT have programmed Polley’s three previous films (Away from Her, 15 & 23 Feb; Take this Waltz, 16 & 22 Feb; Stories We Tell, 26 & 28 Feb) as part of their CineMasters series. They’ll also be showing a bonus film from Polley’s acting career: Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (17 Feb).

The final two weeks of the Catalan Film Festival continue into February with screenings still to take place at GFT, CCA, St Peter’s Episcopal Church Hall in Edinburgh, and DCA. Highlights include Albert Serra’s Pacifiction (GFT, 5 Feb), which Cahiers du Cinema proclaimed the film of 2022, and One

All details correct at the time of writing

Photo: Meredith Jenks_

Photo: Lucy Hunter

Photo: Marilena

Vlachopoulou

Carly Rae Jepsen

Hamish Hawk

Health and Beauty

Year, One Night (GFT, 11 Feb), a bittersweet drama following a couple who experience a terrorist attack.

With the Oscars around the corner, it’s the perfect time to dig into DCA’s Hollywood on Hollywood season, which features movies set in Tinseltown. The series comes to a close with Oscar-winner The Artist (2 Feb) and Nicholas Ray’s knockout In a Lonely Place, in which Humphrey Bogart’s booze-soaked, misanthropic Hollywood screenwriter gets accused of murder (5 Feb). If classic German cinema is more your scene, Cameo has a cracking season in February of films made during the Weimar era. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (5 Feb), The Blue Angel (12 Feb), Metropolis (19 Feb) and M (26 Feb) all screen.

Andrew Black won the Margaret Tait Award back in 2021, but the film he made with the commissioned prize fund, titled On Clo er Lane, is only getting the light of day this month (GFT, 21 Feb) thanks to pandemic-related delays. Shot in a valley in Yorkshire, we’re told the film explores the infrastructures of capital on land haunted by accusations of witchcraft and populated by indecipherable prehistoric carvings and the graves of child labourers. Cheery stuff. If you’re interested in what sparks Black’s dark imagination, he’s heading to CCA on 16 February to present A Vision of Hell, a programme of short films that influenced On Clo er Lane and touch on similar themes.

Oh, and it’s Valentine’s Day. So if you must buy into this commercial holiday, you might as well watch great films. Before Sunrise and Portrait of a Lady on Fire at GFT or True Romance at Cameo should do the trick (on 14 Feb, obvs x). [Jamie Dunn]

Clubs

Kicking off February, Lezure have their 8th Birthday party at La Cheetah, with special guest Anunaku, aka TVSI, support from Wheelman b2b Sloan, while in Edinburgh, Miss World present London-based footwork enthusiast Softi at Sneaky Pete’s (3 Feb).

Saturday 4 February sees Glasgow’s Pure Bliss for a Scottish debut AAMOUROCEAN – expect gabber and hardcore at Stereo.

Heaters is back at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh, with SHERELLE and I. JORDAN. This one is for the jungle heads, with both artists going B2B all night (8 Feb).

On 10 Feb, Stereo Presents: LSDXOXO x Ponyboy, fast becoming a huge night within Glasgow’s vibrant queer scene. This showcase includes 18 support acts and artists.

Loose Joints mark the return of their romantic Valentine’s night – slow melodies and chemistry are cautioned. London’s Martelo plays, with support from Boosterhooch and Dilly Joints at The Berkeley Suite (11 Feb).

On 17 February, Erosion hosts Nick León at Stereo, support from Joe Unknown, while at SWG3 big techno is back with Teletech – lots of 4x4 and hardcore will be on offer. Over at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh FLY CLUB presents Surusinghe, while up in Dundee London brothers Overmono are at Fat Sams.

TAAHLIAH’s The Ultimate Angels is at SWG3, with support from Miss Cabbage and BABYNYMPH. At Stereo, Plant Bass’d invites Kessler for his Scottish debut – the native Belfast will be heavy, with lots of breaks and jungle (18 Feb).

Club Sylkie have their first party of 2023, with YCO founder AYA, Raphaela, and Katelate support at Sneaky Pete’s (23 Feb). Finally, David Vunk of Moustach Records and all-round Rotterdam legend, plays for SYS alongside Bonzai Bonner at The Berkeley Suite (25 Feb). [Heléna Stanton]

Art

In Glasgow, Elizabeth Price’s exhibition SLOW DANS opens the Gallery of Modern Art’s 2023 programme. The three multi-channel video works explore the relationship between labour, class, fashion and gender in the UK, including the legacies of the mining industry. SLOW DANS continues until 14 May.

In Glasgow’s Southside, I’ve never met anyone quite like you before at Queens Park Railway Club brings together a kaleidoscope of works by contemporary painters based in Scotland. Open by appointment until March, the exhibition includes works by Neil Clements, Erica Eyres and Merlin James Asuf Ishaq’s first solo show in Glasgow opens on 2 February at The Glasgow School of Art’s Reid Gallery. In Articles of Home, Ishaq revisits personal archives and draws on his experience of childhood migration to unravel themes of cultural and geographical dislocation and reinvention. The exhibition closes on 22 February.

At the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Into The Distance brings together a number of artists who have received the RSA Barns-Graham

LSDXOXO

Photo: Kirk Lisaj

Lourdes @ Ponyboy

SHERELLE

Photo: Tiu Makkonen

THE TEACHERS Elizabeth Price

Image: courtesy Elizabeth Price

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Travel Award since its creation in 2006. As well as a presentation of new work by the 2021 award winner Paige Silverman, there will be current works by previous winners including Mina Heydari-Waite, Aleksandra Zawada and Shipei Wang. The exhibition continues until 1 March.

In Dundee, the Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee presents an exhibition of works by the late filmmaker Harun Farocki. Consider Labour brings together a selection of the pioneering artists’ films and filmic essays, which think through forms of visible and invisible labour in global contexts. The exhibition opens on 3 February and continues until 1 April. [Harvey Dimond]

Theatre

Scottish theatre is having a busy February, with the MANIPULATE Festival kicking off its innovative and challenging programme on the 2 February. In its first fully in-person festival since 2020, MANIPULATE is offering a wide variety of new work for audiences from all backgrounds (2-12 Feb).

This month, Stirling’s Macrobert Art Centre will see the world premiere of Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo’s new folk musical A Mother’s Song The story follows three extraordinary women at different eras and locales, and it traces the journey of Scottish folk music across the Atlantic Ocean from Stirling to New York City (23-26 Feb).

Glasgow’s A Play, A Pie, and a Pint kicks off a promising year with Until It’s Gone, written by Alison Carr and directed by Caitlin Skinner. The story imagines a world in which women are extinct and what becomes of the men who are left behind. The play will run at Glasgow’s Òran Mór and Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre (20-25 Feb).

A Play, A Pie, and a Pint also brings Áine King’s Burning Bright to the Traverse Theatre. Directed by Roxana Haines, the play explores the climate crisis from three separate perspectives (27 Feb-4 Mar).

February sees the return of Scottish Opera’s touring production Opera Highlights. This imaginative work combines old favourites with lesser-known treats, and it includes the world premiere of a new piece by Toby Hession, one of Scottish Opera’s 2021/22 Emerging Artists. The production will visit East Kilbride, Crail, Garvald, Perth, Stonehaven, Boat of Garten, Invergarry, Wick, Kirkwall, Ullapool, Torridon, Isle of Skye, Oban, Campbeltown, Bowmore, Gretna, Hawick, and Ayr (14 Feb-25 Mar).

In addition, The Citizens Theatre will tour Maryam Hamidi’s new work, Moonset, at Glasgow’s Tron and Edinburgh’s Traverse this month (3-18 Feb). The play features five powerful performances by a diverse group of women as they delve into teenage witchcraft, friendship, and coming-of-age.

[Rho Chung]

Books

Paisley Book Festival takes place from 16-19 February. It’s the fourth iteration of the festival, and this year’s theme is Remake and Rebel – so expect a plethora of writers who challenge social norms in their own way. Some highlights include Michael Pedersen and former-Makar Jackie Kay chatting about Pedersen’s Boy Friends (18 Feb), social commentator and writer Darren McGarvey in conversation with the festival’s writer-in-residence Kerry Hudson about his latest non-fiction offering, The Social Distance Between Us (18 Feb), and Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery and Leyla Josephine discussing their debut poetry collections (18 Feb). Those looking for spoken word are in luck – Kevin P. Gilday’s Anxiety Cabaret (17 Feb) combines the poetry of Sean Wai Keung and Katie Ailes with the comedy of Elaine Malcolmson and music of MilesBetter, while the next day the festival hosts Gray Crosbie, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir and Titilayo Farukuoye. Phew!

If that’s not enough, the following week Aberdeen hosts the nation’s first crime festival of the year – the formidable Granite Noir. This year’s festival has a fair few events focused on the Gothic and horror – Heather Parry and Ever Dundas will discuss the edgy, weird and wonderful (25 Feb), Angie Spoto and Carole Johnstone will explore the gothic (25 Feb) and Anna Cheung, Katalina Watt and Eliza Chan will chat about their work on 25 February – followed by a DJ set from Arusa Qureshi. Those after more traditional crime offerings can hear from icon Val McDermid (24 Feb), Chris Brookmyre, Denzil Meyrick and Doug Johnstone (24 Feb) and there’ll be a classic Scandi crime conversation (23 Feb).

Not to be left out, there are a couple of exciting poetry events in Edinburgh this month. World Gaelic Week will be celebrated at the Scottish Poetry Library (23 Feb), and Our Time is a Garden, a new collection of nature writing from Scottish women and non-binary writers of colour (edited by Dr Alycia Pirmohamed) will be launched at Summerhall (3 Feb).

[Nasim Rebecca Asl]

Opera Highlights

Jackie Kay

SUPERNORMAL TIMES Rabiya Choudhry

Image: courtesy the artist

Photo: Fraser Band

Photo: Mary McCartney

Michael Pedersen

Image: The Portobello Bookshop

Heather Parr

Photo: Dave Parry

Features

20 Young Fathers Takeover! We talk to the Edinburgh trio about their new album Heavy Heavy

27 The hyperspeed sound of Dar Es Salaam, we explore the Tanzanian Singeli Movement .

28 Young Fathers’ former manager and co-producer, Tim London, pens a letter to the band.

30 Here are a few of Young Fathers’ favourite things aka inspirations and influences

38 We meet Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡 to unpack their latest exhibition at Collective.

39 Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski discusses donkey road movie EO

40 Georgia Oakley on 1980s-set Section 28 drama Blue Jean

42 We meet label and promoter Ismus, hosts of parties across Europe, ahead of their first Glasgow date.

44 Looking forward to the live return of Puppet Animation Scotland’s MANIPULATE festival.

46 We talk collaboration and community with iconic queer club night Ponyboy

48 Orsola Casagrande on Kurdistan + 100, an anthology of Kurdish speculative fiction.

49 Catherine Cohen brings her delectable comedy outlook to Scotland for her first new show since 2019

On the website...

Comedy news! Our fortnightly film podcast, The Cineskinny! News of the Glasgow Film Festival and Glasgow Comedy Festival programmes! Our weekly Zap! newsletter, with events, things to do etc!

Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Nico Utuk; Jan Moss; courtesy Tim London; courtesy Toots And The Maytals; Sally Jubb; Łucasz Bąk; Blue Jean; Nick Cocozza; Urska Boljkovac; Tiu Makkonen; Ione Rail; Evan Murphy

Shot of the month

Viagra Boys @ Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, 21 Jan by Serena Milesi

Across

1. 2023 album by Young Fathers (5,5)

6. The Greek god of love (4)

10. A biblically accurate one is mainly eyes (5)

11. Ripe torso (anag) (9)

12. Sedition (7)

13. Make very angry – smelly stuff (7)

14. Interweave (7)

16. Converted (e.g. a video file) – need doc (anag) (7)

18. Bar (7)

21. To have and to hold (7)

23. Feline (7)

24. Technophobe (7)

26. Synthetic fabric (9)

27. Ascend – ascent (5)

28. 2014 Mercury Prize-winning album by Young Fathers (4)

29. 2018 album by Young Fathers (5,5)

Down

1. Serious – he flatter (anag) (9)

2. Embi en – improve (7)

3. E middles (5)

4. Eradicate (7)

5. Remnant (7)

7. Ruled (7)

8. Binge – peers (anag) (5)

9. Ostentatious birds – struts proudly (8)

15. Worshipped (8)

17. Chop a limb off (9)

19. Kneecap (7)

20. Virtuoso – conductor (7)

21. Capital of Sicily – where some of The White Lotus season 2 takes place (7)

22. Departing (7)

23. The Roman god of love (5)

25. Richards (5) Turn

Compiled by George Sully

Young Fathers Takeover

Words: Tallah Brash

Photography: Nico Utuk

This month we’re celebrating the release of Young Fathers’ fourth album, Heavy Heavy, in true style with a special Young Fathers Takeover issue. Naturally, we kick off proceedings with an in-depth discussion with the trio, which sits alongside some beautiful imagery shot on the same day by Edinburgh-based photographer Nico Utuk. Beyond the interview, as co-curators for the issue, Alloysious Massaquoi, Graham ‘G’ Hastings and Kayus Bankole pulled together a pretty mammoth list of ideas, so later you’ll find a spread where the band talk about just some of the people, Stephen Lee is an Edinburgh-based mixed media artist. “The most interesting work comes from that connection you have with the people you are working with,” he tells us, “inspiring one another to go further, go somewhere else, experiment with any process that comes to hand, whether it’s mixed media, analogue or digital, and being combined with those unexpected collaborative outcomes.”

Poster Artist

organisations and art that inspires them. There’s a letter to the band from their former manager and co-producer Tim London, as well as a feature profiling Ugandan label Nyege Nyege Tapes and Tanzania’s fast-paced Singeli Movement. In the centre spread, you’ll find a pullout poster from artist and friend of the band Stephen Lee. For our regular Scotland On Screen feature, Film speaks to Adura Onashile, while long-time friend of Young Fathers (and member of their live band) Callum Easter takes on our monthly Q&A on the inside back pages. Of the poster he tells us: “The artwork is taken from a series of images that are an experimental collaboration. The idea was to recycle and reinvent imagery, text, and materials to create pieces that retain a strong human connection.”

I: @art369.co.uk

Caught Up In a Moment

On a drizzly Edinburgh afternoon, we meet Young Fathers in their rehearsal space to find out about their latest album Heavy Heavy and what makes them tick as a band

Interview: Arusa Qureshi

Photography: Nico Utuk

There can be real magic in the mundane. We see it every day – in the small, unremarkable actions of regular people which turn into extraordinary feats. Or in the familiar, run-of-themill spaces that act as breeding grounds for the best kinds of creativity. Behind some graffitied shutters in an inconspicuous rehearsal space just minutes from Easter Road, you may find Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and Graham ‘G’ Hastings concocting such magic on any given day. As Young Fathers, they’ve had well over a decade of records, international tours and industry plaudits. But even after all the success and time together, this trio still chooses to harness their collective power from the simple things, be that their surroundings, their regard for each other’s differences or their penchant for the unconstrained.

“All our albums have always been that – the idea is you have no idea what you’re going to make,” Hastings explains, arranging a makeshift circle of chairs for us to sit and have our chat. We’re in said rehearsal space, surrounded by what is likely years of Young Fathers’ fixtures – instruments, electronics, miscellaneous bits and pieces all scattered around this compact room. Everywhere you look, there’s something interesting that’ll catch your eye: to the left, an imposing curved reflective backdrop and to the right, stacked boxes of the group’s new record, ready and waiting to go out.

“A lot of times, we do one or two takes,” Massaquoi continues. “We’re lucky enough to have started when we were really young so we’ve done essentially every sort of process going. We’ve sat with a song for two, three months before, trying to chisel it. We’ve done it all.”

there’s a level of feeling like it’s a special thing. And there’s something magical about that; you don’t want to fuck with that. So when we approach it in that way, it’s somewhat sacred, and you just want to capture it and then leave.”

Though Heavy Heavy is the result of a significant break that the band always intended to take, its inception was naturally affected by the forced separation tri ered by the arrival of COVID-19. But when the unit returned as one, that sense of capturing something sacred in the moment, of honing in on the spontaneity of it all, felt all the more valid and essential. As Massaquoi explains, “When you capture the moment very fast, you have the opportunity to hear it how a listener is going to hear it. And then when you hear it a second time, after a few days or a week or however long, then you can hear that something’s missing. There’s a sense of freedom, because everyone’s differences are being put to the forefront and supported and encouraged. Everybody has their idiosyncrasies and all that is pushed and that’s what makes it what it is. It just feels better every time.”

The overarching belief in that freedom extends beyond recording to the roll-out of the album’s singles too. Geronimo, the first track to be unveiled from Heavy Heavy, wasn’t even considered a single to begin with. The group had I Saw, the album’s second single and a track arguably more akin to their recognisably frenetic sound, in their arsenal. But in keeping with the theme of spontaneity, they chose to go with the unexpected instead.

“We kind of enjoy the element of surprise ourselves,” Hastings notes. “Even when we’re recording, you’re trying to surprise yourself all the time and come up with something different. And you can have that with releases as well – you can have some fun with it, for example, knowing that we have I Saw, but putting Geronimo out first.”

“I think at the time, it seemed like a departure from the sort of stuff we’d done before,” Massaquoi continues. “With this process, it’s like we’re building things back up again. So it didn’t seem right to come in with a bang, right from the get-go.”

that we had with David were just a creative exchange of ideas. It wasn’t until later on, further down the line, that we said, this is the video we want to shoot. These are all a bunch of ideas that we have, how can we translate it and make it feel like something?” There was a steady back and forth between the trio and Uzochukwu on the subject of the video, but what is perhaps most interesting about the process is the fact that they were thinking not just about that one song, but the album on the whole.

“Remember when albums used to feel impossible?” Hastings interjects. And he’s right – albums did once upon a time feel like this mammoth mission that only the elite few could pull off. But when Young Fathers worked on their debut mixtape Tape One in 2011, they recorded it within a week. And Tape Two was recorded almost immediately afterwards, in January 2012. Heavy Heavy, their fourth studio album and their first since 2018’s Cocoa Sugar, is the main topic of conversation today and the overwhelming ease and comfort that emanates from each band member su ests that they’ve nailed their approach of going back to basics.

“What fits us the best was when we used to record in Graham’s bedroom, with a karaoke machine and one take,” Massaquoi says. “So it’s funny that we’ve gone back to that. I think we are in a sort of minority where we believe that music can change the world and influence and with that,

It might not have reintroduced Young Fathers with the kind of “bang” that they’re used to, but Geronimo kicked the album cycle off with a profound feeling that something radical was afoot; that the unrestrained energy we’re used to would arrive with the addition of new ideas and influences, as well as a refreshed feeling of defiance. You can hear the latter clearly in the aforementioned I Saw, a track that is searing in its politicallycharged storytelling, reflecting on communality and how people can turn a blind eye en masse. What amplifies the track, however, is its accompanying music video, created by Austrian-Nigerian artist and filmmaker David Uzochukwu.

“When you hear the song, you don’t expect that kind of video,” Massaquoi says. “And I think that’s one of the strongest parts about it.” The striking video, which depicts a fictional community performing rituals beneath the moon on a beach, was similarly born out of the band’s desire to embrace the undetermined.

“I think what comes out of it is that it wasn’t set in stone,” Bankole begins. “The conversations

As Bankole explains, “We were thinking conceptually how we can create these vignettes that can translate the overall feel of the sense of community that existed within the album. So there was that element where you felt like the possibilities were endless, that you could mix and match ideas and contrast it and put it together and see what happens. And [David] was willing enough to take that plunge with us and just see where it goes. Sometimes when you think about something, and your mind is completely set, it blocks possibilities.”

“It’s like staring at the sun, and you can’t see anything else,” Hastings adds. It’s something that has admittedly come with experience but the trio also acknowledge how much more content they are in their musical choices and this idea of rolling with the punches.

“Maybe the break that we had was necessary for us to appreciate how important being surprised is in the midst of creating stuff,” Bankole says. “Now I know that’s my kick, that’s my Achilles heel. That’s the thing that gives me that hit. I didn’t know it when we were getting back into the studio and starting to record. I forgot without any hesitation how great my brothers are. I’m constantly impressed. I’m constantly feeling like something new is brewing that I would never have been able to imagine or do by myself.”

In person, there’s a warmth in the group’s dynamic that comes from their obvious mutual respect for one another. But aside from the regular cracking of jokes and their overall welcoming demeanour, you can’t ignore the urgency and

“We believe that music can change the world”

Alloysious Massaquoi, Young Fathers

"We've had to double down on being serious in order for people to take us seriously"

Graham 'G' Hastings, Young Fathers

weight they clearly place on their craft. “It’s never been just a bunch of mates wanting to make music and having a laugh,” Hastings says, “it’s never been that. For us, it’s always been very, very serious.”

This undeniably translates on stage too, where the group become an altogether otherworldly entity. They are formidable in their presence, with unbounded physical energy, holding and releasing tension at the perfect moments. Watching them live is an intense experience and at the same time, wholly cathartic and joyful.

“We embody something extremely more visceral and more humane and connect them to the root,” Bankole states when asked why people connect so strongly with them in that live setting. “So when it comes to being on stage, when you leave all that shit outside of the door, it just opens up a world where people feel like they’re part of it, there’s a sense of connection that no one is excluded from.”

“For us, it’s always been anti-nonchalant and anti-cool and collected,” Hastings adds. “It’s about fucking passion and using your frustrations and letting it all hang out because that is what we like when we see it in other performers.”

As the conversation turns to notable performances like Glastonbury and Jools Holland, they admit that their passion and seriousness hasn’t always been received in the most positive light. When they beat the likes of Damon Albarn and FKA twigs to win the Mercury Prize for Dead in 2014, for example, they were slated for not smiling on stage. “There was so much fuss made about us not smiling,” Massaquoi asserts. “And when they interviewed us after, they were like, ‘you seem like you’re not even bothered’.”

It’s a common trope, especially in the arts and especially for people of colour, that gratitude should just flow out of you. Make no mistake, Young Fathers understand how awards like the Mercury and The SAY Award, which they’ve won twice, have made a huge difference in their

trajectory. But then and even now, they can say with confidence that they deserved to be there. And those that mistake their seriousness for indifference are ultimately wrong to do so.

“It’s when people say things like, ‘can you believe they’re Scottish?’ – that’s the thing that annoys me,” Hastings says. “There’s racist connotations in it, there’s a lot of connotations of snobbery, of ‘this is credible music and this is not’ and we’ve had to double down on being serious in order for people to take us seriously in that world.”

Being straight-faced on stage, in photographs and at events has become a kind of shield for the band but it’s also another way to place all focus on the music; to remove ego from the equation and lay everything bare in its most simplistic sense. You can hear this throughout Heavy Heavy – from the gospel-flavoured exuberance of opener Rice to Drum’s Yoruba lyrics and restless rhythms; from the jangling backdrop of Sink or Swim to the gentle build and cacophony of piano-led finale Be Your Lady. It’s a collage of experiences, genres and influences that manages to tap into something exceptional and communal, attempting to counteract the separation we readily see in the world.

“I think this record in particular, it’s undeniably steeped in humanity,” Massaquoi says. “There’s so many different conversations happening. And it’s about how we can all be talking about something different, but we’ve all honed in on the feeling of the song. You’ve got three Beyoncés and that’s probably what that is – we can all hold the fort individually and we can all support each other in that same process. What we do is like a glorious mess but it works and we made it work.”

Bankole nods in agreement with his fellow bandmates. “For me personally, it’s taking all the shit that you get buried in and just cutting through all that to connect to the complexities of the world,” he says. “Not in like a mystical way; that sounds fucking cliché and airy fairy. I mean it in a more simplistic way, just cutting through all the

rubbish and just connecting with the human feeling. That’s the bit for me that I want people to get from the record.”

As the sun sets outside and the rain hammers down hard on the studio’s roof, Massaquoi is trying desperately to remember the name of a song. It’s something he heard on the way home from a night out which temporarily transported him from the mundanity of his surroundings to somewhere cinematic and miraculous. “The ordinary became the extraordinary and it just caught me in a moment,” he muses. “And that’s the thing you want music to do – you want to be caught up in a moment to sort of drift off.”

After some Googling, we discover it’s P.M. Dawn’s Set Adrift on Memory Bliss – a certifiable banger. But as the conversation returns to Heavy Heavy and the band’s upcoming tour around the UK and Europe, it’s apparent that this moment of connection and transportation from the most banal of situations is what each of them covet with their own music.

“We’ve created something that for a lot of people is going to be extraordinary,” Massaquoi affirms, “and we’re just normal dudes that have an idea, trying to make something bi er and better than ourselves, and beyond ourselves.”

With Heavy Heavy, Young Fathers succeed in stripping everything away to its rudimentary, raw and human level so you’re left with pure tenderness, unabashed fury and truth. But there can be real magic in the mundane. And in this inconspicuous rehearsal space just minutes from Easter Road, it’s evident that they have found and amassed that magic tenfold.

Heavy Heavy is released on 3 Feb via Ninja Tune

Young Fathers play La Belle Angele for Assai Records, Edinburgh, 10 Feb; O2 Academy, Glasgow, 3 Mar & 4 Mar young-fathers.com

“Sometimes when you think about something, and your mind is completely set, it blocks possibilities”

Kayus Bankole, Young Fathers

Urge to Dance

A new youth-driven sound is spilling out from the streets in Tanzania’s largest city. At furious speeds as high as 300BPM, Singeli takes no prisoners

Words: Becca Inglis

“Sometimes you get in a rut artistically and think everything’s been done. Then something comes along and proves you wrong,” says Young Fathers’ Graham ‘G’ Hastings of the Tanzanian Singeli Movement. “Africa is originality. It is the future and the past, in sync.”

A fizzing energy surges through every note of Singeli, a hyperspeed helter-skelter sound erupting out of Tanzania. Driving their looping samples all the way up to 200-300BPM, Singeli producers hold their dancers in a tight grip, rarely allowing them reprieve from the frantic rhythms and rapid cascade of tracks flying from the speakers. It could only ever have come out of Dar es Salaam.

One of the world’s fastest-growing cities, Dar es Salaam is now home to nearly eight million people. Dodoma may be Tanzania’s official capital, but the majority would agree that Dar es Salaam is its most vibrant hub for economics and culture – particularly one slum neighbourhood, Mburahati.

This is the birthplace of Singeli. It was here that Sisso Mohamed first started producing on his laptop, before setting up a studio by his house in 2013. Just up the road is DJ Duke’s label, Pamoja Records. From these two doorsteps, Singeli’s convulsive rhythms and breakneck vocals have flowed into Mburahati’s streets, onto local radio stations like EFM, and out to the rest of Tanzania. “It was seen as ghetto music,” Duke told an NTS documentary. “Now everyone loves Singeli. Now you can play it anywhere. Even our income has increased. Before we just made Singeli because we loved the music.”

Singeli is a singular genre. You might compare it to gabber, but it’s more closely aligned with several older Tanzanian sounds like Taarab, a traditional music that combines Swahili with influences from India and the Middle East, jazz, the Casio keyboard-based Mchiriku, and Bongo Flava, a Tanzanian spin on 80s American hip-hop.

Taarab and Bongo Flava are both listed as official national music by Baraza la Muziki la Taifa (Swahili for the National Music Council), which, from 1974, supported a wider drive to form a cohesive national identity for post-colonial Tanzania. Policy at this time was guided by Ujamaa – a philosophy that tied decolonisation to African socialism, as directed by then prime minister, Julius Nyerere. Foreign music imports were largely banned under Ujamaa, to give Tanzanian artists the space to create their own culture. But when those rules relaxed, and American hip-hop flooded the country, Bongo Flava was born.

Singeli is Bongo Flava’s natural successor. It speaks to a generation that has grown up not under Ujamaa, but rather encroaching capitalism. It is a distinctively youthful genre – Duke was just 13 when he started making music, and 18 when he founded Pamoja Records. Singeli MCs rattle off bars depicting the minutiae of their young lives (problems at work, problems with school, and problems with the police), which capture the spirit of a new generation coming of age. As one Nyege Nyege spokesperson puts it, “It is the electronic music scene that is most clearly countercultural, a true expression of Tanzanian ghetto youth culture.”

Nyege Nyege has played a central role in Singeli’s international explosion. At the same time that Sisso was opening his music studio, Arlen Dilsizian and Derek Debru were starting a new kind of party in Kampala, Uganda. Unlike other local club nights, which played dancehall, re ae and hip-hop, the fledgling Boutiq Electroniq centred local sounds – like kuduro, coupé-décalé and soukous – alongside Western house and techno. This would become the foundation of Nyege Nyege Tapes, the label now creating a global buzz around East African electronic music.

‘Nyege nyege’ roughly translates from Luganda to ‘the feeling of a sudden uncontrollable urge to dance’ – which could have been written about Singeli itself. Dar es Salaam’s thriving scene is an obvious fit for the label. When Dilsizian caught wind of it in 2016, he flew in to track Singeli’s pioneers down, and in 2017 the groundbreaking Sounds of Sisso compilation arrived. Nyege Nyege continues to champion Singeli on the world stage. In 2021, it released a follow-up

compilation, Sounds of Pamoja, which platforms the scene’s MCs alongside Duke’s dark hip-hopinspired production. Individual artists have also taken their turn on the label, with Sisso, Bamba Pana, Duke and Jay Mitta all enjoying solo releases. Those frenzied live sounds that ricochet around Mburahati have gone global as well. Bamba Pana and Makivelli first represented Singeli at Nyege Nyege Festival in 2017, and last year were joined by 17 more Tanzanian artists. Europe is pricking its ears up too, with Unsound, Boiler Room and Berlin’s CTM all throwing their weight behind Singeli artists. With filmmaker Jan Moszumański now putting the finishing touches to a documentary, titled Singeli Movement: Greed for Speed, the future looks bright for Tanzania’s underground.

“Singeli might be the only African sound system culture with a homegrown rave aesthetic deeply embedded into it, from the way it sounds to the way it’s performed,” says a Nyege Nyege spokesperson. “It gets performed in the streets, block parties and concerts, where mosh pits are the order of the day. It might be less polished than other genres, but it’s loud, fast and noisy, like no other genre on the continent.”

“It is a true expression of Tanzanian ghetto youth culture”

Nyege Nyege Tapes

“Africa is originality. It is the future and the past, in sync”

Graham G Hastings, Young Fathers

Photo: Jan Moss

Block Party in Mburahati

Leith Is Alive

Young Fathers’ former manager and co-producer Tim London recounts his time with the band from 2010-2015, the highs and lows, the love and light

Three teenage hooligans sitting on a wall watch me with sullen eyes. Their current manager thinks they need strippers in their video. We meet for the first time at our flat on Iona Street. My wife thinks they’ve come to rob us, especially the white one. We talk. I’ll swap you M.I.A. for Jay Z. Young Fathers is a better name than 3Style. No, it really is. We start recording. Leith is dead, but the basement is alive. Ironic electro-pop. Burroughs and Dada, cut up! Say what you want to say with someone else’s words. Then I go to see them perform for the first time. Argument over volume with the sound guy at Whistlebinkies. The first of many at many venues. Wow! But wow, Young Fathers’ first show. At Whistle-fucking-binkies. Tape One. More recording, time to get serious. The studio, a classroom, a lab. I’ll swap you Suicide and Joy Division for Metronomy and Kendrick. An album in a week. Aaaand, release it. Fifty hand-recorded cassette tapes. Edinburgh is dead but Leith is alive. No, I don’t want to fucking manage you. More recording. Tape Two, The SAY Award: if we win we buy our sound tech a suit. He gets a suit. Then America calls. It’s a bit nerdy but it’s definitely Los Angeles. The live shows come together real quick. Shouting, again and again, ‘louder, no colours on stage, just bright white.’ Two drums were good enough for The Jesus and Mary Chain. Echo. Feedback. Are they, like, a rock band or, like, what are they?

Unexpectedly at The Mercurys alt-pop talent show [nominated for Dead]. If we win, don’t smile. Don’t talk to The Sun. "Why don’t you smile? Aren’t you happy you won?"

More recording, wherever and whenever. Drum machines in Australia, Shame is one verse, three interpretations. White Men Are Black Men Too – what does it mean? Exactly! A tsunami of small cock hatred online ensues.

First USA tour. Will we fit all the gear in the roof rack on a Chrysler MPV? Will we fit all those legs behind the seats? For five thousand miles? Don’t look at the customs guards. Don’t smile. Don’t look nervous. Chicago, porn stains on the porn sheets on the round porn bed. Arizona, motel, pool of blood dried by the morning.

Endless Europe. Spanish frat brats don’t get it. Singer’s girlfriend got the sound guy slaughtered. German journalists are amused and confused. Some UK journalists: "oh, right, I get it now!" And Scotland, o’ Scotland. You’ve got to leave to get a welcome. Scotland: are you yae or naw? That’s right.

Oh, right, now you want to speak to a Black person.

What is all this business, money, awards, endless travel, endless faces, hands to shake, pressure and creation, this ex-boy band, these arguments, these confusions, this desperation, darkness, love and light? Success, apparently. No, I don’t want to fucking manage you. Are we still here? Are we OK? Yes, apparently. From 2010 to 2015 I managed you lot and co-produced your records. It was intense fun, sometimes mental agony and often

desperately poverty-stricken. During that time Young Fathers morphed from a would-be boy band into something darker and less easy to define. Natural heirs to smart, working-class inventions like The Specials or Joy Division. Also during that time, Edinburgh changed from Glasgow’s sleepy, middle-class elder brother into something smarter and less obvious. The music, the bands, the atmosphere in the city. It found its pop heart again (in Leith); it became Fast again.

Scotland’s always had a weird attitude to its pop stars. Most have to leave the country to gain success in order to be acknowledged on their return. Getting on stage is asking for trouble – who d’ya think you are? But once you’re in, you’re in. That a band as patently weird as Young Fathers can now sit, uncomfortably, next to Alex Harvey and The Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds and Emeli Sandé fills me with pride, but I wish there was a less traumatic route to success.

We took a DIY approach because we didn’t have cash or connections and because, coming up myself in post-punk times, I wasn’t snobby about the concept. We screen-printed, Letrasetted, mastered to cassette, used equipment that looked like scrap. We ran our own nights, built our own scene. Slept in hostels. Pulled favours.

And, some of those times were the most fun. It was a house we built together but, it has to be acknowledged, the process for people from the poorest ends to create something worthwhile in the ‘arts’ is hard on the soul. There can be a price to pay, emotionally and physically. I’m old, I recognise the signs. I’ve seen and felt them before. And I say, if it’s possible, remember what made it good in the first place. Those golden moments. And they will refuel your spirit.

Image: courtesy of Tim London

Young Fathers recording in a tiny, very hot studio, summer, New York, mid-tour

Feeling Inspired

Barely scratching the surface of their influences, Young Fathers tell us about just a few of the people, places, exhibitions, music, books, films and more that inspire them

Adura Onashile

One of the highlights of the Edinburgh International Festival last summer was Adura Onashile’s tour de force performance in Medea. I knew Adura was a talented playwright when I saw Expensive Shit at The Traverse some years back, but seeing her on that raised stage commanding our attention was incredible. instagram.com/onashileadura [Alloysious Massaquoi]

Alan Lomax recordings

As close as you can get to hearing the kind of music that’s been around soothing souls, from all over the world, for millennia. Gets to the root. [Graham ‘G’ Hastings]

being_a.blessin

I met her at the [Proudly Black and Scottish Awards Gala] in Glasgow last year. Both she and her outfit stood out to me. She has an incredible sense of style, she’s driven and ambitious. Dundee-based for now and is currently doing her dissertation for law school. instagram.com/ being_a.blessin [AM]

BE United

They have existed in the arts and cultural scene in Scotland for a bit, and seem to have steadily grown as a platform uplifting African and Caribbean creative voices which would otherwise be lost in the noise of a sector that is still shutting people out, socially, economically. Even though I’ve never collaborated with them, I believe in the work Emma Picken and her crew are developing and am glad to see it being recognised. be-united.org.uk [AM]

Christine from Knights Kitchen

The gentrification Leith Walk has been going through in the last couple of years has created great opportunities for new businesses to establish themselves there. Christine is the ‘sauce’ and matriarch of this amazingly delicious East African haven, which has already established itself as one of the ‘must go’ eateries around. instagram. com/knights_kitchen [AM]

Claricia Parinussa

Claricia Parinussa is an interdisciplinary performance artist working under [nussatari]. They founded and lead ID.Y, a QTIBIPOC-focused cohort offering producing, management, artist support, advocacy, research and anti-racism practice facilitation. As Nusa Revlon they are also a member of the underground ballroom scene, leading

the Scottish ballroom community with educational and support project House Ball Scotland. instagram.com/nussatari [AM]

Death Metal Angola

by Jeremy Xido

Giving insight to a movement that transcends politics and war, this truly all-encapsulating film puts together the power of music and how expression does not have parameters or boundaries, illustrating what can be birthed after the consequence of war... Thanks to this film, death metal now makes sense to me – I truly know what it means to rock out. [Kayus Bankole]

Hew Locke

Hew Locke’s The Procession is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I don’t think many people who have seen it will ever forget it. We went to see it after [Heavy Heavy] was done and it was like a full stop on what we felt the album was. hewlocke.net [GH]

In the Dark by Toots and the Maytals

Never tire of this album. The first music I played to my child after they were born. I see it as an essential part of their

Photo: Murdo Mcleod

Adura Onashile

Photo: Jack Visser @jackphotography styled: @being_a.blessin

Photo: Jee Chan

@being_a.blessin shot last summer on a trip to Aberdeen

Claricia Parinussa, aka nussatari

education. If you don’t like this album, I don’t trust you. [GH]

James Baldwin interviews

A master. Sets the standard for why you should be deadly serious in what you do. Take it seriously. Protect it. Don’t be floppy. [GH]

Joy Sunday

We met at a POC event during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She had such a strong presence and was down to earth. We got on really well. Fast forward some months later, she’s now set to be a part of the Hollywood elite as she continues to ascend to new heights in the industry. instagram.com/joysunday [AM]

Robert Del Naja

Robert Del Naja [Massive Attack] played us this when we were in Bristol doing some recording with them. It’s one of the many strings of ancient folky music we tuned into while making the album. [GH]

Larry Achiampong

I got to hear Larry talk about his practice recently at Edinburgh College of Art. What struck me was how he expressed his views with a frankness that went completely against the formality of the academic institution where we were. It reaffirmed to me that staying true to who you are and where you come from will always be more powerful than conforming to others’ expectations. larryachiampong.co.uk [AM]

Melissa Wright Katongola

French-Congolese creative who models and is studying Law and Politics at Stirling University. She’s socially engaged, politically aware, wanting to make a difference. It’s people like her who are helping to shape the future of our world now, and that makes me hugely hopeful and excited for what’s to come. [AM]

Muirhouse Living Memories

We used to nick a lot of photos from here for our early gig posters – brilliant photography. Reminds me of being wee, being with family. The Edinburgh I remember, concrete and green. facebook.com/MuirhouseLivingMemoriesEdinburgh [GH]

National Geographic's Through the Lens

Picked this up in a charity shop on Leith Walk. We cut it up and stuck the photos around the studio. Great photos of people. Helped us picture a community to sing to. [GH]

Ncuti Gatwa

When I think of where he’s at now – set to become the first Black Doctor Who, following his breakthrough role in Sex Education – it takes me back to a time when he, Kayus and I and our siblings were part of a handful of Black kids in our school. instagram. com/ncutigatwa [AM]

Ode to the Ancestors by Sherry Davis

I became aware of Sherry Davis’s Ode to

the Ancestors exhibition through social media. The friend who sent it to me had met Sherry a few years back and heard her talk passionately about the erasure of African archaeologists’ work... It’s amazing to see what she has accomplished, taking a step forward and reclaiming African history. On until Nov 23, Horniman Museum & Gardens, London [AM]

Rings for ma and da by Kevin Harman

Ma and Da frequented a pawn shop with the family jewels. Looking forward to take away tonight. Da went to see a man about a dog… again. Ma and Da punched 360 degrees, it left a… kevinharman.co.uk [KB]

Rev. Louis Overstreet

One-man band. One example of the many great gospel leaders from the Deep South. Proper rock’n’roll. A lot of the tempos for [Heavy Heavy] were set with this in mind; fast and driven, still human though. [GH]

Tanifiki

Ben and Jonathan

defied the doom and gloom of COVID and, against all odds, opened coffee sanctuary Tanifiki in Portobello. In the space of 12 months it’s already an established airy industrial design-style space (aesthetically my fav), where you can experience their own coffee brand Rafiki Coffee, roasted in Scotland and sourced from Rwanda. instagram.com/tanifiki_ [AM]

The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera

I’m cheating a bit because I haven’t even finished it... The documentary about Dambudzo was something we kept looking at while recording [Heavy Heavy]. Sometimes playing video on silent while listening back to what we’re working on helps; the scene where he’s walking through the streets of London in particular. [GH]

The Wedding by Stewart Kyasimire

Watching Stewart’s BBC Scotland drama The Wedding brought both a smile to my face and a warm sense of familiarity. By focusing the series on a Scottish African wedding, Stewart offers us six very entertaining insights into the impact lifechanging events like that can have on the community you hold close around you. [AM]

Tony Mills, Artistic Director, Dance Base

I was at Dance Base last month to attend one of their new Scratch Nights and was chuffed to see Tony fully taking on this artistic directorship role. I’ve known Tony since his early days as one of the leading breakdance dance artists in the Scottish scene, and it’s great to see institutions like Dance Base put their trust in homegrown talent. dancebase.co.uk [AM]

Toyin Ojih Odutola

I caught her 2019 exhibition, A Countervailing Theory, at the Barbican. It blew me away and has stuck with me ever since. She reimagines Blackness on canvas by finding ways to visually portray her subjects in new narratives that gives them back their humanity. This feeling was heightened by Peter Adjaye’s

Edinburgh on a Budget

Did you know that Edinburgh is home to plenty of low-cost and free attractions? Here’s a guide to the city’s many wallet-friendly experiences

Words

by: The Skinny

accessible, with pre-recorded audio and video content available for those with visual impairments and hearing loss.

A trip to Collective o ers a whole host of free experiences. The gallery itself, in the old City Observatory on Calton Hill, hosts a programme of exciting contemporary art as well as a delightful shop lled with pieces by Scottish artists and designers. Step outside and you’re right next to the National Monument, then take a walk around the hill for some of the best views of the Edinburgh skyline anywhere in the city.

The clue’s in the title when it comes to Fruitmarket – the contemporary art gallery by Waverley Station is housed in a former fruit and veg warehouse, with its recent extension taking up the space formerly occupied by the Electric Circus nightclub and gig venue. Inside you’ll nd free exhibitions, a great bookshop and a laidback cafe. Across the road is the City Art Centre; a fully accessible space with multiple oors of exhibition space, and totally free to visit. Current exhibitions include photographer Ron O’Donnell’s shots of unseen and forgotten locations around Edinburgh, and Incoming, a show of recent acquisitions for the gallery featuring work by Rachel Maclean and Peter Howson. Once you’ve nished exploring the collection, head to Mimi’s cafe on the ground oor for a co ee and a sweet treat.

Historic Bargains

Edinburgh’s museums house thousands of artefacts, each with a unique story to tell, making them great places to spend an afternoon without costing you a penny (though donations are welcome). The National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street is a treasure trove of artefacts and exhibitions from across Scotland and beyond, including Dolly the sheep – the rst ever cloned mammal – and the ten metre millennium clock tower that echoes the form of a medieval cathedral. The Museum of Edinburgh, in the historic Huntly House on the Royal Mile, takes you through some key moments in the city’s history. St Cecilia’s Hall on the Cowgate is Edinburgh’s music museum; its rooms are lled with the University of Edinburgh’s instrument collection, while the building itself is Scotland’s oldest purpose-built concert venue.

Almost all of Edinburgh’s art galleries are also free to visit, and many of them are interesting spaces in their own right. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in the New Town is a neo-Gothic masterpiece with a spectacular entrance hall lled with murals and friezes; it dates back to 1889, and is the world’s rst purpose-built portrait gallery. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s main space – Modern One – sits in a 198-year-old building just o the Water of Leith, with landscaped grounds designed by Charles Jencks. The Walk, Talk, Make Sculpture Trail (available on the Gallery’s website) is a great way to explore the artwork with the kids, with prompts to create some art of their own.

For younger children, the Art Stomps map is a guide to the gallery and grounds aimed at under-5s, available as a download or a paper copy. Inside, the collection includes work by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Salvador Dali, and the cafe is a great spot for a co ee or lunch (all the food is made from scratch on site). The Modern and Portrait Galleries are both wheelchair

The Great Outdoors

Edinburgh is full of fantastic walks and green spaces. Why not start out in Stockbridge, a seven-minute walk from Edinburgh’s New Town and home to stunning rows of Georgian buildings and a bustling high street. From there, head over to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It’s free to enter, and its landscaped gardens are packed with intriguing plants and wildlife.

Photo: Forever Edinburgh

National Museum of Scotland

Photo: Forever Edinburgh

View from Camera Obscura

Alternatively, head in the opposite direction – take the Water of Leith through the historic Dean Village and out to the west of the city.

Edinburgh’s coastline has a lot to o er. Start o at Cramond Falls – a series of waterfalls on the River Almond – before popping out on the waterfront by Cramond Island

You can walk over to the island to see its mix of World War Two bunkers and rugged landscape, or stay on dry land and walk to the sands of Silverknowes beach. More beach fun can be found down the coast at Portobello – the promenade is home to a bunch of independent restaurants and cafes.

The city centre also has plenty of hidden gems to unearth. Check out Dunbar’s Close garden o the Royal Mile, named after 18th century author David Dunbar and believed to have been visited by Robert Burns, or head to the Archivist’s Garden in the National Records building on Princes Street. The garden contains more than 50 species of plants, each linked to Scotland’s history, heritage or folklore.

Cheap Eats & Family Deals

Edinburgh is full of exciting places to eat and drink, and a host of options that won’t break the bank. The rst 358 EAT food festival continues until 6 February at independent restaurants and cafes across the city. Nearly 40 venues are o ering taster-style menus for £3, £5 or £8, o ering an a ordable chance to try a host of great local eateries.

Edinburgh Street Food will o er something similar when it opens by the Omni Centre at the end of February. Sandwiched between Calton Hill and the St James Quarter, the new hub will bring together ten stalls o ering street food dishes inspired by cuisines from around the world to the Scottish Capital.

Great deals for families can also be found across Edinburgh’s bars and restaurants. Kids eat free all day every day at the new Bread Street

Kitchen at St Andrew Square, while Chop House – the excellent Edinburghowned steak restaurant with branches in Leith, Brunts eld and the Old Town – give free kids’ meals on weekday evenings and weekend lunchtimes. The family-run Balerno Inn, at the centre of the historic village on the southwest fringe of the city, also o ers free meals for kids every Tuesday. If you fancy a co ee, Brunts eld eatery Mclarens on the Corner o er free milk and cookies for kids when their parent or guardian orders a hot drink. The o er runs weekdays, 3-5pm, so it’s ideal for a boost after the school run.

Many of Edinburgh’s attractions offer free entry to children. The Camera Obscura World of Illusions (the oldest purpose-built attraction in the city) is an incredible collection of puzzles and illusions, plus the Camera Obscura itself which offers a unique way to view the city. Admission is free for under-5s. Edinburgh Zoo is one of the country’s best zoos with loads of educational activities and a huge array of animals (it’s free for under-3s). If you want to explore the city on the move, Edinburgh Bus Tours run tours of the Old and New Towns, as well as their Majestic Tour which takes in the Shore and the Royal Yacht Britannia. They’re free for under-5s, and you can get free tickets for up to three children (ages 5-15) for every paying adult.

For more ideas on how to make the most of Edinburgh on a budget, visit Forever Edinburgh, the official guide to the city, at https://edinburgh.org

Photo: Forever Edinburgh

Mclarens on the Corner

Photo: Forever Edinburgh

Dean Village

Photo: Forever Edinburgh

Mind & Body Politic

With Eating

Disorder Awareness Week at the end of February, we speak to the founder of The Starving Artist about reshaping narratives, creating change, and centring individual experiences

Interview: Paula Lacey

Having developed an eating disorder at 13 that lasted into her twenties, Canadian Ally Zlatar had found herself unable to have open and honest conversations with her friends, family, or medical practitioners about her experience of the illness, often feeling confined by external perceptions of the diagnosis. Looking back, she says, “I always felt my voice wasn’t being heard when I was suffering [...] there was this lack of authentic engagement in what it was like to endure a mental illness, like an eating disorder or body dysmorphia.” Wanting to air these feelings through her artistic practice, she put out a callout in 2017 hoping to find a handful of artists with similar experiences. To her surprise, she was contacted by over 50 artists and three universities, and the inaugural The Starving Artist exhibition and publication attracted global attention.

and body image in a way that’s authentic and vulnerable, especially within modern conversations of body positivity. There’s this focus on loving and embracing every aspect of yourself, but what happens when you don’t?” she asks. “So often these illnesses are behind closed doors and it’s very, very rare that we find a space and platform where we can actually talk about it.”

The central tenet of this first The Starving Artist exhibition was to recenter the subjective experiences of those with eating disorders, rather than the external perceptions and assumptions about those who suffer from these conditions. The work grapples with often heavy and under-discussed aspects of eating disorders and body dysmorphia, such as sexualisation, control and abjection. Discussing the importance of art as a medium to address these topics, Zlatar says that “[art] really helps break down barriers and give us a new way of understanding eating disorders,” specifying the widely held misconception “that there’s one prescribed way of trying to heal [...] I didn’t think that worked for me, and it doesn’t work for many people which is why eating disorders are often a lifelong illness.”

Over five years on from that first exhibition, The Starving Artist has continued to expand, with collaborating publications, global exhibitions such as an upcoming exhibition in Taipei looking at menstruation and the body, and countless speaking engagements such as Zlatar’s TEDx talk on art and activism. While she is grateful for the recognition her work has received so far, she is dedicated to continuing to broaden the project’s reach: “People don’t have a platform to talk about food

Throughout our entire discussion, Zlatar returns to the political underpinning of her work. In mainstream media, there’s a truly limited representation of the actual experience of enduring an eating disorder. “They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and bodies, and public discourse always lacks this intersectionality,” she says. “It fails to consider how other mental health issues play into an eating disorder, how disability, race or socio-economic status also play a role in that experience. Art, I think, just strips that away and really allows us to look at these conditions through an alternative modality.”

The project’s latest activist focus is the outreach campaign Body of Mine, which specifically explores the journeys and experiences with body image of migrant and displaced persons; as someone from a family of displaced persons from former Yugoslavia, Zlatar, now based in Scotland, emphasises the importance of interrogating these under-explored intersections. Bringing the discussions invoked by the project’s work out into the wider sphere is crucial: “Whilst it’s nice to have conversations in a gallery, how do we actually bring it out to the public?”

Alongside its artistic and visual research projects, The Starving Artist has run many youth and school workshops, encouraging young people to explore art as a way for them to process their experiences with mental health, and Zlatar hopes that the project can use art as a way to bridge into education, policy and healthcare reform. She particularly stresses the need for more patientcentric models of treatment, so that eating

disorder patients can have their voices heard and use their lived experiences to collaborate on finding what resources and tools work for them. Through sharing her own personal journey within the mental healthcare system, even speaking at the Scottish Parliament, she hopes to advocate for systemic change. “Traditional treatment didn’t help me at the time when I needed it. So, I found my voice through art, and that has really helped me and my recovery process,” says Zlatar. “But now, I want to use art as a way for me to be able to help broaden these conversations, on how we can try to make these systems better for everybody.” Find

I was blind to my illness, Ally Zlatar, 2022

Image: courtesy of the artist

“Whilst it’s nice to have conversations in a gallery, how do we actually bring it out to the public?”

Ally Zlatar, founder of The Starving Artist

Queer as Folk

Tradition is far from fixed. Composer Finn Anderson explores shared legacies, the connections between folk and queer culture, and the joy in celebrating both

Illustration: Jemima Muir

As a young gay kid growing up in a small fishing village I found escape in the world of musical theatre. Theatre offered me a place to dream, to imagine different realities, and to embrace emotional expression in a world where boys are often encouraged to contain themselves. Scotland doesn’t have a history of ‘musical theatre’ as we think of it today. However, we do have a long history of ballads; stories told through song which are often highly dramatic. Maybe in a different time or a parallel world, this young queer Fifer would have turned to the ballads for escape instead.

In recent years, through my theatre and singer-songwriter work, I’ve been exploring the hidden histories of LGBTQ+ people; researching the traditional songs and stories of Scotland’s past and present; and embracing the sense of wonder I’ve felt since childhood for Scotland’s landscapes and bodies of water.

Celtic folklore often wrestles with our complex relationship to the natural world; whether that be through mythic characters who represent different seasons, or the elemental imagery and metaphor woven through many ballads. This legacy left by generations of storytellers and song-makers allows me to root myself more deeply in the landscapes around me. Equally, as a gay man today with more freedom than many who came before, unearthing stories of LGBTQ+ history helps me to find my place in a different kind of legacy, and to better understand the stru les that other members of the queer community are facing now in Scotland and beyond.

Maybe what I’m slowly discovering is that, for me, ‘folk culture’ and ‘queer culture’ overlap, not only because they form key parts of my identity and increasingly meet in my work, but because my queer friends and chosen family are my ‘folk’, and that community has, through necessity, created its own culture. And, if ‘folk culture’ is the culture of a distinct social group, preserved and passed down over time, then could the unique things that make up what we consider ‘queer culture’ be thought of as a kind of folk culture in its own right?

Traditional folksongs and folktales are hard to pin down. They were rarely put in writing but passed orally through generations, transforming with every new person and place they encountered. I like to think of queer culture as evolving in this way too. Even the word ‘queer’ itself has taken on new meaning in being reclaimed by the very community it was weaponised against.

To keep traditions alive, we have to make them relevant and useful for contemporary communities.The Scottish ballads teach us a lot about how our landscapes, beliefs, and social structures looked in the past. But they teach us very little about the lives

of queer people, other than that they appear to be invisible for the most part. Today, queer artists creating in conversation with the traditional music and folklore of Scotland, means that future generations of LGBTQ+ people in Scotland will be able to see themselves reflected within that culture.

In 2018, I was lucky to be part of a project started by Pedro Cameron (aka Man of the Minch) which brought together LGBTQ+ folk musicians under the banner of Bogha-Frois (Gaelic for ‘rainbow’). The project helped me rekindle my dormant relationship to Scottish traditional music, bringing me into community with queer musicians who were carrying and reframing that music in a way that I hadn’t imagined possible. This gave me a renewed sense of belonging in Scotland’s folk culture, which has carried through into the work I’m making now – a new folk musical A Mother’s Song, which harnesses traditional ballads to tell a contemporary queer narrative.

I’ve heard it said that tradition allows us to be in the past, the present and the future all at once. I love this idea. By doing the same thing at the same time each year (whether dancing the same dance, singing the same song, or sharing a meal with the same people) we can reflect on who we are now in relation to who we’ve been in the past, and imagine who we might become in the future.

This year I brought in the new year in a beach ceilidh, which my mum has called every year for twenty years. Due to her ill health, this year the dance calling fell to me and my brother. The event is always cross-generational. But for the first time this year, I brought some of my chosen family together with friends and family who have known me since I was born. I danced with my boyfriend to a tune played by the same fiddler who has accompanied this ceilidh every year since it began. As we danced and sang the same dances and songs as last year, I reflected on how much more congruous life feels for me these days, as I work on projects that combine my queer identity, my country’s folk music and folklore, my passion for musical theatre, and my wonder for Scotland’s natural landscapes.

Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo’s major new folk musical A Mother’s Song opens at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, 23-26 Feb

“I’ve heard it said that tradition allows us to be in the past, the present and the future all at once.

I love this idea”

Absolute Truth?

We meet Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡 to unpack their new exhibition at Collective, which examines Britain’s colonial legacy in Hong Kong

Interview: Harvey Dimond

Katherine Ka Yi Liu’s sculptures are firmly and intentionally anchored to the floor of Collective’s Hillside Gallery space, high above the city of Edinburgh. Formed out of an eccentric array of materials as diverse as tea leaves, rainwater, Hong Kong dollars and cast silver, the Liverpool-based artist and curator formulated the exhibition to be entirely floorbased, to manifest a sense of groundedness and to encourage visitors to meditate on their positionality.

The artist describes the composition of the show as originating from a psychic vision, where they saw a piece of Shān Shuı (山水) (traditional Chinese landscape painting) from a bird’s eye view, which encouraged them to adopt a painterly approach to composing the exhibition. For neither the West nor the East can be a determinate location they imagined the gallery floor as a swath of traditional Chinese rice paper. Shān Shuı (山水) translates as ‘mountain-water’, and the placement of the sculptures exhibits this joyful fluidity, utilising the objects as if they were ink, the act of painting informing the act of placing.

The artist’s use of materials is intuitive, sculpting writing with the same skill and tenacity as with materials such as Yixing clay. I note the seamless and symbiotic synthesis of writing and physical materials, but the artist says that they do not differentiate between the two in their practice. Using the metaphor of the ‘mycelium network’ (below-ground networks of root-like structures that form between fungi, plants and trees), they emphasise ‘interconnectedness’ and ‘intersectionality’ in regard to the ways they work with and through materials. An investment in writing is also evident in the commissioned text by Glasgowbased visual artist and filmmaker Wei Zhang 喂张 that accompanies the exhibition, a beautiful reflection on the experience of migration, dislocation and the queer body.

While Zhang’s text speaks to this sense of dislocation, the ground-based installation provides a metaphorical weighting to this particular location. The artist looks to the Chinese concept of the ‘Channel Network’, a path through which energies known as ‘qi’ flow, linking this to its counterpart in European theory, the ‘meridian line’. A meridian line runs right through the centre of the exhibition space and onwards towards the observatory in Hong Kong. By highlighting the relationships between the site of the former observatory atop Calton Hill in Edinburgh and the observatory in Hong Kong (built in 1883), the exhibition draws

attention to the entanglement of colonialism and astronomy. Observatories were often built in colonial settlements, often on land with spiritual and ecological significance. The ongoing dispute around the American construction of the world’s largest ground-based observatory on the culturally significant and sacred Mauna Kea in Hawai’i evidences the ongoing infringement on to indigenous people’s land.

One of the sculptural works, ‘absolute truth’ (from the beginning of Earth-present) — placed directly on the location where the meridian line passes through the gallery — is a chunk of Yixing clay seemingly broken into two, with one part reading ‘absolute’ and the other one ‘truth’. This humorous, sarcastic gesture could point to the ways in which European settlers attempted to establish their customs, religion and language as the absolute and original truth, erasing indigenous knowledge systems in the process. The privileging of Western ‘science’ over indigenous knowledge systems became a defining feature of British colonialism, with observatories playing a part in this process of erasure and indoctrination.

Indigenous practices of forecasting climatic conditions and changes in the landscape were marginalised, branded as ‘myth’, and replaced by

astronomical and meteorological ‘technologies’ with the primary purpose of facilitating trade between the colony and European nations. Meanwhile, outstanding payment, an assemblage of green tea leaves, Chinese teaware and sterling silver, sarcastically responds to the Treaty of Nanking, which facilitated the British colonisation of Hong Kong. The work also speaks to the debts forced upon nations in the global south in the wake of decolonisation, and the continued absence of reparative justice by European nations.

Of the responses they wish the multisensory installation to elicit, the artist says they want to encourage the audience to practise mindfulness, while simultaneously reflecting on the legacies of colonialism and creating space to unlearn ingrained colonial mentalities. At the same time, Katherine notes how these spaces, including the site of Collective itself, are “spaces where my ancestors were once not allowed nor have never reached”, spaces the artist wants to reclaim as part of their wider decolonial practice. The floorbased sculptures eloquently herald this reclamation, staking out a place of sanctuary.

neither the West nor the East can be a determinate location, Collective, until 26 Feb

neither the West or the East can be a determinate location installation view, Katherine Ka Yi Liu 廖加怡,

Photo: Sally Jubb

Horsin’ Around

The great Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski is back with curious donkey road movie EO. He speaks to us about bonding with his equine actors and creating a film that will leave audiences reconsidering their responsibilities towards their fellow creatures

Interview: Carmen Paddock

Donkeys are hot right now. They’ve been all over your cinema screens this award season, from Jenny, the beloved companion of Colin Farrell’s character in The Banshees of Ineshirin, to the unfortunate creature who becomes supper to the stranded motley crew in Triangle of Sadness. These are little more than cameos though. This humble creature gets the showcase it deserves in EO. Director Jerzy Skolimowski’s “road movie”, as he calls it, follows the eponymous lovable donkey’s journey as he is whisked across Poland by various human handlers.

The ideas for this tale were twofold, according to Skolimowski: witnessing a “living” nativity show in Sicily at Christmastime, and wanting to eschew a traditional three-act structure in his fourth collaboration with writer and producer Ewa Piaskowska. The latter was intentional, the former an accidental discovery while on holiday. “It was a bizarre event,” he says of that trip to Sicily. “The whole population of this small village was taking part. The final attraction was the barn. We heard a cacophony and saw dozens of different animals – chickens, geese, pigs, cows, and goats – surrounding Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus. You couldn’t have a religious atmosphere because of the natural behaviour of the animals.”

In the dark corner of the barn, a donkey stood silently watching. “I noticed those enormous eyes, which have something very specific and melancholic,” he says. “The behaviour of the donkey was entirely different to the excitement of the other animals. He was looking at everything with a distant look of silent witness. I understood that if I used a donkey as my main character, I would create a commentary on what we see.” EO unfolds through establishing shots, then close-ups on the donkey, then another shot of the world from

the donkey’s position. “Miraculously, the world looked different,” he says of shots from the animal’s point of view. “It’s a mystery of cinema when you accept that you are looking through the eyes of the animal.”

EO is not played by one donkey but six: Marietta, Tako, Hola, Rocco, Mela, and Ettore. Skolimowski took extra care with this team of non-actors to make sure they were relaxed on set. “They don’t understand what is going on and they don’t understand acting,” he says. “To maintain that naturality they were the kings of the set. Nobody was shouting or making unexpected movements.”

Skolimowski spent all of his free time on set in the donkey’s trailer, providing carrots and conversation. “When you talk to your pets you’re not necessarily making sense; what’s important is the tone of voice,” he says. “I think I managed to create a bond. During shooting I tried to follow the donkey just out of frame, still whispering the same words so they knew it was the same process. We created a special togetherness. We were hunting for the moment we could turn the camera on and register some interesting reaction.”

Showing sequential events that do not necessarily escalate through a traditional narrative from the perspective of a non-human protagonist is key to Skolimowski and Piaskowska’s structure – not only because the dialogue is reduced, he mentions with a laugh. “We made a list of possible events that could happen on such a journey and chose situations which were interesting and, in our opinion, loaded with meaning,” says Skolimowski. A nontraditional narration not only prevented the duo from feeling “like clerks working in the office” but also opened opportunities for figurative storytelling. Many shots

from EO’s perspective are filmed in flashing red, and Skolimowski is quick to point out that every situation is fraught with danger from a donkey’s perspective. “He is always being pushed or used by humans except when he escapes and spends the night in the forest” – a sequence rich in greens and blues.

Breaking up the story’s chunks with seemingly unrelated footage – a drone, a skier – allows further creativity and commentary. A robotic dog stumbling across uneven terrain interrupts EO’s closest call. Here, Skolimowski sees the unique, irreplaceable nature of animal life. “I didn’t want to shock the audience, so I used the robot representing the fight for survival,” he says. “Maybe if we mistreat animals so badly, one day we will be without our favourite pets, and then what? Would those robots take the place of our lovely companions in our life? Would that be our future?”

EO’s journey is defined by the people who steer it, and Skolimowski hopes his audience will take away a feeling of responsibility towards their fellow creatures. “The film was made out of love for animals and nature,” he says, hoping it acts as a rallying cry against industrial farming.

“Subconsciously, Ewa and I reduced meat consumption during the film,” he says. “Nearly half my crew stopped eating meat completely, and perhaps the audience will ask themselves if they really need bacon every morning.” His dreams for the film’s impact are large, and – with the help of his six stars’ soulful eyes – perhaps in reach. “I hope this film will make a difference,” he says. “I hope a part of the audience will reconsider their attitude towards the world and think what can be changed.” EO is

Image: courtesy of BFI Distribution and Skopia

Film

Lorenzo Zurzolo, Jerzy Skolimowski

Photo: Ł ukasz B ą k

Tangled up in Blue

Georgia Oakley’s debut feature takes us back to the dark days of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain and the introduction of Section 28. Oakley talks about researching this era and finding moments of hope in this bitter period for LGBTQ+ people in the UK

Interview: Eilidh Akilade

“Not everything is political,” says Jean, the protagonist of Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean. She’s half-heartedly protesting to Viv’s objection to a cheesy dating show. Their instant noodles sit forgotten, the fuzzy television screen now black. “Of course it is,” Viv replies, toying with Jean’s hair, before they pull each other in for a kiss, all smiles and heady breathing.

In Blue Jean’s 1980s north-east England, the girls’ changing room is a site of social tension, queer women smoke inside their dimly lit local, and RP voices on the radio announce the oncoming Section 28. Under Thatcher’s rule, the law prohibited schools and councils from ‘promoting’ homosexuality. This is of particular threat to Jean (Rosy McEwen), a gay PE teacher aiming to keep her personal life out of her professional life – and vice versa. The arrival of new pupil Lois (Lucy Halliday) sees Jean at risk of exposure. Her anxiety spills into her work and relationships, with this mental toll depicted with both care and precision. The resulting film is a mindful and quietly forceful exploration of systemic oppression, and it’s earned both Georgia Oakley, the writer and director, and Hélène Sifre, the producer, BAFTA nominations for Outstanding Debut. Resisting simple storylines or characters, it depicts the multitudes of the queer experience – in, of course, multiple shades of blue.

For Oakley, the cool colour palette “was an instinctive thing.” The somehow sharp yet soft azure of Jean and Lois’s eyes, the cobalt cones across a netball court, the slightly greying coast – there’s something so natural to it. It begins gently, with each blue touch tu ing us in, scene by scene, before consuming the screen as Jean’s inner turmoil culminates.

But it evidently colours the title also. “In the early phases of research, we found a breakdown of lesbian terminology from the 80s,” explains Oakley. “You could be butch or femme but you could also be a blue jean femme. It was a strand of femme lesbian that meant that you would rather wear blue jeans than typically feminine clothing but that you presented as femme.”

This thorough research persisted. Two PE teachers were advisers on set, sharing their experiences as gay women teaching under Section 28 with cast and crew. Oakley even pored over one of their diaries from the time, detailing a story similar to Jean’s. “Anyone that we could find, we spoke to about their experience,” says Oakley. From those who started the UK’s Stonewall to the women who abseiled into the House of Lords – conversations with these individuals, and more,

grounded the film in a lived history. This research was key; afterall, so many of us – including Oakley – were educated under Section 28 without even knowing about it until much later in life.

Although a PE teacher, in the early stages of development, Jean’s character could also have taught drama. “We were interested in how it would affect different teaching professions in different ways,” says Oakley. Whether coaching on the netball court or tending to an injury, Jean’s practice demands a physical closeness – one that, in a school setting, can easily be misconstrued by those hoping to stoke the homophobic atmosphere created by the impact of Margaret Thatcher’s anti-gay ruling. Oakley’s attention to such proximity casts light upon the subtleties of what it means to teach, and how one may teach, under scrutiny.

“I didn’t want to make a film about a teacher during Section 28 and not show the amazing reactionary movement that started as a result of Section 28,” says Oakley. There’s real joy in community and Blue Jean depicts it with such fullness: Jean’s friends dancing with abandon and cheering on the bog fund (a queer women’s fund which existed in Newcastle), all while keeping a caring eye on young Lois.

But these moments of togetherness aren’t presented as a fix-all to the matters at hand. Jean’s position as a teacher sees her make morally complex choices. Others raised questions about this – whether Jean would do this or that, whether audiences would relate to her if she did. “The more I was asked those questions,” Oakley says, “the more certain I was that I wasn’t going to let Jean off the hook.” Under Oakley’s softly-grained lens,

things are far from simple. Section 28 is something imposed from above – but that doesn’t mean that individuals, whether real or imagined, don’t make certain choices under it. “I wanted it to be clear that everybody in the film, everybody in the story, is trying to do the right thing,” she says. “None of the individual characters in the film are responsible for what happens – it’s much bi er than that.”

Spanning multiple generations – Jean’s nephew, her pupils, her friends, and older colleagues – Oakley encourages us to question which narratives we pass down. And Blue Jean is certainly a film with an oncoming legacy of its own. “I really wanted to make a film that had some hope,” says Oakley, “and some levity that things could change or be different in the future.”

Blue Jeans released 10 Feb by Altitude; certificate 15

Behind the scenes on Blue Jean

A New Approach

Label and promoter Ismus have hosted an array of parties across Europe, including Berlin, Paris, London, and many more. We chat to them ahead of their first party in Glasgow – which is sure to be a defining moment in Scotland’s electronic music scene

Interview: Heléna Stanton

Originally from Fife, Josh Dunlop recounts how Berlin’s club scene was ‘pretty stale’ when he first ventured there in 2014. What’s now considered the techno capital of the world was much more minimal back in 2014. Dunlop ironically imagined a Berlin with Scottish club energy, conceptualising Ismus – co-founder Lucia Markich formulated the early art direction and themes for the parties. With influences of manga and anime, artist Nick Cocozza has been at the forefront of creating monochrome album art. Ismus’s artworks are Easter e s giving snippets of the label founder’s dystopian life experiences, Dunlop teases “which may one day be released as a story.”

‘Ismus’, the German translation of ‘-ism’, referring to the prescriptive naming of collective identities to be found in the rhetoric of social and political movements, the external elements of one’s identity, is reflected strongly in the naming of club nights throughout their first three years – Futurism, Anarchism, Eroticism, Organism.

Not too long after Ismus’s first party in 2015 at Arena Berlin, Jonathan (Jonny) Carroll joined Ismus as label manager. Having worked at Soma Records, and running his own nights in Glasgow,

Dunlop and Carroll hit it off after meeting at a party in 2017. The pair had similar ideas when it came to music, sharing a love for harder music genres like trance. The idea of starting a label while being a party soon became a reality for Ismus. Throughout the pandemic Ismus nurtured the label side of the business – vent and label bookings have always been closely linked. Inclusivity and fairness are central to Ismus’s ethos. Dunlop and Carroll have always championed giving smaller artists opportunities to play in Berlin and beyond, across Europe at a multitude of parties they’ve previously hosted. Says Carroll, “Curation at Ismus aims to cultivate the harder dance genres, while presenting artists that completely differ in sound from each other.”

Dunlop and Carroll reflect on their time in Berlin and how often they felt blessed to run parties in a city where so many people had knowledge about electronic music – from 2017-20 Ismus ran parties at the now closed clubbing institute Griessmuehle. A negative reputation persists for imposing harsh door policies at Berlin’s night clubs, but this was something Ismus chose against implementing in the city. Their nights at

Griessmuehle often imposed a “light-hearted door policy”, Dunlop describes “creating an atmosphere accessible for everyone, we offered an alternative to many nights in Berlin.”

One of Ismus’s watershed parties happened back in May 2018, during the city’s annual May Day celebrations. Dunlop tells us: “We got this guy from Munich who had built his own soundsystem, he’d spent something ridiculous on it. It was festival-sized, he brought it up in a tiny van to our flat in Berlin. The next day we put it in a park at 6am and decided to shove loads of locals on our lineup and our now residents Clouds. By the end of the day there was thousands of people in the park. This was a massive turning point for Ismus, we were noticed after this.”

Ismus has its first ever party in Glasgow on 5 March at Room 2 – its lineup includes seven DJs, split equally between local talent and international heaters. Dunlop and Carroll plan to encourage Scotland’s already thriving scene, by uniting it with some of their party ideals seen across Europe. An introduction to Sunday day parties is the aim of this venture, the golden standard already seen across Europe’s techno scene. Safety is paramount to the duo and for the duration of the parties in Glasgow on Sunday a no-phones policy will be adopted, to give queer bodies and guests the safety to dance and express themselves. Ismus also has their staff trained in harm reduction, a policy which will help sustain a safe space for dancers. Ultimately, Ismus’s return to Scotland looks to see the transformation of traditional 3am club closures and provide the opportunity for local DJs to experiment with longer set times, a club model which has long desired reform.

Outwith Glasgow, Ismus’s headquarters will remain in Berlin; Dunlop and Carroll tentatively leak the forthcoming plans for the label and party. “Berlin is our bread and butter. We have an amazing team based there, helping us run parties not only in Berlin but across Europe, as well as our label. There’s a lot planned for 2023. We are happy to say we’ll be doing parties with RSO.Berlin, I think lots of people will be really excited for this as it’s the team behind Griessmuehle and of course we have a lot of history there. We’ll be in Paris, Budapest, Cologne and back at FOLD in London. We’ve also added two new residents to our roster: Tommy Holohan and Høleigh, which is so exciting – they both bring such different sounds to Ismus.”

Keep up to date with Ismus on Instagram @ismusberlin ismusberlin.com

Image: Nick Cocozza

Voices from the Margins

Lee Grant has lived a life. Cannes award-winner at 22. Blacklisted during the Communist witch hunts. An icon of 70s New Hollywood. A pioneering documentarian in the 80s. We discuss her extraordinary career ahead of her Glasgow Film Festival retrospective

Interview: Jamie Dunn

We’ve caught Lee Grant a little off guard. The Oscar-winning actor and documentarian was enjoying her morning coffee and raisin bread when she was reminded of this interview. “They called and said, ‘Oh, you have a thing on TV with Jamie in an hour.’ And I said, ‘What?’ So I hurried to get ready.” I start to explain she needn’t have gone to so much trouble, this is a print interview, but she cuts me off. “Listen. I’m an old actress. So just in case there’s any chance of this seeing the light of day, I’m not gonna come out here in my nightgown. A camera is on. So I’ve put on my street makeup and put a little pencil on my eyes, you know?”

Well you look great, I tell her. And she does! Well into her 90s now (her precise age is a closely guarded secret), she still exudes the sassy glamour she was famous for on screen. “What do you know,” she chuckles. “You’re just a kid.”

Grant is speaking to us via Zoom from her flat in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, just a few blocks from 148th Street, where she was born and raised. It’s become her whole world since COVID struck.

“We have been living in the midst of a serious illness,” Grant says. “My husband, Joey, got COVID, and Phyllis [Grant’s sister-in-law] thought she had COVID and ran herself to the infirmary yesterday. I mean, we are living in the most charming apartment in the world, and all our friends come here for dinner because my husband and Phyllis are Italians and they’re great cooks. But our island is this apartment, and the fear of COVID is everywhere.”

This isn’t to say Grant is living in an ivory tower cut off from the world. Far from it. We’re speaking on the day following the Brazilian Congress attack, and she’s incredibly fired up about Bolsonaro and Trump, and events unfolding in Ukraine and Iran and Afghanistan. “I have a great life in this house, but being a documentary maker, and being a formally blacklisted actor, you know, my political sense is so sensitive. So I’m checked in with what’s going on, it’s always on my mind.”

Aside from being a massive flirt and a political firebrand, there are many other reasons why one would want to speak with Lee Grant. Few Hollywood stars have gone on quite the

rollercoaster that she has. As a screen actor, she exploded right out of the gates. In 1951, while in her early 20s, Grant made her screen debut with the delicious role playing a young shoplifter in William Wyler’s Detective Story. The performance won her the Best Actress award at Cannes and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. But then it all fell apart when she gave a speech at the memorial service for actor J. Edward Bromberg the same year.

Bromberg was a communist who died of a heart attack while being hounded by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was set up in 1938 to investigate subversive activities of people or groups with communist ties and became a tool of McCarthyism in the 40s and 50s. The day after giving the eulogy to Bromberg, Lee found herself on the same blacklist, and she stayed there for 12 years. “From age 22 to 34 I was out,” she says. “I didn’t go to Hollywood until I was in Peyton Place. I was cleared, but my career didn’t start again until I was of a certain age for, you know, a Hollywood star.”

She’d been denied 12 years of her career, but for the next 12 years she made up for it as the floodgates opened, just as American cinema was about to go through its New Hollywood renaissance. “My appetite for acting, for working, for going from one part to the next – it was like I was drowning in this gorgeous feeling of being wanted and doing stuff that was exciting and interesting,” says Grant. “Oh you want me? Well, let me see, because this director wants me too, and this director wants me too. So who shall I pick? It was such a joyous working time.”

Among the filmmakers she chose to work with in this purple patch were Norman Jewison, with whom she made the groundbreaking In the Heat of the Night, and her most regular collaborator Hal Ashby, who cast Grant in The Landlord and Shampoo. In the latter, she plays the most demanding and high-strung of the women being bedded by Warren Beatty’s sex-obsessed hairdresser. It’s a wonderful performance, both funny and poignant. Her peers in Hollywood agreed; it won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

“As bad as the last 12 years when I was blacklisted were, the next 12 were glorious,” says

Lee Grant

Photo: Lifetime

Grant “But then I turned 49, which is when, you know, as actresses, your saleability runs out.”

Incredibly, as the 70s came to a close and her acting offers began to dry up, Grant delivered a glorious third act: she turned her hand to directing. The reason for this interview is an upcoming retrospective at Glasgow Film Festival – titled Looking for America: The Films of Lee Grant – celebrating the extraordinary run of documentaries she made in the 1980s. All explore vital social issues of the day and paint a damming portrait of Reagan-era America. As well as directing, Grant acts as narrator and interviewer, although her style is a world away from the grandstanding of Michael Moore or Nick Broomfield, with the focus always on the individuals at the heart of her films.

Her subjects range from gender discrimination in the workplace (The Willmar 8, 1981) to domestic violence (Battered, 1989) to a pioneering film about transgender rights (What Sex Am I?, 1985). The most celebrated film of this run was 1986’s heartbreaking Down and Out in America, looking at the epidemic of homelessness across the US, from bankrupt farmers in the Midwest to tented homeless communities in LA. It won Grant her second Oscar, for Best Documentary Feature.

What connects these films is that they’re all concerned with giving voice to people who have

been marginalised. It’s easy to assume that the injustice Grant faced in the 50s and 60s during McCarthyism is why she spent her new-found career as a documentarian giving voice to oppressed people. But when I put this to her, Grant su ests her instinct to protect goes back much further, to a foundational moment in her childhood.

And he was after her. And the people walking on Broadway stopped to watch, like it was a movie.”

When no adult intervened, nine-year-old Grant did. “I ran up the block to find a policeman to stop it. But by the time I came back with the policeman that I found, everybody was gone, the woman was gone. I said to the policeman…” Grant starts to cry here, but the sadness of the memory is mixed with rage. “I said to the policeman, that man was trying to kill her. And he said, ‘Oh, they’re probably in a bar someplace having a good time. Don’t worry about it.’

“So what I’m trying to say is, that sense of connecting with people who are being hurt, I think that sense was born in me. I always had that. And I think it worked for me as an actor, you know? Because you connect with the feelings of other people. But what I’m trying to say is, I think that all of the documentaries that I made, had to do with giving a voice to that lady.”

She recounts a story of when she was nine, and saw a young woman being attacked in the street. “I walked up to Broadway,” she recalls. “And on the opposite side of the street, a man was trying to get at a woman who was afraid of him. They were out in the gutter. And she was running.

If you head along to Grant’s sensitive and deeply empathetic documentaries at GFF, you’ll see that there’s no one else you’d want to have in your corner, amplifying your voice.

Glasgow Film Festival’s retrospective Looking for America: The Films of Lee Grant runs 8-12 Mar, CCA, Glasgow. Tickets at glasgowfilm.org

“That sense of connecting with people who are being hurt, I think that sense was born in me”

Lee Grant

Lee Grant

Visual Theatre

For its first in-person festival since 2020, MANIPULATE promises a bill full of genre innovation and challenging stories

Interview: Kerry Lane

MANIPULATE, Edinburgh’s international festival of visual theatre, puppetry and animated film, is back fully in-person for the first time since 2020 with a curated festival of the best visually driven work from Scotland and around the world. Aiming to push boundaries, play with form, and challenge perceptions, the diverse works on offer at MANIPULATE explore the many ways that stories can be told beyond language.

For Dawn Taylor, MANIPULATE’s Artistic Director, the return to a fully live festival is also an opportunity to expand across Edinburgh: February will see events in four performance venues alongside site-specific installations. “We’re hoping

to reach new audiences,” says Taylor, “the people who don’t yet know that these art forms hold something for them.” She describes the focus of the festival as “work that is visually led, that breathes life into the inanimate and engages different parts of the brain.”

MANIPULATE was founded 15 years ago to celebrate visual theatre and visually led artistic work, which Taylor says was missing from the cultural landscape of the UK at the time. The founder, Simon Hart, was inspired by the rich traditions of visual theatre in Central Europe. He wanted to create a platform that would bring some of the best performers in these forms to Scotland, and provide concrete opportunities and support for Scottish practitioners. His approach was clearly effective: the first festival line-up was 75% international work, while 2023 will showcase 75% Scottish talent. Because MANIPULATE is a curated festival, Taylor and her colleagues can ensure that every piece in the programme meets the highest standard of artistic excellence while also showcasing a range of art forms, palettes, tones, voices and stories. In a traditional curation model, one person will spend their time travelling around in search of new work, with inclusion coming down to their particular taste and artistic sensibility.

MANIPULATE, however, has been experimenting with ways to democratise and broaden this process. Supported by Creative Scotland’s Radical Care project, MANIPULATE 2023 welcomed a curatorial team with a wide range of artistic backgrounds,

including dance, children’s theatre, and community engagement.

The artistic shape of the overall festival is driven by what creatives around the world are exploring at the present moment. While the programme is difficult to summarise, Taylor says that there’s a strong sense of “reclamation and retelling”, and of exploration of “hidden things, shining light on hidden stories and hidden voices.

“It’s been a hard few years and this is a hard winter for a lot of people. People deal with it in different ways. We’ve got work that’s really exploring that, and also work that’s providing some space away from it.”

So, are there any particular works to look out for? In the international programme, Taylor spotlights Before Thumbelina, an object theatre work from Finland about “fertility, womanhood and the expectations that are placed on us. If people aren’t sure whether visual theatre is for them, this is the one they should see.” On the Scottish side of things, Suzi Cunningham’s double bill of Rules to Live By and Eidos offers a different tone with a dance-based tribute to punk. There’s also The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski by Scotlandbased Vision Mechanics, featuring puppets Taylor describes as “just exquisitely, beautifully made… This is the sort of mastery of craft that takes years.”

Finally, for those not in Edinburgh, MANIPULATE’s film programme will be available online to anyone in the UK. The selected short films include works from 18 countries around the world, six of which are entirely new to the festival. In addition to the Animated Highlights programme, Animated Womxn celebrates women and nonbinary filmmakers working in a “dizzying range of styles.” Both film programmes will also be screening live at Fruitmarket.

MANIPULATE runs 2–12 Feb, Summerhall, the Studio @ Festival Theatre, Traverse Theatre, and Fruitmarket.

“We’re hoping to reach new audiences: the people who don’t yet know that these art forms hold something for them”

Dawn Taylor, MANIPULATE

Photo: Urska Boljkovac

Mo č (the Power) by Ljubljana Puppet Theatre

Photo: Amy Sinead

Ferguson and Barton, MANIPULTE Festival

“Freaks Deserve Love Too”

Fast becoming one of Glasgow’s most iconic queer club nights, we speak to newcomers Ponyboy about collaborations and community ahead of their Stereo takeover on 10 February

Interview: Heléna Stanton

Ponyboy, its name a nod to the late SOPHIE, is run by hairstylist Reece Marshall and their partner Dill Dowdall. The couple’s symbiotic talents came together in 2022, creating what has fast grown into a love letter to Glasgow’s trans community. Its presence combines queer aesthetics and clubs under one roof. Ponyboy leads the way in creating a space to platform and amplify queer beauty. While providing a service for Glasgow’s queer community through their studio, Reece creates queer accessible hairstyling, unique and ultimately scarce throughout the UK.

Trans inclusivity is paramount to Ponyboy. Dill and Reece have set boundaries to always include an inclusivity roster comprising of multiple people contained under the trans umbrella. From this Dill and Reece create their showcases. They describe their thought process – “We filter our versions for the look through the aesthetic of each person we work with. We want our performers to feel comfortable and the finished looks to feel like a fully realised collaborative spectacle. Our showcases aim to inspire gender euphoria wherever possible.”

Since Ponyboy’s inception and debut showcase in November 2022, an emphasis on documenting the showcase’s looks has become integral to the night. Dill says: “We work with various photographers with the aim of contributing to the archives of queer beauty, as it pertains to Glasgow’s queer scene and other scenes we collaborate with.” This element of the archival has recently attracted the nightclub Stereo to invite Ponyboy to curate a showcase on 10 February.

Stereo Presents: LSDXOXO x Ponyboy is one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by Dill and Reece, with a total of 20 DJs and performers on the line-up. Dill conceptualised the creative direction for the evening as ‘Freaks Deserve Love Too’. Ponyboy has also invited Glasgow makeupartist MV Brown as a resident for 2023. Known for their high impact looks, this additional member of the Ponyboy showcase team will be sure to help elevate Reece and Dill’s runway-ready visions.

Dill leaks the planned collaborations for the showcase stating, “For Stereo, we wanted to showcase some of the amazing queer nights happening across Glasgow, like Orisha and Mojxmma at Bonjour and Joey Mousepad’s night Fast Muzik at Stereo, working collaboratively with the producers for each night to create something that feels fully realised and fun.”

Aside from looking after 20 artists on the night of the 10th, Ponyboy, staying true to its core values, will create a safe space for queer bodies so that they can be their true authentic selves. Dill says: “The people attending will be encouraged to embody what they perceive to be a freak and what they perceive to be freaky within them. Whether that’s like fetish wear or as a moving art installation. We are going to try and create an evening that is slightly otherworldly, like alien. Think gender fuckery looks. But we’ll also be exploring different aesthetics. So, it’ll be like different iterations of freakiness basically.”

Within Scotland there’s a minute number of nights offering what Ponyboy is. Alternating themes and aesthetics for parties, while offering a haven for queer people. Reece and Dill’s showcases come parties are strategically planned down to the smallest of details; a party which aims to warp perceptions of dwellers’ experiences within a club environment. Dislocating normal club flows by breaking the evening up with wild performances, while effortlessly flowing into 160+ BPM pounding music.

The future for Ponyboy looks to be thrilling considering its first showcase was in November 2022 – rumours of a future exhibit documenting Reece and Dill’s incredible looks seems to be at the forefront for the organisation, with a heavy desire to create a look book in the future. Subsequently, they plan to announce more residents to join Ponyboy’s permanent roster including DJs and artists. Vital to the couple is the

continuing support for Bonjour, which is an extension of many Glaswegian queer people’s chosen family and are huge supporters of Ponyboy’s undertakings.

I asked Dill, what could future projects look like and is Ponyboy solely for Glasgow? “Primarily our showcases will happen in Glasgow at Bonjour as it is somewhere we can always guarantee to be a safe place. We are very much an embodiment of the coming together of the aesthetics of Glasgow’s queer scene and therefore it makes sense being here. But we also want to take opportunities on occasions to inspire other parts of the UK with the beauty and talent that exists here. We’d love to give our residents the opportunity to play in other cities and book some fun people to introduce to our community – encouraging cross-city queer networking, this is the future.”

Keep up-to date with Ponyboy on Instagram @ponyboyglasgow

Donate to the Small Trans Library at smalltranslibrary.org

“Our showcases aim to inspire gender euphoria wherever possible”

Photo: Tiu Makkonen

Photo: Tiu Makkonen

Home Country

Orsola Casagrande introduces Kurdistan + 100, an anthology of speculative fiction which seeks to embed the Kurdish identity in the historical record

Interview: Laila Ghaffar

Illustration: Ione Rail

In my four years studying Middle Eastern studies at university, Kurdistan was only once mentioned in passing. Although the geographic area of Kurdistan spans Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran, scholarship on Kurdish history, resistance, languages or cultural identity has been denied significant attention in the Middle Eastern canon. The Kurds represent the largest nation in the world without a state; their dismissal from traditional scholarship is not mere oversight but rather a deliberate attempt to erase a significant group of people from the historical record.

It is this void that writers Orsola Casagrande and Mustafa Gündogdu seek to rectify with their anthology Kurdistan + 100. But rather than approaching the anthology as an archival work, the editors have asked their 12 contributing writers to imagine what Kurdistan will look like by the year 2046, a date that marks 100 years since the Kurdish Iranian state of Mahabad was dismantled by the Soviets, after just one year of its existence. Although Mahabad was only realised for Iranian Kurds, it occupies an important role in the national imagination for Kurds living outside of Iran, as the closest they have been to realising their own nation-state. In each of their stories, the writers are invited to negotiate with both past and future.

The stories in Kurdistan + 100 reveal the myriad ways in which the future can be approached as a political ideal. But the first story in the collection Waiting for the Leopard by Sema Kaygusuz, who represents the Turkish-Kurdish side, strikes a particularly emotional chord. Kaygusuz likens the

erasure of Kurds to the extinction of nature, and presents us with a barren world devoid of joy, community and familial bonds. It is a chilling narrative, made all the more frightening for our present proximity to this imagined future. However, this foreboding entry is not a common theme amongst the stories. In fact, when I sat down with Casagrande to talk about the anthology, she argued that it is actually hope which thematically unites the stories. Hope for a new world has been the driving force for the Kurdish resistance, and their attempts for autonomy have always signalled the potential for alternative realities. Casagrande is quick to point to the defacto autonomous region of Rojava in Northern Syria, as an example of this.

Kurdish resistance leaders in Rojava are “stubbornly trying to build a new and different society,” Casagrande argues, “based on equality, women’s liberation, respect and care for the environment, promotion of language and cultural identities.” Indeed, Rojava’s experimentation with implementing anarchistic and feminist ideology marks it as a profoundly hopeful political project. Kurdish resistance, Casagrande emphasises, is not merely about securing autonomy, it is also about building a kinder society. The Kurds refer to hope as hêvî, and it is this optimism that we witness in both the anthology and in real life events.

Gender in particular has always been central to nationalism, with women’s bodies often used to represent the microcosm of the nation and its imagined boundaries. Here too, Kurdistan + 100

presents us with alternative recourse. Women are presented not as passive victims of history but active agents shaping the national narrative. The story titled My Handsome One by Selahattin Demirtaş presents us with a familial tale: a daughter continues her father’s political legacy by fighting for a free Kurdish state. Demirtaş is a man but his vision of freedom is that of a woman leading the resistance. Casagrande also points to the refusal of Kurdish women in Syria to let the Islamic State infringe upon their bodily autonomy. “Women have been in the front line in Syria, fighting the ‘darkness’ as they called it, the misogynist and patriarchal mentality promoted by the Islamic State,” Casagrande says. “Women refused to allow the Islamic State to use their bodies as a battlefield and took up arms to defend themselves.”

The gendered concerns of Kurdish resistance feel especially pertinent in this present moment: Kurdistan + 100 will be released almost five months after Kurdish-Iranian Jîna ‘Mahsa’ Amini was killed in police custody in Iran. The subsequent revolution in Iran is notable for its focus on women, but the movement has also been criticised for its failure to acknowledge its roots in the Kurdish resistance. Jîna Amini is frequently referred to by her Persian name ‘Mahsa’, while the now infamous rallying cry ‘‘woman, life, freedom“ is a Kurdish slogan that has been appropriated into Persian.

“The Kurds in Iran are trying to dismantle the state,” explains Casagrande, so that the rights of ethnic minorities have been largely ignored in favour of a pan-Iranian identity that does little to address their anti-imperialist or anti-colonial demands. Although this anthology cannot solely rectify this erasure, it is a dazzling contribution to the sustained efforts of the Kurds to sustain their hopeful visions for the future.

Kurdistan + 100 is out on 23 Feb with Comma Press

“Hope for a new world has been the driving force for the Kurdish resistance, and their attempts for autonomy have always signalled the potential for alternative realities”

Bring it On

Skewering cabaret ingenue Catherine Cohen brings her delectable comedy outlook to Scotland for her first new show since 2019

After her Edinburgh Fringe Award win and hugely successful Netflix special, The Twist?...She’s Gorgeous – a fabulous spectacle of equal parts self-regard and self-deprecation – Catherine Cohen’s much-anticipated new show arrives in the UK this February. Ditsy, flamboyant – but utterly precise in its satire, the diva-esque narcissism of her persona is very much intact, and the show is similarly studded with big musical numbers. And while The Twist? had its origins in a mid-20s mindset, with a chaotic, hot mess vibe, Come For Me sees Cohen in a more settled place, clearly successful and in a long-term relationship, but wondering why she still doesn’t “feel perfect”.

As with The Twist?, which references her issues with body image, the new show touches upon the social and biological pressures women face. For example, that she “has to decide about having kids in the next 5 years”, which, Cohen says, is “insane, given men get to carry on running around with whoever they want.” Wanting to establish some kind of parity, she talks about freezing her e s as a way of owning her choices, and quotes a line from the show about the pressure to settle down: “is that what I want or is that the next thing to have?” It’s a theme also explored in the Freeform/Hulu series she’s been filming, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, which pits self-discovery and the pleasures of the unknown against the gravitational pull of marriage and

Interview: Emma Sullivan children.

Cohen’s relished the “laser-focus” of 14-hour days over the last two months of filming – “it’s been a dream”– but she’s delighted to be returning to live performance, and the UK. She regards Edinburgh, in particular, with real affection: “It’s the best place ever – it’s so magical – there’s nothing like it in the world.” Her first festival run in 2019 was gruelling: she was “nervous of making [it] through a whole month, terrified about talking to anyone – fully in my little scarf just running around being a total recluse”, but 2022 was a blast. Doing a shorter two-week run with her work in progress, more US comics about and more friends on the British scene, Cohen had a lot of fun. “After the pandemic, all of us were so grateful to perform – every night I was just: I’m going to have so much fun out there. In 2019 there were some shows where I wondered how I was going to get through it, but 2022 – let’s do it up”.

With the Fringe in mind, she’s enthusiastic about how much UK audiences value live performance, but Cohen acknowledges the lack of cabaret-style venues she’s used to in the US. The cabaret club vibe, which was such a seductive aspect of her special, remains “a quintessentially New York thing”, while her weekly Club Cumming residency, as well as regular slots at Joe’s Pub, have been integral to her success; “I owe so much to the weekly show – I’ve built everything from that.”

It’s at Club Cumming she works up the songs

that are so central to her shows, and collaboration is key to the process. For Come For Me, Cohen worked with composer David Dabbon who, using her ideas about lyrics and melody, gives her a backing track or some chords, “then we’ll play around at Club Cumming until we have something.” In the UK her accompanist is Frazer Hadfield. She describes doing the show in Edinburgh with him as a similarly exploratory process – “in some ways, whoever I’m doing the music with helps direct. Everyone I play with, I feel like we find stuff.” Having someone else on stage gives her something to bounce off, while the songs themselves are “like this cosy blanket,” where she can perform without having to immediately process the audience’s feedback.

Cohen delights in the connection with the audience, though, and there’s plenty of scope for improvisation in the new show with room for it to develop over time. Asked to describe what she does for someone who hasn’t seen her perform, Cohen is hesitant about any labels: it’s “songs and jokes” which are “for everyone”. And when it comes to commentary or feedback, she’s happy with most takes on her work, “as long as it’s –wow. That’s something no-one’s ever done before, you groundbreaking goddess.”

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me, Glasgow Glee Club, 9 Feb,

Photo: Evan Murphy

Catherine Cohen

3 February

Album of the Month Young Fathers — Heavy Heavy

Anyone familiar with Young Fathers will wonder what a ‘back to basics’ album could possibly mean for a band that skipped ‘basics’ altogether. Fortunately, the anything-goes eclecticism that defines the trio is still in good health and any sense of paring back is strictly relative. Heavy Heavy is rarely an easy listen, but it’s never less than engrossing.

Shoot Me Down is full of wobbly samples and a 2-step beat while Ululation delivers exactly what it says on the tin, but paired with the sort of summery indie-pop guitar that could only make sense in Young Fathers’ world. Tell Somebody features the sort of orchestral whomp that isn’t normally the hallmark of this group, but why the hell not?

It’s easy to see why last July’s standalone single, Geronimo, was released so long ago – it’s just the sort of hazy summer comedown that works best amid endless bright skies, hitting an almost spiritual note a bit like, uh, Spiritualized. Recent single I Saw is a totally different beast, however, revelling in the snarling claustrophobia that the band do so well. There are ‘sunset gremlins’ along with suave oohs and aahs, emphasising the grit and velvet approach that

Find reviews for the below albums online at theskinny.co.uk/music

the triple vocalist setup allows for. Most of these songs gradually introduce you to the woodchipper, but this one practically starts mid-squall and doesn’t let up from there.

A couple of later tracks, Sink or Swim and Holy Moly, feel like ‘typical’ Young Fathers songs, though that’s still a loose definition. There are furious (sometimes lyrics, sometimes delivery) speak-sing vocals and a galloping beat that never feels more than a few seconds from explosion or collapse. Final song Be My Lady moves with jarring abruptness from quasi-industrial to slo-jam R’n’B in the blink of an eye, before throwing in the kitchen sink for a cacophonous final few moments.

Young Fathers could be a ‘state of the nation treatise’ act, but their lyrics are far too cryptic. Their arrangements are full of bright melodies that can turn on a dime into grimey lo-fi or calypso rhythms. A pervading sense of unease is usually present, emphasised by the faint sirens that reappear across the album, eventually peeking above the mix on the closer. But the chaos remains controlled. Exactly what Young Fathers can’t turn their hands to remains to be seen.

[Lewis Wade]

Caroline Polachek Desire, I Want to Turn Into You Out 14 Feb via Sony Music & The Orchard

Khotin Release Spirit Out 17 Feb via Ghostly International

Released

by Ninja Tune rrrrr

Listen to: I Saw, Holy Moly, Rice

Shame Food for Worms Out 24 Feb via Dead Oceans

Gorillaz Cracker Island Out 24 Feb via Warner

Listen to: Money, Imagine Us Kissing

In the press release for Hamish Hawk’s new record, Angel Numbers are described as “a series of recurring numerical patterns or sequences which those who believe in such things invest with cosmic significance.”

Like its predecessor, 2021’s Heavy Elevator, this is a record with a remarkable scope. Hawk’s lyrics are still vivid and romantic; brooding, teasing and taunting as his narrators’ gaze shifts from Berlin rooftops to Scottish seaside towns. In its search for cosmic patterns, there are visits from all manner of characters from Napoleon to Karen Carpenter, and it’s a real joy luxuriating in his love of words.

The pleasure is not just in the lyrics, however. From the stately arrangement and handclap percussion of Once Upon An Acid Glance to the interplay of piano and muscular rock guitars that underpin Hawk’s soaring vocals on Think of Us Kissing, it’s sonically impressive too. On Elvis Lookalike Shadows, Hawk summons a sound somewhere between The Smiths and Idlewild to channel the King’s late career comeback shows, all delivered in his rich, rewarding baritone. If anything this might be the most consistent record of Hawk’s career. Delve into his cosmic debris now. [Max

Sefton]

‘This stupid world – it’s killing me / This stupid world – is all we have’. That delicate balance is the defining thesis of the new record from Yo La Tengo, who have resisted the passing of the years and generic success: confronting darkness and di ing deep to find hope in each other and what surrounds them.

Lost Map, 24 Feb rrrrr

Listen to: Dans Le Noir, Golden Goose, Open the Door

Free Love’s music alternates between transcendent soundscapes and acid bangers fit to start a rave in an empty phone box. Suzi Cook’s vocals are forceful and direct, with enough coquettish asides en français to make you rethink your ambivalence to the Duolingo owl.

It’s a pattern that continues on INSIDE, where the buzzes and crunches of acid techno sit alongside woozy drones and shimmering resonances. Open the Door is pushed on by a thumping click-clack of a beat, while Dans Le Noir is one of Free Love’s best songs yet. It’s a funky, sleazy dance track laden with drum samples and a fabulously squelchy bassline that Zapp! or Parliament would be proud of.

At the more ethereal end, Don’t Stop and Stop make for a woozy two-parter full of warm droning tones, while I Become is a transcendent, sun-blushed synth jam. Yet INSIDE’s high point sits outside the usual Free Love dynamic. Golden Goose is built around a scratchy, minimal loop, but it builds, and builds, with big washes of synth and looping, blown-out vocals. Evidently, Scotland’s premier electronic synthpop and guided meditation duo still have plenty of surprises up their sleeves. [Peter Simpson]

Listen to: Tonight’s Episode, Apology Letter, Miles

This latest outing for the trio is lean and alive. Tonight’s Episode is a surreal contrapuntal descent into murk, acoustic guitar appearing like some luminescent undiscovered species in the inkiest depths of the ocean. The chaotic feedback of the title track doesn’t relent – harmonies tear through the noise, battling to exist. They do it across This Stupid World, luring you into a smudged groove, only to hit you with the latest in a long line of their shiny, heartpiercing guitar riffs at the next moment. By the end, it opens up into blissed-out dub.

The foundation of it all is Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew, who seem to exist outside of time. Reflective and funny, Yo La Tengo would be forgiven for recording endless victory laps at this point. Instead, they continue to defy.

[Tony Inglis]

Listen to: Perfect Blue,

“A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction,” states theorist Donna Haraway in A Cyborg Manifesto. It’s this figure of the cyborg that Margaret Sohn, aka Miss Grit, invokes on their debut album, Follow the Cyborg. Sonically, melodic hooks meet artful arrangements to skilful effect. Electronic synths layer and swell, punctuated by screeching guitar and cymbals crashing; the contrast between the electronic and percussive elements furthers the dream-like feeling of existing within, and transcending reality.

Across Follow the Cyborg, Sohn’s vocal delivery is nonchalant yet emotive in turn, evoking a compelling surreality. On 사이보그를 따라 와 – a slowed down reworking of title track, Follow the Cyborg, in Korean – Sohn’s self-described “second-language-in-progress” creates a space where identity as a narrow boxing in or confinement is rejected. It instead embraces identity as expansive: transcending and reimagining what it means to exist within and outwith this altogether, on their own terms. Overall, Follow the Cyborg is a striking debut with both surrealist sensibilities and melodic hooks – marking Miss Grit as one to watch.

[Anita Bhadani]

Hamish Hawk Angel Numbers Post Electric, 3 Feb rrrrr

Yo La Tengo This Stupid World Matador, 10 Feb rrrrr

Away

Miss Grit Follow the Cyborg Mute, 24 Feb rrrrr

사이보그를 따라와

Last September, Kelela delighted and surprised fans with Washed Away, the lead single to her forthcoming second album, Raven. Pairing an ambient soundtrack with lyrics that speak to the relief of finding fullness within oneself and transmitting energies of peace and renewal outwards to heal a troubled world, Washed Away sets the tone for a record about autonomy, belonging, and self-renewal as healing.

On Raven, Kelela reunites with old collaborators such as Junglepussy and new ones like Kaytranada. The two producers partner on the Caribbean-inflected slow dance jam On the Run which sees Kelela ruminate on the push-and-pull dynamics of love. It’s a highlight, featuring a chorus that ranks as one of the catchiest here.

Across the record, Kelela’s striking and deeply affecting vocals are baked into sultry, hypnotic soundscapes that captivate and hold onto the listener at every turn, no more so than on Let It Go, which is as haunting as it is arresting. Meanwhile, the slow-burning psychedelic R’n’B of Contact brims with uncontained sexual energy as Kelela sings about dancing with a lover in the back of a club that is so hot it feels like a sauna.

[Marco Marcelline]

in|FLUX has roughly the same shape as Anna B Savage’s debut A Common Turn: throbbing instrumental drive in the first half, moving into large dance rhythms on track six before eventually falling back into acoustic softness. It’s well-textured, with lovely details in the production that make your ears stand to attention (listen closely to the dulling of the guitar strings on I Can Hear the Birds Now).

The album is best in its most densely layered moments, where you find yourself picking out new percussive sounds with each listen. Hungry combines Savage’s acoustic timbre with the sequencer – it’s a promising mix, but unfortunately is held back by a somewhat predictable guitar part, and never quite matches the title track in terms of energy.

Lyrically the whole record suffers from something of a feeling of claustrophobia. It’s littered with intimate scenes where Savage distils the enormity of a relationship into one mundane moment (The Ghost’s opening monologue sets the scene for the whole album in this regard). But staying on theme for 40 uninterrupted minutes leaves you craving some lyrics, even a scrap, that make contact with the wider world.

[Laurie Presswood]

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Following the sell-out success of her debut EP, 2021’s Fuel to the Flame, Glasgow singer-songwriter Rianne Downey is back with Come What May featuring another set of polished pop songs.

The grit in the pearl with Downey, however, is a big voice dripping with sincerity that reaches for the sweet soul music of Paolo Nutini or Amy Winehouse. When her reach exceeds that grasp, on the melodically melodramatic Devil’s Gonna’ Get You (think The Coral) and the straight-shooting song of conviction that is Home (remember the power of Willy Mason’s Oxygen?), Downey’s songs hit the hot spot where pop and soul mix.

On latest single Hard and the EP’s title track, however, the production is searching for something else. Hard is reminiscent of Taylor Swift at her most direct, whereas Come What May, and dynamic closer Alright, are akin to KT Tunstall’s best work. Enough of the comparisons, Downey’s songs and singing are good enough to stake a singular shot at the top. Let’s hope she continues to grasp the wealth of herself.

[Alan O’Hare]

Algiers’ initial underlying sonic palette, the marrying of ja ed post-punk sonics with a firebrand gospel delivery, has mutated over the last decade into a broader, more industrially infused mix. On Shook, their fourth full-length, they expand even further, most noticeably incorporating a more consciously jazz and hip-hop influence.

There are great swathes of it that really work. Bite Back uses billy woods and Backxwash to great effect, letting both of their wildly differing flows shine, while still managing to finish in a typically grand, full-blooded Algiers fashion. Out of Style Tragedy is seemingly every genre they’ve ever been influenced by all at once, adding up to possibly the album’s finest moment.

However, parts of the record have a self conscious mimicry to them that stops them from feeling like much more than pastiches. Too often the album feels like a case of enacting genres rather than letting their influence seep in. It leaves the record feeling like a grab bag of ideas, some of which have been polished to brilliance, others of which haven’t been fully realised. There’s clearly a great album in there, just one that never quite gets the momentum to show itself.

[Joe

Creely]

Kelela Raven Warp, 10 Feb rrrrr

Listen to: On the Run, Let It Go, Closure

Rianne Downey Come What May Modern Sky UK, 17 Feb rrrrr

Listen to: Devil’s Gonna Get You, Home

Anna B Savage in|FLUX City Slang, 17 Feb rrrrr

Listen to: in|FLUX, Hungry

Algiers Shook Matador, 24 Feb rrrrr

Listen to: Bite Back, Out of Style Tragedy, 73%

Music Now

We take a look at the Scottish releases we missed in December and January and get excited about what we already know about in February

Words: Tallah Brash

If we hit the rewind button for a sec, and skip all the way back to December, we somehow managed to miss $1000 wallet’s "I Like Art" Type Girls EP, as well as collaborative single Faking It from Asha Bee and Nathaniel Carter. Then came January, a cold and miserable month made more palatable by the sheer number of new releases and forthcoming album announcements, which seemed to come quicker than you could say Happy New Year.

Glasgow indie-rock duo Low Light Listening Lounge released their self-titled debut album on 6 January. A record started, like so many in the past few years, with the pair working on ideas in different locations due to the constraints of lockdown, it features some really lovely compositional ideas and we couldn’t let it pass by without at least a mention. A few days later, Belle and Sebastian finally went public with news of their new album, with Late Developers landing an impressive double axel a few days later on the 13th, featuring the Wuh Ohproduced Eurovision-ready banger I Don’t Know What You See In Me. On the same day, BMX Bandits released Music from the film Dreaded Light

The month also saw new EPs arriving from the likes of Glasgow alt-duo Saint Sappho and Andrew Eaton Lewis (formerly of Swimmer One), with Edinburgh outfit Redolent sharing their make big money fast online now EP on 26 January via Columbia Records. Of the release, singer Robin Herbert says: “We tried to be honest about some difficult times with the lyrics, whilst keeping the vibe positive overall, which turned out to be quite tricky.” Combining topics like grief and generational anxieties with their unique brand of emo-tinged electronica, with colourful synths, scuttling drums and upbeat tempos we’d say they achieved what they set out to and more.

A flurry of excellent singles managed to warm an otherwise chilly month too, with new music from philomenah (Vacant Moments), Rosie H Sullivan (Expectations), Pearling (Swan Tooth), Lichen Slow (Pick Over the Bones), Health and Beauty (I Am Not On the Wall), Tommy Ashby (When Love Goes Dark), Steve Mason (The People Say), The XCERTS (GIMME) and Supermann on da beat remixing Kapil Seshasayee’s Rupture of the Wheel.

Due in May via FatCat, Glasgow brother and sister duo Comfort announced What’s Bad Enough with the politically charged Real Woman, while Cloth – also a pair of siblings from Glasgow – announced Secret Measure. Releasing its lead single Pigeon, accompanied by a music video featuring a pigeon in a wig singing next to a discoball, their album is also due in May via Rock Action Records. Lovely stuff. Keeping it in the family, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and Elisabeth Elektra announced Black Bay, their debut album together as part of supergroup Silver Moth with the tantalisingly atmospheric Mother Tongue. And the inaugural Sound of Young Scotland winner LVRA returned with anxiety, the lead single for her new seven-track project Soft Like Steel, due in March.

When it comes to February, on the previous pages you’ll find in-depth reviews for four of the big records coming out in Scotland this month. Cover stars and issue co-curators Young Fathers’ fourth record Heavy Heavy comes via Ninja Tune (3 Feb), while on the same day Hamish Hawk releases Angel Numbers, the followup to 2021’s Heavy Elevator. Later in the month, relative newcomer Rianne Downey releases her second EP via Modern Sky UK (17 Feb), while the last Friday of the month brings us the latest offering from Glasgow’s Free Love, the unsurprisingly dancefloorready INSIDE. What’s particularly exciting about these four records is that they’re all completely different from one another, showing the breadth of influence and styles being explored and created in Scotland right now.

Wait, there’s more. Acclaimed songwriter and pianist Kim Edgar finally releases her fifth album CONSEQUENCES (3 Feb), a collaborative record she’s been teasing over the past year or so. Including works with the likes of Rachel Sermanni, Admiral Fallow’s Louis Abbott and Goodnight Louisa, it’s an accomplished collection of songs that beautifully explores the personal, social and environmental consequences of human behaviour. Inspired by the East Lothian coastline, singer-songwriter Lindsey Black releases her second album FLIGHT (3 Feb), her storytelling focusing on the emotion of life, love and landscape, and two-time SAY Award-shortlisted nominee AiiTee makes her grand return this month with the stunning The Water (26 Feb), a beautiful collaborative EP with fellow Aberdeen native Chef.

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of singles due this month too from the likes of Acolyte (Memory & Make Believe), Grace & The Flatboys (Sometimes), brownbear (All I Want), Maz & The Phantasms (Psychosomatic), Locked Hands (Into the Puzzle (Shortcut)), Sonotto (INFINITE YOU (I lost myself)), Kohla (Sweetest Love), Kleo (Things we don’t need (TWDN)) as well as probably loads more that we didn’t find out about in time, such is life.

Low Light Listening Lounge

Kim Edgar

Photo: Cameron Brown

Photo: Louise Mather

Redolent

Photo: Rory Barnes

Film of the Month — Blue Jean

Director: Georgia Oakley

Starring: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page

RRRR R

Released 10 February by Altitude

Certificate 15

theskinny.co.uk/film

It’s 1988, and bulletins report on Clause 28, which would see the prohibition of any “promotion” of homosexuality as an acceptable “pretended family relationship” by local authorities in Britain, including schools. Politicians on TV and radio – including Margaret Thatcher – justify the measures on grounds of tackling so-called deviancy. Section 28, as it’s more widely known, wouldn’t be repealed in Scotland, England and Wales until the early 2000s. Among its many repercussions were the ways in which organisations created to support vulnerable LGBTQ+ individuals were pushed into self-censoring or outright closure.

The soulful, textured debut feature of writer-director Georgia Oakley, Blue Jean, explores the self-censorship of someone in an authority role hiding their homosexuality as the clause is introduced, when there’s heightened discussion of the visibility of queer lifestyles, exposing prejudices among staffroom colleagues who would usually just deal in idle chatter. P.E. teacher Jean (Rosy McEwan), who was previously married, works at a Tyneside secondary school a fair drive from her home, to keep her professional and personal lives fully apart. That personal life includes girlfriend Viv (Kerrie Hayes) and their circle of lesbian friends.

Jean’s professional life includes coaching the netball team, the newest recruit being a new student from Scotland, Lois (Lucy Halliday, a force of nature in her screen debut), who’s picked on by peers and made the subject of other teachers’ gossip. When Lois appears at the lesbian bar Jean and Viv frequent, it seems set to spell disaster for Jean’s job and veneer of acceptability.

The role of Jean is a tricky one. At one point, the more openly warm Viv appropriately describes her as being like a deer in headlights. There’s an inherent passivity to the character, but the magnetic McEwen ensures with every tiny gesture that it’s always clear her non-committal, sometimes unsympathetic responses to developments are down to fear rather than compliance. Early on, she questions Viv’s belief that everything is political, with the film’s eventual central dilemma being a nearperfect encapsulation of the personal and political always being intertwined; when a student is the victim of homophobic bullying, how can a teacher support them while protecting themselves?

Blue Jean’s script can occasionally veer towards the schematic. While it’s a pleasure to see two great performers bounce off one another, by the time it comes to the fourth or fifth conversation between Jean and Viv about the former’s discomfort, with the latter displaying a more liberated outwardly persona, it seems like runtime padding with a playing of the same notes. These discussions of queer identity would feel less repetitive if new layers of characterisation were revealed.

The cumulative experience is really quite special, though. Izabella Curry’s editing and the intimate framing by cinematographer Victor Seguin lead to striking sequences throughout, both in the claustrophobic school and more unshackled settings of working-class queer communal spaces. And on that latter note, how nice it is for a film – even with the still-all-toorelevant looming spectre of Tory oppression – to so lovingly present hope springing from grassroots community support.

[Josh Slater-Williams]

Scotland on Screen: Adura Onashile

Fresh from wowing Sundance, Adura Onashile’s tender Glasgow-set drama Girl will have its hometown premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival. Onashile tells us about the film’s inspiration and how for her, trauma and beauty sit side by side

Film: Girl (2023), Expensive Shit (2020)

Theatre: Ghosts (2021), Expensive Shit (2016)

“Honestly, I was like, ‘How did we get Sundance?’”

We’re speaking to Adura Onashile six days before the world premiere of her debut feature, Girl, at one of the world’s most prestigious film events – the festival that’s launched countless film careers, from Quentin Tarantino to Chloé Zhao. But this isn’t false modesty. Onashile genuinely seems to have lost all objectivity. “You’re so close to the film, right?” she says. “You’ve been making it for a long time. All I can see when I watch the film is all the things that are wrong with it; all the things that I didn’t achieve. And I can’t quite see what works about it.” Onashile needn’t have worried. Judging by the early glowing reviews, critics and audiences have been able to see plenty that works.

Girl centres on the fiercely intimate bond between 24-yearold Grace, a nervy immigrant who’s yet to embrace her new home of Glasgow, and her ten-year-old daughter Ama, who spends her evenings peering at her neighbours in the opposite flats like she’s a pint-sized Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. The idea to explore an intense mother-daughter relationship had been percolating with Onashile for a while. “I grew up in a one-parent family, and I’m an only child,” she explains. “And I was interested in the blurred nature of my relationship with my mum. We were like best friends, and that sometimes made it difficult to get into the mother-daughter roles. I knew that I wanted to explore that.”

It was only in hindsight, though, that she could pinpoint Girl’s story’s exact genesis: a period of her childhood, when she was around 11, where she and her mother were forced to stay indoors due to the activities of the National Front in their neighbourhood in Bermondsey, southeast London. “As a Black mother and child, we weren’t really free to roam on the estate in the way that we wanted,” she recalls. “Until the council found us somewhere else to live, we were kind of locked in our flat and escorted to and from school.” It was a distressing period of her life, but she was also having a brilliant time. “I had 100% of my mother’s attention and she created all this joy and play at home. So I guess, somewhere in me, there’s always been this thing of trauma or traumatic situations, sitting tightly next to really beautiful situations.”

Trauma and beauty, fear and love, are similarly intertwined in Girl. The flats in which Grace and Ama have ensconced themselves are dilapidated and dangerous – at one point a fire breaks out in the opposite building and eagle-eyed Ama raises the alarm to prevent a Grenfell-like disaster. Grace, meanwhile, appears petrified every time she steps outside their door to walk to her job as a night cleaner at the nearby St. Enoch Centre. But Grace’s feelings of trepidation about her new home aren’t reflected in Onashile and director of photography Tasha Back’s images. Instead, Grace and Ama’s home is filmed like it’s a wonderland, with overhead shots, dreamy pans and tender close-ups painting a picture of domestic bliss.

It’s a refreshing break from the clichés of British cinema, which tend to paint working-class life in shades of misery. That certainly wasn’t Onashile’s experience growing up. “Yeah, we didn’t have much money,” she says. “Yeah, there were traumatic social circumstances, but it wasn’t all grim. It was actually really beautiful.” Onashile puts this beauty down to the reason she became a creative person in the first place. “My mother filled my imagination from a really young age and she never had a problem with me wanting to pursue this career. There was never a question of, like, Why would you want to do that?”

That decision has certainly paid off for Onashile so far. As well as being a celebrated stage actor (turn to p.30 to read Young Fathers’ Alloysious Massaquoi raving about her performance as Medea at last year’s Edinburgh International Festival), her career as a writer and director has included the immersive walking tour Ghosts, which explored Glasgow’s connection to the slave trade, and the much-celebrated Expensive Shit, which was one of the buzziest shows of the 2016 Fringe. It was seeing the latter that lead the producers of Girl, Ciara Barry and Rosie Crerar aka barry crerar, to approach Onashile and convince her to make the move from stage to screen.

“Rosie and Ciara got in touch and said, ‘I really like the way you write,’ and, ‘we think you might be able to write for film.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, really?’” Making movies was never in Onashile’s plan. She loved film, but never imagined making one. “For me, film was still magic, you know? But I’ll give it a go because I will give anything a go. That’s been my attitude towards all of my career: try things out, take risks, put yourself in uncomfortable positions. Sometimes great things come out of this, sometimes you’re burnt, but that’s the risk you take. So I heeded their call.”

Girl opens the Glasgow Film Festival on 1 Mar, with a second screening on 2 Mar

“Somewhere in me, there’s always been this thing of traumatic situations sitting tightly next to really beautiful situations”

Adura Onashile

i: onashileadura

Interview: Jamie Dunn

Girl

Film

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp

Starring: Jenny Slate

rrrrr

Movies adapted from YouTube videos don’t have the best track record, meaning Dean Fleischer-Camp’s stop-motion/mockumentary hybrid about an ultra-adorable animated shell with feet and a singular googly eye might be the best of its kind. When documentarian Dean (played by Fleischer-Camp) sets up shop in an Airbnb after separating from his wife, he discovers Marcel, an anthropomorphised shell manoeuvring around the home thanks to minuscule, well-crafted apparati.

The more Dean investigates Marcel’s world, the more the shell opens him up to a gentler way of viewing those around him, and they each prove to be the perfect friend to help process their respective personal stru les. Its inherent sweetness may

sound off-putting, but Marcel... rarely leans too far into saccharine, resulting in an emotional and compelling foray into a beautiful animated, Borrowersesque way of life.

Marcel is voiced by Jenny Slate, and while her highly cutesy tenor initially risks sounding shrill, thankfully Marcel’s observations all contribute to a well-rounded characterisation. What’s more, her dynamic with an older shell, Connie (a brilliant Isabella Rossellini, who sounds like she’s still not totally sure of the project’s premise) brings out a compassion and anxiety in Marcel that make some sequences razor-sharp in tension and filled with heartbreak. Problems only arise when Marcel lands an appearance on 60 Minutes, a plotline that suffers from directly explaining why the filmmakers think Marcel... is appealing as a film. The more time watching those shells toddle about, the better. [Rory Doherty]

Released 17 Feb by Universal; certificate TBC

Women Talking

Director: Sarah Polley

Starring: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy rrrrr

Ghosts. Satan. Wild female imagination. Lying for attention. Some of these excuses for the endemic sexual violence that forms the backdrop for Women Talking are specific to the film’s setting – a Mennonite religious colony – and others have evident contemporary resonance. The premise for Sarah Polley’s first feature in ten years is lucid in its simplicity: after discovering the perpetrators, a group of women gather in a barn to discuss whether to stay and fight for justice in the colony or to leave. August (a tender but sometimes overwrought Ben Whishaw) quietly takes minutes.

While the dialogue-heavy premise may lend itself to theatrical comparison, the principal strength of Women

Talking is the exquisite performances from a stellar ensemble cast. The minutiae of their expressions reveal as

much as their words, whether it’s Jessie Buckley’s tightly coiled restraint as Mariche or Claire Foy’s sta ering, bone-deep rage as Salome. The desaturated colour palette largely complements their performances, and draws you to the whites of Mariche’s eyes while hiding her daughter’s bruises. This doesn’t sanitise the violence – we know – but typifies Polley’s attentive, empathetic filmmaking.

This sensitivity allows the film to ask complex questions about sexual violence. Why do some people tolerate what others would escape? Are perpetrators of sexual violence victims of the societies they shape and inhabit? What can we take with us and what should be torn down? Like August, Sarah Polley is a believer. Fists can be used for celestial navigation, not violence, and a kinder world is possible. [Leeza

Isaeva]

Released 10 Feb by Universal; certificate 15

Saint Omer

Director: Alice Diop

Starring: Kayjie Kagame

rrrrr

Motherhood is one of the cultural and institutional tenets of human existence – so what happens when this sanctified ideal turns ugly, twisting away from its life-giving orientation to something destructive? How can we understand why a mother would kill her infant daughter?

This question animates Saint Omer, a haunting journey into the disquieting recesses of undesirable, unassimilable motherhood. Inspired by the real-life trial of Fabienne Kabou (a Senegalese immigrant in France), the painstakingly restrained Saint Omer is framed around the fictional trial of Laurence Coly, an enigmatic murderermother brought to life by Guslagie Malanga, whose charismatically lucid courtroom monologues suck all the air out of the room like spiritual utterances.

We sit in the courtroom alongside Rama (a mostly-silent but incredibly

magnetic Kayije Kagame), a writer observing the trial to furnish her upcoming book on the myth of Medea, perhaps history’s most famous ‘bad mother’. As the trial proceeds, the walls between Laurence and her dead daughter, the recently-pregnant Rama, and Rama’s relationship with her emotionally estranged mother, begin to collapse: trauma passes osmotically between the cell membranes of two turbulent maternal bloodlines, building to a quietly dizzying release.

As celebrated documentary filmmaker Alice Diop’s first narrative feature, Saint Omer is steeped in the observational acuity associated with the most compelling works of non-fiction, while slowly, constantly sharpening the knife. Meticulously naturalistic but never clinical, it frays into a tapestry of unnerving psychological surrealism, leaving you infected with something hard to pin down, burying itself like a phantom under your skin. [Xuanlin

Tham]

Released 3 Feb by Picturehouse; certificate 12A

EO

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

Starring: Sandra Drzymalska, Lorenzo Zurzolo rrrrr

Although Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO has been favourably compared to Au Hasard Balthazar, Robert Bresson’s 1966 masterpiece in which he parallels the mistreatment of a young farmer’s daughter with a donkey who is brutalised and exploited, the veteran Polish director’s latest is very much its own beast. The film follows EO, a grey donkey named after his distinctive bray, who is forced to embark on a heart-wrenching odyssey across Europe after a group of animal rights protestors shut down the circus where he works.

After a brief spell at a donkey sanctuary, in which he dreams of being reunited with his former trainer Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), EO travels across Poland encountering a range of people; some of them caring and compassionate, others not so

much. Throughout the film, cinematographer Michael Dymek frequently adopts a donkey’s-eye-view to examine what humanity looks like through EO’s eyes, his equine perspective imbuing the film with both curiosity and concern. From his ill-fated stint as the mascot for a Polish football team and a fleeting visit to the Italian villa of an unnamed countess played by Isabelle Huppert, to narrowly escaping being slaughtered for salami, EO experiences cruelty and affection in equal measure.

A deceptively playful work of finely honed beauty, Skolimowski has – consciously or not – created a poignant allegory about economic migration that never feels sanctimonious or self-righteous. Instead, the film highlights both humanity’s capacity for kindness and its callous indifference to the welfare of those who, like EO, are simply passing through. [Patrick Gamble]

Released 2 Feb by BFI; certificate 15

Saint Omer

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On EO

Women Talking

MOOLI @ CIVIC HOUSE, GLASGOW

Pakistani supper club Mooli keep it simple in their kitchen takeover at Civic House, with impressive results

Tue-Fri, 9am-5pm, lunch from midday

Something interesting has taken up residence in the canteen at Civic House, the arts space and co-working building at the Cowcaddens end of the canal. Outside, it’s a low, imposing building with its name spelled out across the window frames in a chunky, utilitarian font. Inside the canteen itself, it’s a different story. It’s a buzzy, stripped-back space with long, old wooden benches, plenty of exposed brickwork, and a shiny open kitchen. On our visit, that kitchen was home to Fariya and Sahar and their Mooli takeover; by the time you arrive, it will have been renamed Parveen’s, but rest assured, whatever it’s called, you’re in for a treat.

The place is – for a Friday lunchtime in January – absolutely hoaching, full of a bunch of the coolest people you’ve ever seen, and it seems like they’re all talking about their friends’ architecture practices. Seriously, we can hear multiple of these conversations at once, all under the light of a daytime disco ball pulling the light off the canal and shining it directly into our eyes.

The set-up is simple: the sisters put together one main meal every

day, a bread dish to go with it, and a bunch of cakes and buns. All of the dishes are inspired by their Pakistani heritage and family meals gone by, everything is plant-based, and the whole menu changes every day. A short menu keeps prep down and reduces waste, while an ever-changing menu lets chefs experiment and try new things. Arguably the only people who lose out are writers trying to recommend the place based on dishes that, by definition, you won’t be able to try, but read on and you’ll see that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

We’ll start with the bread. The lahmajun (£3) is a savoury flatbread topped with an amazingly earthy and surprisingly spicy mix of… bits. There’s some ve ie ha is in there, and a few pickled raisins dotted around, with a big sesame smear over the top. Our main is a chunky orange bowl filled with a slow-cooked stew of chickpeas and carrots (£5.50), lightly spiced and flecked with chopped coriander and seeds. That’s on a bed of cumin rice, with chunks of sharp, citrussy feta and a big ol’ blob of yoghurt. It looks great, it smells incredible, and it all blends together pretty fantastically. It’s a nourishing, exciting and ridiculously cheap bowl of food, and you might genuinely stru le to find another sit-down meal that’s as good for the price.

And when lunch is this cheap, you’re duty-bound to try all the cakes. The cardamom bun (£3) is a well-spiced treat and the wholemeal chocolate cookie (£2) is a rustic, earthy slab of molasses and grains, but the star is the

chocolate and tahini cake (£2.50). It’s just great – a dense, dark square with some enormous chunks of dark chocolate inside, topped with a lovely thick smear of a buttercreamtype tahini icing.

Insane rises in living costs, increased awareness of burnout in the restaurant world, a desire for something exciting and new – these all coalesce together at spots like Mooli/Parveen’s. This feels sustainable, fun, inventive and inclusive; a cool place run by cool folk, making great food that doesn’t cost an arm or a leg. Shuffle up the bench, prepare your trendiest work anecdotes, and get stuck in.

Parveen’s, Civic House, 26 Civic St, Glasgow, G4 9RH

Words: Peter Simpson

Photo: Tiu Makkonen

Photo: Martyn Kellighan

Book Reviews

Owlish

By Dorothy Tse, trans. Natascha Bruce rrrrr

Dorothy Tse’s debut novel Owlish employs a surreal fairytale structure as a vehicle to explore the boundaries of individual agency and the slow creep of bureaucratic control. Set in a city that emerges as Hong Kong, the story wends its way through various saturated spaces filled with different tempos and layers, and into various intersecting snapshots of vast fragmentary space.

Owlish bears witness to a dream state, to a place where language doesn’t always work quite how it should, where the boundaries of deviance, obedience, and desire blur. Caught within these shades of reality, the automata whirs. A cranking becomes faintly audible. Tse weaves a kind of visceral, bodily syntax full of openings and shrouded things; tantalising always, whether for us or for our hero.

The political reality of Hong Kong increasingly seeps into the text and settles there, weighing like a paperweight on a previously unpinned setting. Encounters are introduced that fail to make an impression on our characters, instead glancing blows that slide off forgotten. Overhanging Owlish continuously is the question of reality, of dream reality, of felt reality. Tse leads us to a place where things that happen are too much to believe and things that don’t are felt deeply. Where control means the perfectly crafted meaninglessness that says nothing, and resistance is a garbled nonsense holding everything.

[Marguerite Carson]

Brutes

By Dizz Tate rrrrr

Teenage girlhood is a special kind of hell, one that is expressed with precision and claustrophobia in Dizz Tate’s debut novel, Brutes. In Falls Landing, Florida, a place that everyone wants to leave yet no one seems quite able to, a girl has gone missing. As the adults search the Floridian swamps for the absent Sammy, a gang of her classmates are watching from afar. In the sweltering humidity, the girls – and a boy – guard Sammy’s secret, and venture into their parents’ strange and dangerous world.

The plot of Brutes echoes other popular psychological, coming-of-age American novels, like The Virgin Suicides and We Were Liars. Tate employs a hypnotic, collective choral voice to tell the teenage parts of the narrative, with her young characters speaking as a singular “we”. It’s an inventive way to convey the co-dependence of adolescence, a self-abnegation that the girls cling to for protection and identity. Other sections of the novel carve out space for each individual character as an adult, reckoning with the aftermath of what happened to Sammy – and themselves.

Tate’s writing is expressive and sharp as the girls navigate a world that now perceives them as women; a boy’s nipples are “like stickers” they want to place in their school diaries, while the worst thing in their world is to feel “fatherly”. Occasionally, the narrative lurches a little heavily into timeworn tropes, but Brutes is an impressive, atmospheric debut, told with stylish ferocity. [Katie

Goh]

Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir

By Lamya H rrrrr

Wherever she goes, Lamya is an outsider. A South Asian teenager in a Middle Eastern country, a queer person in a conservative Muslim family and a woman of faith in largely white, non-religious queer spaces in the United States.

But from a young age, Lamya’s personal faith leads her to find queer resonances in stories from the Quran. Stories in which she sees herself, and in which she feels at home. Mohammed’s fear of backlash and social exile when he begins to preach Islam recalls the experience of coming out: who can we trust to hold this profound truth? Who will not turn away? The story of Yunus and the whale prompts a lesson about when to protect ourselves and retreat from conflict, when others are unwilling to treat us with respect. And then there are the stories of Maryam, Hajar and Asiyah – rebel women whose strength, resilience and faith offer inspiration to those, like Lamya, who seek social justice for themselves and others.

Unflinchingly honest, Hijab Butch Blues (a reference to Leslie Feinberg’s queer classic Stone Butch Blues) is a gracefully-wrought memoir about the importance of community, faith and family in a world that is so often unwilling to accept and celebrate each of us in our beautiful complexity.

[Eleanor Bally]

Bad Cree

By Jessica Johns rrrrr

Mackenzie wakes up from a nightmare with the bloody head of a decapitated crow still in her hand. This is one of many dreams – part visions, part memories – that begin to haunt the reality of the young Cree woman as the anniversary of her sister’s death approaches. In her chilling debut novel, Jessica Johns, member of Alberta’s Sucker Creek First Nation, addresses the impossibility of escaping cultural and familial trauma as we follow Mackenzie from Vancouver back to her home community in High Prairie, where her worsening nightmares force her to confront her own pain and the shared nature of loss.

After an electrifying start, Bad Cree slows down significantly. Most of the novel lacks the urgency that drives the first few chapters, and that would be expected from such a stirring premise. But although the pace never quite picks back up to where it started, the novel remains satisfyingly eerie, atmospheric, and intriguing. The slow-burn horror allows for a more in-depth exploration of the themes and devices that make Bad Cree a notable intervention into the genre and an accomplished debut: rich in dark folklore-inspired imagery, this is a novel about grief as a bond, inherited trauma through a cultural lens, and refreshingly intersectional sorority; with remarkable representation and a large cast of female characters at the core of the story.

[Venezia Castro]

Fitzcarraldo Editions, out now

Faber, 2 Feb

Scribe, 9 Feb

Dream Gig

The Amused Moose Fringe 2022 Best Show Nominee and social media star takes a surreal sidestep into the world of Dream Gig ahead of his upcoming Work in Progress gigs

Words: Adam Flood

Illustration: Jonny Mowat

My best ever gig… that’s a tough one, but if pushed (read: had agreed to write an article about it), I’d say it was when I first felt like I was a real comedian.

In 2020 there was no Edinburgh Fringe because of strikes or climate change or something, so it had a holiday and came back in 2021 but much, much smaller. My friend Paddy Young and I decided to split an hour doing 30 minutes of stand-up each. Did we have that much material? Nahhhh. But who cares because we thought ‘let’s just work stuff out’ in front of what, 20 people? Not quite.

There were basically no big comedy names at that Fringe and 75% fewer shows than usual. The audience, with little other choice, were strong armed into our show. All eight nights sold out, 120 audience in, no promo or flyering or be ing or paid audience plants. The first two shows were wobbly with whoever was up first stru ling their way through, but the next act would always take the roof off, helping keep us both humble and scared. A few shows in though we stepped up, relaxed and put on a proper show.

The final show was THE gig. I was on first and had my best set of the run. Lots of improvised stuff and new bits went well. It felt electric and the audience were amazing. It was the first time I felt I could do stand-up for a living and not perish.

I still can’t believe that gig actually happened. As for a gig deeply rooted out of reality, I’d say my dream gig would go something like this *windchimes sound*...

Gigs underground are best, so let’s have a room deep in the Earth’s mantle with good air con. A few hundred packed in. You, reader, are there as you always are in my dreams. The ceiling is low so the laughter is explosive and the room does not stink (rare).

We’ve got two hosts. I’ve only seen Daniel Kitson do solo shows but I hear tell he rips MCing, so let’s get him on that. The second host will just announce the acts. It’s Jools Holland and he does the voice that gets higher each time he announces a band on Hootenanny. But under no circumstance are you to do ANY boogie-woogie piano, Jools.

When you start doing stand-up you have to go through years of being bad and humiliated and that in itself is funny. Once at a gong show (where acts have to last five minutes without getting booed off stage) I saw a drunk, arrogant guy get on stage with hood up, pint in hand, babbling on for a minute about nothing. All in front of 300 people baying for blood. The guy went to take his hood down, forgot he had a pint in his hand and accidentally tipped it over his head. The audience erupted then immediately gonged him

off (not a euphemism, they hit a gong to kick you off stage). I want him on the bill and to do that again, if I may.

I used to be in a band and unlike comedy, you do not get to gig with any of your idols any time soon. With stand-up, you gig with heroes quickly at new material nights. If I’m dreaming here, I want acts who I’ll probably never meet, so let’s say American comedians I love who won’t for love nor money come and do 10 minutes of new material at the Carlisle Chuckle Bucket: Gary Gulman, Katt Williams and Sarah Silverman.

Oh, you better believe I’m on too. What sort of pathetic worm would I be to not book myself on my own dream bill. To close the show let’s get some greats on who have passed away. I’ll take Norm Macdonald, who is perfection, and Victoria Wood. I used to watch her stand-up growing up because my mum was a huge fan so she has a place in my heart.

The gig is a stormer and everyone has the set of their life (or death). We all stick around in the underground club’s bar, drinking and half-listening to a cool house band. Jools stays off the piano and when it’s closing time the drummer hits us with a windchimes sound.

Adam Flood: Clayhead Remoulded, Monkey Barrel Comedy, 25 Feb, 8pm, £7

Also at Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Van Winkle West End, 22 Mar, 7pm, £5

Find Adam @floodhaha on Twitter and Insta, @adamfloodhaha on TikTok

“With stand-up, you gig with heroes quickly at new material nights”

CCA Highlights

CCA Glasgow closes out winter and kicks off spring with an excellent arts programme including new exhibitions from Benjamin Soedira and Jack Cheetham and a film programme from Living Rent

Words: Anahit Behrooz

Living Rent and the Workers’ Stories Project: Six Short Films About Housing (in memory of Cathy McCormack) (22 Feb)

Held in memory of the late veteran housing activist and campaigner

Cathy McCormack, this short film programme put together in association with tenants’ union Living Rent and the Workers Stories Project is a strident examination of housing inequality and the factors that lead to precarity. Through the six short films, the event examines the ways in which film, and art more broadly, can be used as both political representation and political tool, how housing justice can be fought for in the creative world, and the importance of bearing witness and chronicling the realities of class stru le. All proceeds from the event will go towards Living Rent and striking CWU workers.

Benjamin Soedira: Jongen (3-25 Feb)

Through a series of striking photographs, Glasgow-based artist Benjamin Soedira unravels histories of colonialism, intergenerational trauma, and the ability of the ground to hold onto the past. His photographs balance on the line between familiarity and foreignness, the known and the unknown, encapsulating the immigrant experience of dislocation and return. Travelling through Indonesia to his father’s birthplace in West Papua, plantation sites to everyday stillness, Soedira’s artistic intervention into his own history is both a gorgeous mediation on a fraught and colonially underpinned past, and a wide-open future.

The Self Assembled (18 Feb)

Who says being an adult can’t be fun? An immersive evening of performance, this unique theatre show invites its audience to play dress up along with its performers, with rails of costumes each with their own unique history stacked around the room. Transporting the audience through three decades of theatre, The Self Assembled is a delirious celebration of the work of Oceanallover, featuring fragments of shows including Ecdysis (In Vivo), Orographic and a new work The Scales of the World, featuring a costume collaboration with legendary couturier Mr Pearl. There’s also live performances created by Fionnuala Dorrity, Dylan Read, Suzi Cunningham and more, a Slam Poetry event curated by Carlos Hernan and dance tunes from Vixen Sound (aka Phoebe I-H).

Jack Cheetham: Trapped in a coffin with nothing to do (7-22 Apr)

This new installation by Glasgow-based artist Jack Cheetham offers a speculative look at the future of hometowns, families and communities through building an interactive relationship between audience and art. Taking the form of a forgotten puppet show that takes place in and around ruined castle grounds in the not-so-far future of 2066, Trapped in a coffin with nothing to do examines the potential and ongoing failures of a consumerbased creative culture, and the centrality of labour and community in manufacturing art, told through the tale of a puppeteer revolt and the exhibition’s audience who step in to reanimate the puppets.

cca-glasgow.com

Image: Jack Guariento

Living Rent

Image: Jack Cheetham

Trapped in a coffin with nothing to do

Glasgow Music

Tue 31 Jan

JOSIE DUNCAN +

OWEN SINCLAIR

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 13:30–15:00

Folk from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections.

CHERISH THE LADIES

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from Ireland. Part of Celtic Connections.

JOHN CARTY & MICHAEL MCGOLDRICK (RYAN

YOUNG & SARAH

MARKEY )

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 20:00–22:00

Trad from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections.

BROKEN CHANTER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Pop from Glasgow. Part of Celtic Connections.

Wed 01 Feb

AOIFE O'DONOVAN +

JACK BADCOCK

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Americana from the US. Part of Celtic Connections.

LAUGHTA (PSWEATPANTS)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Grime from the UK.

COLIN HAY + HANNAH

RARITY

OLD FRUITMARKET

GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Indie from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections.

AMADOU & MARIAM

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00

Afro-pop from Mali. Part of Celtic Connections.

ALLAN MACDONALD & FRIENDS + LIAM Ó

MAONLAÍ, KATHLEEN

MACINNES + ALANA

MACINNES

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 20:00–22:00

Eclectic trad lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

FLORENCE + THE

MACHINE

THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

Indie rock from London.

NOGOOD BOYO

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Trash-trad from Cardiff.

Thu 02 Feb

WOJTEK THE BEAR +

SISTER JOHN + ALBUM

CLUB

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Eclectic lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

Listings

APOCALYPTICA + EPICA

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Heavy metal from the UK.

BROGEAL

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Folk from Falkirk.

YOU ME AT SIX

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

GO TO GIRL

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from Scotland.

ANNA MEREDITH + C

DUNCAN

TRAMWAY, 19:30–22:00

Folk pop from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

DUNCAN CHISHOLM +

KIM CARNIE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

MANU DELAGO: ENVIRON ME AND SHHE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 20:00–22:00

Experimental electronica from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

AMYTHYST KIAH + EARLY JAMES

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:00

Folk from the US. Part of Celtic Connections.

AIMING FOR ENRIKE (SUNSPOTS) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Rock from Oslo.

Fri 03 Feb

THE BLUEBELLS (COWBOY MOUTH + SUGARTOWN)

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections. THE UNTHANKS +

LADY MAISERY CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00

Folk from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

RAZZ MATTREEZY (CHELSEA KEIR) BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Aberdeen.

YOU ME AT SIX BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

SUEDE

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Art rock from London.

SUEP THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from London.

TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00

Eclectic lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Folk from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

STINA MARIE CLAIRE + RAVELOE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections.

TIM BAKER

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Canada. Part of Celtic Connections.

PLASTIC MERMAIDS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Psych indie from the UK.

THE THAW + BED + TONTO + TAMANFAYA ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock lineup.

Sat 04 Feb

DARREN STYLES (WILL

ATKINSON + ROOLER)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–22:00

Producer from the UK.

SABHAL MÒR OSTAIG @ 50 CITY HALLS, 19:30–

22:00

Trad lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

AVALANCHE PARTY

MONO, 20:00–22:00

Garage punk from Yorkshire.

EAT THE FRIEK

BROADCAST, 19:30–22:00

Garage from Aberdeen. YOU ME AT SIX BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

TEMPLES STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Psychedelic rock from Manchester.

ROKIA KONÉ (TOGO

ALL STARS) OLD FRUITMARKET

GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Singer-songwriter from Mali. Part of Celtic Connections.

ANNUAL PIPE BAND

CONCERT: NAMES AND PLACES 2023

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 12:30–19:00

Trad lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

DREAMERS’ CIRCUS + FRIGG + KINNARIS

QUINTET: CELTIC RUNES

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00

Trad lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

JAMES DUNCAN

MACKENZIE + DEIRA

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 20:00–22:00

Trad lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

HEN HOOSE ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Feminist music collective. Part of Celtic Connections.

CHRIS HELME

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from the UK.

ESPERANZA + THE DUGHOOSE SKA BAND + LOCAL AUTHORITY

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00

Indie ska lineup.

Sun 05 Feb 10 YEARS OF LOST

MAP

ORAN MOR, 14:00–19:00

Eclectic lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

DVSN

SWG3 19:00–22:00

R’n’B from Canada.

THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from California.

THE SNUTS STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from West Lothian.

FANTASTIC NEGRITO (TOMMY PRINE)

OLD FRUITMARKET

GLASGOW, 20:00–22:00

Roots from Oakland. Part of Celtic Connections.

TRANSATLANTIC

SESSIONS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT

HALL, 19:30–22:00 Eclectic lineup. Part of Celtic Connections.

AMBER ARCADES (HATER)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Indie pop from the Netherlands.

Mon 06 Feb

DYLAN

SWG3 19:00–22:00

Pop from the UK.

REBECCA BLACK SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the US.

SAINTE ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00 Rap from Leicester.

MAJA LENA

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt folk from the UK.

Tue 07 Feb

SPACEY JANE

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Australia.

MOM JEANS SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the US.

Wed 08 Feb

CARLY RAE JEPSEN (LEWIS OFMAN)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Pop from Canada.

STARS (MURRAY A LIGHTBURN)

KING TUT’S, 20:00–22:00 Indie pop from the UK.

GRIM SICKERS SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Grime from the UK.

PALAYE ROYALE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Las Vegas.

APE HOUSE

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:30–22:00

Trad from the UK.

Thu 09 Feb

EASY LIFE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Indie from Leicester.

SKYLIGHTS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Indie rock from the UK.

KEV HOWELL SWG3, 19:30–22:00

Indie from Glasgow.

PALE BLUE EYES

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Alt pop from the UK.

THE LATITUDE

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Wishaw.

SPYRES ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Alt indie from Glasgow.

MIMA MERROW

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:00–22:00

Alt folk from Ireland.

GENTLY TENDER

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt indie from the UK.

Fri 10 Feb

KARDO

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Indie pop from Scotland.

WEYES BLOOD

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Alt indie from the US.

THE ACADEMIC

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Ireland.

ANNY LEIGH + LAITH

ANDREWS

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00

Acoustic lineup.

TRADE + POTENTIAL

FRAUD + THE RED

EYES

THE RUM SHACK, 19:00–22:00

Eclectic lineup.

Sat 11 Feb

RHODES

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Indie pop from the UK.

AMERICAN AQUARIUM

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00

Alt country from the US.

MK BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Producer from the UK.

PREOCCUPATIONS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Post-punk from Canada.

HELLRIPPER (DEVASTATOR + INSURGENCY + TYRANNUS + NIGHT

FIGHTER)

THE FLYING DUCK, 18:30–23:00

Speed metal from Aberdeen.

MARINA ALLEN

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt folk from LA.

NEIL STURGEON AND THE INFORMANIACS (THE JACKAL IV + THE REVERSE COWGIRLS) ROOM 2 19:00–22:00

Garage punkfrom the UK.

Sun 12 Feb

“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC (EMO PHILLIPS)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Comedy pop from the US.

JILL JACKSON SWG3, 19:30–22:00

Americana from Scotland.

SECOND SUNDAY SIPPING SOUNDS

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:30–22:00

Ukelele lineup.

LAYLOW PRESENTS GUIDO SPANNOCCHI

THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00

Jazz from Austria.

THE LONDON ASTROBEAT ORCHESTRA

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Experimental afrobeats from London.

Mon 13 Feb

BRAINIAC STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Noise rock from Ohio. REVEREND AND THE MAKERS ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Indie rock from Sheffield.

Tue 14 Feb

SHOVEL DANCE

COLLECTIVE (QUINIE)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00

Folk from the UK.

Wed 15 Feb

GOJIRA (ALIEN WEAPONRY + EMPLOYED TO SERVE)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Heavy metal from France. DON’T PANIC (THE DOLLYROOTS) KING TUT’S, 20:00–22:00

Punk pop from the UK.

JESSE MALIN

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Americana from New York.

THE SLOW CLUB (CALUM MACLEAN) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00

Experimental from Glasgow.

Thu 16 Feb

STICKY FINGERS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00

Rock from Australia. THE SELF ISOLATION

SONGBOOK

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Experimental gospel glam from LA.

HAMISH HAWK ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Indie rock from Edinburgh.

SWEET BABOO (CLEMENTINE MARCH) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Psych pop from Wales.

Fri 17 Feb

LOS PACAMINOS FT.

PAUL YOUNG

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00

Pop from the UK.

THE BIG PINK (SPIRAL CITIES + THE ZEBECKS)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Electro rock from London.

DRY CLEANING BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Post-punk from London.

CHRIS HELME

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from the UK.

Sat 18 Feb

BANNERS

ORAN MOR 19:00–22:00

Alt pop from Liverpool.

MILK.

KING TUT’S, 20:00–22:00

Pop from Dublin.

THE MURDER CAPITAL

SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Post-punk from Dublin.

KRIS BARRAS

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00

Rock from the UK.

FAT BLACK CATS

STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Garage rock from Blantyre.

THE PAPER KITES

ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Folk rock from Melbourne.

BIS

THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00

Indie pop from Scotland.

TELLISON (THIS FAMILIAR SMILE + FUTURE COLOURS)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Alt rock from London.

Sun 19 Feb

SOMEBODY’S CHILD (KYNSEY ) KING TUT’S, 20:00–22:00

Indie pop from Dublin.

EZRA COLLECTIVE SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Jazz from London. DYLAN WINTERS BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Glasgow.

CAVETOWN BARROWLANDS, 19:00–

22:00

Bedroom pop from Oxford.

Mon 20 Feb

BLACK VEIL BRIDES (LILITH CZAR + CEMETERY SUN) O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from California.

AVATAR SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Heavy metal from Sweden. HALF ALIVE SWG3 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from California.

CAVETOWN BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00

Bedroom pop from Oxford. ENTER SHIKARI ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00 Rock from St Albans.

AUTHOR & PUNISHER (ZETRA)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00

Art metal from San Diego.

Tue 21 Feb

SKULLCRUSHER STEREO, 19:00–22:00

Indie folk from New York.

EMMA SMITH THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00

Jazz from Scotland.

Wed 22 Feb

HOODIE ALLEN (CONNOR PRICE) KING TUT’S, 20:00–22:00

Pop punk from the US.

LISSIE ST LUKE’S, 19:30–22:00

Singer-songwriter from the US.

YUNGBLUD THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00

Alt rock from the UK.

THOMAS TRUAX THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Rock from the UK.

Thu 23 Feb

WE ARE SCIENTISTS ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the US.

FRANTIC LOVE (COWBOY HUNTERS + BIN JUICE + POST IRONIC STATE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–22:00

Heavy metal from the UK.

KELSEA BALLERINI

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00

Country pop from Tennessee.

BLACK STAR RIDERS SWG3, 19:00–22:00

Hard rock from the UK.

AYA THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Hardcore/techno

CÉLESTE

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00

Techno and house.

Sat 25 Feb

PRESSURE SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Electronica and dance.

[UN]BOUND (CORSO + SAMUEL KERRIDGE + TRSSX) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Industrial and noise.

DEEP JUNGLE WALK

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00

Psytrance

DAVID VUNK (MOUSTACHE RECORDS) AND BONZAI BONNER (SHOOT YOUR SHOT) THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00 Electro and italo disco.

Edinburgh Clubs

Thu 02 Feb

EMPATHY TEST

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Electronic pop.

Fri 03 Feb

MISS WORLD: SOFTI SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Bass from London. SWIFTOGEDDON LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

FIRST EDITION (DR RUBEINSTEIN) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Rave. PRCTL THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno. RESIST THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Sat 04 Feb

EHFM: LWS B2B J WAX SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Electro from Edinburgh. BACK TO THE 80’S LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 80’s pop.

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN (FEAT. MAGUGU (PIDGIN RAP GURU / GUGUGANG)) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Tropical beats. FUSION PRESENTS (A05 B2B SIKOTI) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Fusion.

Regular Edinburgh club nights

Cabaret

Voltaire

FRIDAYS FLY CLUB

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

SATURDAYS PLEASURE

Regular Saturday night at Cab Vol, with residents and occasional special guests.

Sneaky Pete’s

MONDAYS MORRISON STREET/STAND

B-SIDE/CHAOS IN THE COSMOS/ TAIS-TOI House and techno dunts from some of Edinburgh's best young teams.

TUESDAYS POPULAR MUSIC DJs playing music by bands to make you dance: Grace Jones to Neu!, Parquet Courts to Brian Eno, The Clash to Janelle Monáe.

WEDNESDAYS

HEATERS

Heaters presents weekly local crew showdowns, purveying the multifarious mischief that characterises Sneaks' midweek party haven.

THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

VOLENS CHORUS

Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook

Mon 06 Feb

MORRISON STREET PRESENTS: CRUSH3D

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Techno from Australia.

Wed 08 Feb

I. JORDAN X SHERELLE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Rave.

Thu 09 Feb

STALAGMIITES PRESENTS: NICK LEÓN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Techno from Miami.

Fri 10 Feb

JUNGLE MAGIK

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

Jungle and club.

NIGHTS LIKE THIS

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00 House and techno.

DUB CONFERENCE: MIGHTY OAK SOUND

MEETS CRUCIAL ROOTS SUMMERHALL, 22:00–03:00 Dub and roots.

AMAPIANO X AFROBEATS PARTY LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Afrobeats.

DILF THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno and house.

PARABELLVM

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Techno.

RESIST

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Sat 11 Feb

DR. NO’S

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00

Ska and reggae.

MR SCRUFF

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Blues, ska and electro.

REGGAETON PARTY

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Reggae.

CLUB NACHT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

LIQUID FUNKTION

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Mon 13 Feb

STAND B-SIDE MY VALENTINE W/ MEG

WARD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 House from Newcastle.

Tue 14 Feb

CLUB NACHT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Wed 15 Feb

FUSION

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Thu 16 Feb

AGORA: CURATED

WAX

FRIDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) MISS WORLD

All-female DJ collective with monthly guests

FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) HOT MESS

A night for queer people and their friends.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

SOUL JAM

Monthly no-holdsbarred, down-anddirty disco.

SUNDAYS POSTAL

Weekly Sunday session showcasing the very best of heavy-hitting local talent with some extra special guests.

The Liquid Room

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)

REWIND

Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and current bangers.

The Hive MONDAYS MIXED UP MONDAY

Monday-brightening mix of Hip-hop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

TUESDAYS TRASH TUESDAY Alternative Tuesday anthems cherry picked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

WEDNESDAYS COOKIE WEDNESDAY 90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.

THURSDAYS HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY Student anthems and bangerz.

FRIDAYS FLIP FRIDAY

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

SATURDAYS BUBBLEGUM

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SUNDAYS SECRET SUNDAY

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Subway Cowgate

MONDAYS TRACKS

Blow the cobwebs off the week with a weekly Monday night party with some of Scotland’s biggest and best drag queens.

TUESDAYS TAMAGOTCHI Throwback Tuesdays with non-stop 80s, 90s, 00s tunes.

IRONAYE HIFI

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Bass.

RESIST THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Sat 25 Feb

DES WAS A BOWIE FAN

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00

Indie pop and rock.

NON STOP STYLES

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

PULSE: (THE LADY MACHINE) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

NITESHIFT THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

DnB.

Mon 27 Feb

TAIS-TOI

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Dundee Clubs

Thu 02 Feb

REGGAE GOT SOUL KINGS, 22:30–03:00 Dancehall, jungle and reggae.

Fri 03 Feb

FLOOR ABOVE

PRESENTS: STEPHANIE SYKES

KINGS, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

Drygate Brewing Co.

FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH

DRYGATE COMEDY LAB, 7PM

A new material comedy night hosted by Chris Thorburn.

The Stand

Glasgow

FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30

Host Billy Kirkwood and guests act entirely on your suggestions.

TUESDAYS RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to eight acts.

FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

The Glee Club

FRIDAYS FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

The perfect way to end the working week, with four superb stand-up comedians.

SATURDAYS SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00

An evening of awardwinning comedy, with four superb stand-up comedians that will keep you laughing until Monday.

Regular Edinburgh comedy nights

The Stand

Edinburgh

Mondays RED RAW, 20:30

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30

The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s make comedy cold from suggestions.

Fridays THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Saturdays THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

Monkey Barrel

Second and third Tuesday of every month

THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00

The University of Edinburgh's Comedy Society, who put on sketch and stand-up comedy shows every two weeks.

Wednesdays

TOP BANANA, 19:00

Fridays MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Fridays

DATING CRAPP, 22:00

Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Farmers Only...Come and laugh as some of Scotland's best improvisers join forces to perform based off two audience members dating profiles.

WEDNESDAYS XO

Hip-hop and R'n'B grooves from regulars DJ Beef and DJ Cherry.

THURSDAYS SLIC

More classic Hip-hop and R'n'B dance tunes for the almost end of the week.

FRIDAYS FIT FRIDAYS

Chart-topping tunes perfect for an irresistible sing and dance-along.

SATURDAYS SLICE SATURDAY

The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.

SUNDAYS Sunday Service

Atone for the week before and the week ahead with non-stop dancing.

The Mash House

SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) SAMEDIA SHEBEEN Joyous global club sounds: think Afrobeat, Latin and Arabic dancehall on repeat.

SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

PULSE

The best techno DJs sit alongside The Mash House resident Darrell Pulse.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Electro from Glasgow.

Fri 17 Feb

NIGHT TUBE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 UK garage.

SO FETCH LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 00’s pop.

TONTO TECHNO (JULIAN JEWEIL) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

NOOK THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Rave. RESIST

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Sat 18 Feb

HEYDAY SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 House.

DECADE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 Pop punk.

TAIS TOIS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.

Mon 20 Feb

MILKIT: 1-800 GIRLS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Electro from London.

Fri 24 Feb

LIONOIL

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 House.

249’S QUEER PARTY FOR ALL SUMMERHALL, 20:00–03:00

Queer pop and dance.

MILEY HIGH CLUB LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop.

METROPOLIS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 DnB.

Sat 04 Feb

ITALO SCANDALO KINGS, 23:00–03:00 Italo and disco.

Fri 10 Feb

THE SMALL TOWN CLUB WITH MR SCRUFF ALL NIGHT

LONG KINGS, 22:00–03:00 Blues, ska and electro.

Sat 11 Feb

THE SMALL TOWN CLUB WITH DICKY TRISCO ALL NIGHT LONG KINGS, 23:00–03:00 Italo and disco.

Fri 24 Feb

PUBLIC HOUSE: CHUPACABRAS + LIFEFORMS

KINGS, 23:00–03:00 Electro and acid.

Glasgow

Comedy

The Glee Club

CATHERINE COHEN: COME FOR ME

9 FEB, 7:00PM – 9:00PM

A deeply horny musical comedy hour about entering your thirties.

BASKETMOUTH

14 FEB, 7:00PM –

9:00PM

One of Nigeria’s most beloved comics goes on tour.

The Stand

Glasgow BENEFIT IN AID OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

15 FEB, 8:00PM –

10:00PM

A star-studded line up of host Chris Forbes, Frankie Boyle, Liam Farrelly, Laura Quinn Goh and headliner Mark Nelson.

Saturdays THE SATURDAY SHOW (THE EARLY SHOW), 17:00

A slightly earlier performance of the big weekend show with four comedians.

DANNY BHOY: WORK IN PROGRESS

1 FEB, 8:00PM –

10:00PM

A work in progress from the award-winning Scottish comic. All proceeds to Glasgow NW Foodbank.

SOPHIE DUKER: HAG

26 FEB. 8:30PM-10:00PM

The sexy baby from Taskmaster is all grown up. As seen on Live At The Apollo and literally everywhere else.

DARREN CONNELL & THE FUNNY BUNCH

26 FEB, 4:00PM –

6:00PM

See some of the best and more established acts on the circuit trying out new material, hosted by Scot Squad’s Darren Connell.

BONA FIDE VALENTINE

SPECIAL!

16 FEB, 8:30PM –10:00PM

Join regular host Jay Lafferty for a special Valentine’s edition of the comedy show with a difference. Themed new material night.

KEVIN P. GILDAY: SPAM

VALLEY

22 FEB, 8:00PM –10:00PM

A hilarious, autobiographical monologue exploring what happens when a working-class upbringing gives way to a middle-class career path.

Catch the stars of tomorrow today in Monkey Barrel's new act night every Wednesday.

Thursdays SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00

Four acts every Thursday take to the stage to try out new material.

JOSH PUGH: SUSAGE, EGG, JOSH PUGH, CHIPS & BEANS

4 FEB, 4:50PM – 7:00PM

Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee and tour support for Joe Lycett takes us through the last two years of his life.

BABATUNDE ALESHE: BABAHOOD

5 FEB, 8:30PM –

10:00PM

Join the multi award winning comedian as he talks family and fatherhood in this highly anticipated debut tour.

Edinburgh

Comedy

Festival Theatre

JANEY GODLEY: NOT DEAD YET

19 FEB, 8:00PM –

10:30PM

Scottish comedian makes her return to the stage.

Monkey Barrel

Comedy

THE OTHER SHOW

11+25 FEB, 10:00PM –

11:30PM

From the utterly sublime to the unapologetically ridiculous, Monkey Barrel Comedy presents a night of comedy at the cliff’s edge of surreal humour.

Saturdays MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Sundays MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

JOHN HASTINGS: WORK IN PROGRESS

17 FEB, 8:00PM –

9:00PM

Critically acclaimed Canadian comedian John Hastings presents his brand new work in progress.

JOHN HASTINGS: DO YOU HAVE ANY OINTMENT MY JOHN HASTINGS?

19 FEB, 8:00PM –

9:00PM

Critically acclaimed Canadian comedian John Hastings launches his first UK tour with his highly acclaimed hour of stand up. CHORTLE STUDENT COMEDY AWARDS 2023 - EDINBURGH HEAT

21 FEB, 8:00PM –

9:45PM

The best of the next generation of comedy stars discovered by a panel of comedy industry experts.

WILLIAM THOMPSON: THE HAND YOU’RE DEALT

24 FEB, 8:00PM –

9:00PM

As seen on Dave & Channel 4, BBC New Comedy Awards Finalist William Thompson brings his tour show to Monkey Barrel.

ADAM FLOOD: CLAYHEAD REMOULDED (PREVIEW)

25 FEB, 8:00PM –9:00PM

Bath Festival New Comedian of the Year winner Adam Flood brings a preview of his debut hour to Monkey Barrel.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

ARTISTS AT WORK 2

1-12 FEB, 10:00AM –5:00PM

An exhibition of painting, sculpture, photography and jewellery created by staff at the National Galleries of Scotland.

Stills STILLS SCHOOL

EXHIBITION 2023

7-18 FEB, 12:00PM –

5:00PM

An end of year showcase for students participating in the Stills School programme.

Summerhall WONDERLUST

1-28 FEB, 12:00PM –

5:30PM

Blown-up, nostalgia-tinged polaroids are given an eerie, haunted feel in this photographic series.

JOHN KINDNESS: THE

ODYSSEY

1-28 FEB, 12:00PM –

5:30PM

A retelling of the Homeric classic told through the Modernist lens of James Joyce, scattered throughout Summerhall’s rooms.

BRIDGET IVERS COX

1 FEB-19 MAR, 12:00PM

– 5:30PM

A major retrospective of groundbreaking portraitist Bridget Ivers Cox.

ROGER ELLIOT: WALLPAPERS

1-26 FEB, 12:00PM –

5:30PM

Using the RAL K7 colour chart as its source, this series of colour blocks raises provocative questions regarding originality, authorship and circulation within art-making.

Talbot Rice Gallery

QIU ZHIJIE

1-18 FEB, TIMES VARY

Large-scale paintings and topographies exploring developing geopolitical landscapes.

NIRA PEREG

1-18 FEB, TIMES VARY

Video installations that explore ideas of ceremony, ritual, and contested political spaces across Israel and Palestine.

LARA FAVARETTO

1-18 FEB, TIMES VARY

Large-scale sculptures and installations that investigate the space between destruction and reconstruction, collapse and recovery.

The Scottish Gallery

ARE YOU SITTING

COMFORTABLY?

1-11 FEB, TIMES VARY

A series of works on paper celebrating the power of storytelling through art.

CONTEMPORARY

2-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

A snapshot of contemporary British art.

ART & INDUSTRY

2-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

A creative exploration of the intersection between art, industry and labour.

GILLIAN FORBES: TREASURED

2-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

Unique handcrafted pieces carved from stone, mimicking medieval modes of relief representation.

VICKI AMBERY-

SMITH: INSPIRED BY ARCHITECTURE

2-25 FEB, TIMES VARY

Jewellery inspired by classical facades.

Dundee Art

Cooper Gallery

HARUN FAROCKI: CONSIDER LABOUR

3 FEB-1 APR, TIMES VARY

The first major exhibition in Scotland of significant works by pioneering filmmaker Harun Farocki.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

MATTHEW ARTHUR WILLIAMS: SOON COME

1 FEB-26 MAR, TIMES VARY

Newly commissioned film and sound installations reform traditional portraiture by defying erasure and re considering what it means to document the Black queer experience.

The McManus

HIDDEN HISTORIES: EXPLORING EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN DUNDEE’S ART COLLECTION

1 FEB-30 DEC, 10:00AM

– 5:00PM

Exploring the McManus 20th-century collection through different positionalities, to examine the responsibility of the museum as institution in responding to history.

CASTS AND COPIES

1 FEB-30 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Examining the artistic and historic significance of copies, fakes, and forgeries.

V&A Dundee PLASTIC: REMAKING OUR WORLD

2-5 FEB, 10:00AM –

5:00PM

A dynamic exhibition thinking through the materiality and technological capacities and difficulties of plastic.

Glasgow Venues

From underground nightclubs to the re-emergence of old favourites, we round up some of the newest and most interesting spots in Glasgow

Words: Tara Hepburn

SCRAN LONDON ROAD

239 LONDON RD, G40 1PE

Scran first opened in Dennistoun in 2018 and quickly acquired cult status in the city. Their no bookings policy meant that it was typical to see a long queue trickling down Alexandra Parade from Scran’s door most weekend mornings. It was a huge shock, then, when they announced their closure in 2022. Hearts were broken. But you can’t keep a good man down, and Scran popped up in new East End premises just a few months later. Now occupying a larger spot on London Road near the Barras, Scran lives on, and besides the location, little else has changed.

SYMBØL

323 SAUCHIEHALL STREET, G2 3HW

Three years on from the first appearance of COVID-19, the city has finally added a new name to the nightlife scene. Symbøl has taken up residence on Sauchiehall Street in the underground spot where the Blue Arrow Jazz Club once stood. Musically speaking, Symbøl represents a handbrake turn for the space. Officially opening its doors on Boxing Day 2022, the club is a techno wonderland. A heavy-duty Funktion-One sound system and sophisticated lighting set-up geared towards electronic music have transformed the 250-capacity venue into something unrecognisable. Only open for a few short weeks at the time of writing, Symbøl has already seen appearances from international names such as Californian DJ and producer Onyvaa and local favourites like Frazi.er.

AUGUST HOUSE

43 MITCHELL ST, G1 3LN

August House on Mitchell Street is the latest Glasgow venture for the Base Hospitality group (you might recognise them from other shiny establishments such as Nonna Says and The Duke’s Umbrella). Open until 1am with live DJs every night of the week, August is a slick bar with a particular focus on cocktails and house music. August’s large basement area is the focus of the bar’s long-term ambitions, with rumblings that gigs, club nights and private parties are all lined up to the fill the space in the coming months. The food offering is decent enough for a place that is first and foremost a cocktail bar. Small plates such as mini lobster rolls, shrimp tacos and edamame hummus provide wellmatched accompaniment to the bar’s cocktail list.

SLAY

24 GLASSFORD ST, G1 1UL

Slay is a new multi-purpose venue based on Glassford Street in Glasgow. After a cursed attempt to open in early 2020, things are well and truly underway now for this new face in the city centre. Slay has a good sense of its own vibe and typically attracts an energetic younger crowd. Many of their regular events lean into a poppy and playful sensibility. Stuff like Drag Bingo shares the calendar with noughties club nights and daytime alternative markets. The main event space has a standing capacity of 550, and represents a good new mid-sized city centre venue. This useful addition to the live music scene has seen Slay host a wide variety of artists and events, from guitar bands to live podcast nights and stand-up comedy.

Photo: Andrew Downie

Slay

The Skinny On... Callum Easter

As a long-time friend and collaborator of Young Fathers, not to mention an incredible talent in his own right, Callum Easter takes on this month’s Q&A

Callum Easter is a true wonder of the Scottish music scene, with releases on Lost Map Records and Moshi Moshi. Last month he helped open the new live space at Edinburgh’s small but perfectly formed Leith Depot. Maybe you were there? Or maybe you’ve seen him perform in the past with little more than an accordion and a microphone? Maybe you were at his guerilla gig under a bridge in Leith during the 2020 lockdown? Or, you might have caught him playing a full-band headline show at The Queen’s Hall last year?

If you were at The Skinny’s 200th issue party at Summerhall last December, we guarantee it will be a long time before you forget his performance in the round, amps strapped to a trolley, Easter in a reflective trenchcoat, intermittently illuminated by strobe lighting. Needless to say, but no two performances from Callum Easter are ever the same, his unpredictability making him a wholly unique and endlessly exciting artist.

While Easter is certainly no stranger to these pages, as a long-time collaborator and friend of Young Fathers, the trio wanted to shout about him, which is understandable. Thinking it would be nice to get to know him on a more personal level, we thought, what better way to do that than through our monthly Q&A? So here it is!

What’s your favourite food?

I’m not very good at cooking. It’s that or I don’t put the time in. I’ll make a good omelette and put some greens in there.

What’s your favourite colour? Oh, I’m not picky.

Who was your hero growing up?

My wee sister. She’d put on shows in the house and I’d hand her props. She had this one with a guitar and a sha y dog puppet on her foot bouncing along. Very entertaining.

Whose work inspires you now?

Jessie Mae Hemphill. Found her recently. I just like her style. She’s got me into the whistle and drum.

What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?

I’d have my mum and my sister over as we’ve not done that in a while. Maybe do breakfast though, less messing about. They can bring someone with them. Tea and coffee, omelettes, jam on toast for dessert; marmalade for my mother, lots of laughs.

What’s your all-time favourite album?

Clint Eastwood by The Upsetters. I used to go through my mate’s records in his kitchen at parties and I’d always come back to that one. Sounds mad, love the organ sound, love the cover, love the rhythms.

What’s your favourite Young Fathers song?

Depends. Am I Not Your Boy is the one if I’m feeling sentimental.

What book would you take to a desert island?

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Not read it in a while. I wanted to learn it off by heart and pretend to be the ancient mariner. No time for that really.

Who’s the worst?

Johnny Lynch? In a “he’ll steal your socks” ironic kind of way.

When did you last cry?

Terribly lost and terribly hungover, trying to drive back from Knockengorroch Festival. It’s happened a few times now, I get so confused and I’ve usually no charge in my phone.

What are you most scared of?

Mediocrity. There’s too much of it.

When did you last vomit?

Can’t remember. It’s been a while.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight? Mmmm…

If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be and why?

Maybe something that flies. A wee sparrow or something. Or a cat. Eat myself.

You’re heading out on the road soon with Young Fathers. What can people expect?

I’m playing electric organ mainly and some glockenspiel and guitar and whatever the tunes need. Maybe a bit of singing.

Callum Easter plays with Young Fathers on their forthcoming tour; catch him at O2 Academy, Glasgow, 3 & 4 Mar callumeaster.com

Photo: Martyna Maz

Callum Easter at The Skinny

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