The Skinny February 2022 by The Skinny

January 2020

Books

THE SKINNY

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THE SKINNY

Art January 2020

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THE SKINNY

The Skinny's favourite song involving the word fantasy Baby D — Let Me Be Your Fantasy Owen Pallett, fka Final Fantasy — This is the Dream of Win and Regine Billie Eilish — Male Fantasy Kanye West — Dark Fantasy Encanto — Welcome to the Family Madrigal Carly Rae Jepsen — Emotion Car Seat Headrest — My Boy (Twin Fantasy) M People — Fantasy Island Mariah Carey — Fantasy Ludacris — What’s Your Fantasy Prince — Kiss Against All Logic — Fantasy Mogwai — Dry Fantasy George Michael (feat. Nile Rodgers) — Fantasy

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

Issue 193, February 2022 © Radge Media Ltd.

February 2022

Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more. E: sales@theskinny.co.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. Printed by DC Thomson & Co. Ltd, Dundee ABC verified Jan – Dec 2019: 28,197

printed on 100% recycled paper

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Championing creativity in Scotland

Meet the team We asked – What's your favourite fantasy event / experience you've imagined for 'when this is all over'? Editorial

Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "A girls' holiday in the Adriatic where we hire a boat for a day and there is a lot of drama. Someone loses a valuable item. Someone starts a brawl in a bar. Someone will have a facial injury. Everybody cries."

Peter Simpson Digital Editor, Food & Drink Editor "There's a big party to celebrate 'everything being fine'! Talking Heads are playing, in their classic 1984 lineup! I’m David Byrne! And at one point I flap my big suit sleeves and just fly away."

Anahit Behrooz Events Editor "Me, living my one wild and precious life, not checking the SNP twitter account every other day for updates."

Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist "A Wickerman-style ceremony with Boris Johnson as the guest of honour."

Tallah Brash Music Editor "I just want to be at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona. I want to drunkenly watch bands until the sun comes up and then throw myself in the Mediterranean with a cold can. Pleeeeease."

Nadia Younes Clubs Editor "Kanye My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy tour WITH ALL THE GUESTS!! And the support act is ODB (back from the dead or via hologram) performing his verse on Mariah Carey's Fantasy on a loop."

Polly Glynn Comedy Editor "Pleasance Cabaret Bar gets restored to its former woodpanelled, cig-stained glory and I get to curate and watch my dream comedy lineup. I laugh and laugh and laugh. "

Katie Goh Intersections Editor "Lying down! On a warm beach! With a beer!"

Eliza Gearty Theatre Editor "..."

Heather McDaid Books Editor "When We Were Young festival's mere existence is enough to see me through."

Production

Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager "Dancing around burning the remains of my face masks while Slipknot plays in the background."

Adam Benmakhlouf Art Editor "Seeing an article on 'You Won't Believe What Boris Johnson Looks Like Now' after his public ruin. And scrolling by."

Sales & Business

Phoebe Willison Designer "Just constantly licking everyone I know."

Sandy Park Commercial Director "To be ambushed by cake by all my friends for my birthday, or on a random weekday."

Tom McCarthy Creative Projects Manager "I want to discombobulate in a field surrounded by friends and music."

George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist "Sitting at home alone playing videogames for 14 uninterrupted hours."

Laurie Presswood General Manager "LMFAO return and this time I appreciate them while I have them.."

THE SKINNY

Editorial Words: Rosamund West

his February, in a nod to both the most romantic of months and also the fact that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of anything we print at this moment in omicron time, we decided to theme the issue around the notion of FANTASY. It’s admittedly quite a loose theme, best exemplified by the dreamlike forms of the cover image, and our request that our editors share a snapshot of the imagined futures that have sustained them through all the seclusion. Building on the success / usefulness of our December wrapping paper, this month we introduce a new approach to showcasing interesting artworks. Our centre pages feature a pull-out-and-hang-on-your-wall poster, another dreamy work by cover artist Costanza Starrabba. In Music, we meet composer Ben Corrigan as he prepares to release a collection of music created on his Excuse the Mess podcast. The concept is simple, with radical consequences – musicians create new work within strict guidelines, including a one-day turnaround and limited to one instrument. Anna Meredith composed her contribution on a pesto jar. We also meet Agustina Ruiz and Josefine Jonsson of London-based four-piece Los Bitchos to discuss their international influences and love affair with Scotland as they release their debut album. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra unleashes a new programme this month, their New York Counterpoint shows collaborating with boundary-breaking Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto to direct a series of three shows centred around artists who have passed through New York City.

Clubs meets the founder of touring DJ workshop series Intervention, Yewande Adeniran aka Ifeoluwa, to talk about decentralising dance music. Film looks forward to Glasgow Film Festival 2022, with a rundown of the top ten films to look out for. We also meet Honor Swinton Byrne to discuss her recurring role as Julie in Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II. Art talks to Glasgow-based artist Tako Taal about her new DCA solo show drawing on familial archives to consider the changing nature of Juffureh, her family’s home village in The Gambia. In Comedy, Ahir Shah chats about his new tour, Dress, tapping into the fantasy theme with the idea that we’ve all been engaged in an endless dress rehearsal for our own lives for the last long period of time. Our design column talks to Glasgowbased jewellery and homeware designer Isla Cruickshank about her background in cooking and how it’s informed her approach to low-waste working. As we approach the Year of the Tiger, one writer explores the significance of the holiday for many ESEA communities in Scotland. Finally, this month we bid a sad farewell to Katie Goh, who’s stepping down from the role of Intersections editor to pursue ever more exciting creative projects. This is not the end of their contributions, we hope, only a step away from the monthly commissioning cycle. Signing off, they’ve written a typically incisive piece considering how first person opinion writing has warped identity politics in the UK, and a Books feature on Sean Thor Conroe’s Fuccboi and the much-shouted-about crisis of white middle-class male masculinity in contemporary fiction for good measure.

Cover Artist

February 2022 — Chat

Costanza Starrabba is an Italian illustrator who lives and works between Rome and Milan. Her work focuses on the relationship between body shapes and the space they inhabit. She also works as a graphic designer for various brands and projects. i: @starrenco

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Love Bites

Love Bites: On Online Connections This month’s columnist reflects on online connections and longdistance internet friendships Words: Aditi Jehangir

February 2022 — Chat

hen we talk about online connection, it’s usually about meeting new people. But there’s something comforting and amazing about talking to your friends across the world. During the pandemic, I have had a love/hate relationship with the internet but I am grateful I have a lifeline to everyone I love who lives abroad. I often find myself wondering what lockdowns would have been like without faraway friends. As someone who never slept well, with bouts of insomnia getting worse from 2020 onwards, it was suddenly more important than ever that having friends awake in different time zones. While the rest of the world slept, I could always say hello to someone. Recently, a friend deleted their Facebook account and we started writing letters to each other. It did briefly make me feel like a character in a Jane Austen novel but was ultimately frustrating when I wanted to share news quickly, so we’ve resorted back to the imperfect internet for now. It isn’t the same as speaking to people in person but, for a moment, it becomes irrelevant that they’re on another continent because you’re both discussing a very minute point about how the geography of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls doesn’t make sense at midnight in Scotland and and nine in the morning in South Korea. Sometimes the distance is even a benefit; getting people from afar’s opinions and advice is occasionally easier than talking to the people physically closest to you. Having a friend in New Zealand also means that they get to listen to new albums before you and give you their reviews. Talking about bad dates, families, pop culture, and even just sending someone 7000 miles away a GIF can make you feel like someone is a little closer to you.

Crossword Solutions Across 8. OASIS 9. UH-OH 10. SAGA 12. REFER 13. RETENTION 14. WIBBLY-WOBBLY 18. ROLE-PLAYING GAME 21. JE NE SAIS QUOI 26. WACHOWSKI 27. NIGHT 29. MOON 30. CEDE 31. ZELDA Down 1. BORROWERS 2. AS IF 3. ASTRAL 4. ZUBROWKA 5. HOT-TUB 6. MAGIC 7. FAUNA 11. UNPLUG 15. BULL 16. ZAZU 17. LEVIATHAN 19. PRECOG 20. IMAGINED 22. ENSUED 23. SUN TZU 24. SWAMP 25. ICHOR 28. GOLD

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Heads Up

Appropriately for this issue’s fantasy theme, we’ve rounded up the most out-of-this-world events happening this month – from folkloric exhibitions to transcendent nights out. Compiled by Anahit Behrooz

Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, 25-27 Feb, 7pm A stunning hybrid staging of the infamous Gothic tale, this new production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella is built for both stage and screen, taking place on an intricately constructed film set in Leith Theatre before being broadcast in cinemas. Director Hope Dickson Leach transplants the action from London to Edinburgh, dramatically foregrounding the eerie, doubled nature of Stevenson’s beloved hometown.

Jekyll and Hyde Photo: George Nebieridze

Heads Up

Photo: Laurence Winram

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Love 2 Love: Loves 2 Perform Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, 12 Feb, 6pm For a deliriously sexy and soppy celebration of romance in all its prickly glory, look no further than this Valentine’s Day extravaganza: an evening of weird and wonderful performance to coincide with Eden Dodd’s solo exhibition Love 2 Love: Severance. From queer cabaret to intense physical theatre, this is love at its sharpest and messiest.

SPFDJ

Animal Farm x Missing Persons Club (SPFDJ b2b Hector Oaks) Sub Club, Glasgow, 25 Feb, 11pm Reared on the techno circuits of London and Berlin, the brash, unapologetically hedonistic SPFDJ comes to Sub Club for a night of high-octane dance beats. Spinning back to back with Hector Oaks, one of Europe’s most in demand ravers and mixers, and joined by DJs from Glasgow nightlife stalwarts Animal Farm and Missing Persons Club, this is a perfect return to club nights.

Nova Twins

Image: courtesy of the artists

Image: courtesy of Craig Manson

King Tut’s, Glasgow, 11 Feb, 8pm Made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South, this dynamic duo are taking the punk rock world by storm. With a grimy, cathartically grungy sound and an electric, no-fucks-given stage presence, their live shows are a glorious celebration of live music: loud, unconstrained, and deliciously larger than life. Bring your brightest lipstick and most anarchic attitude.

Balkanarama Summerhall, Edinburgh, 5 Feb, 10:30pm Back in Summerhall for the first time since the advent of COVID-19, beloved DJ-led club night Balkanarama is teaming up this month with the equally riotous live music outfit The Baghdaddies. Bringing together Balkan, gypsy and klezmer music with stringent beats, belly dancing, and glitter stalls, clubbing rarely gets more joyous or eclectic than this.

Nova Twins

Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, Until 27 Mar Incorporating details from Persian mythology, calligraphy, and contemporary culture, Mohammad Barrangi’s fantastical smallscale prints and floor-to-ceiling murals are an invitation into another, more elusive world. This small but perfectly formed exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers is the Iranian artist’s first solo Scottish show, and forms the first in a three-year project at the Printmakers and across Europe highlighting work by refugee and asylum-seeking artists.

Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 17 Feb-5 Mar

Balkanarama

Kit Sebastian Broadcast, Glasgow, 17 Feb, 7pm Image: courtesy of artist

Photo: Joe Connolly and Jamhot

Ahir Shah

Jon Mancini

Ahir Shah: Dress Moorcroft

Image: courtesy of Church

Moorcroft

Mohammad Barrangi, Anything is Possible at Edinburgh Printmakers

Photo: The Other Richard.

February 2022 — Chat

Mohammad Barrangi: Anything Is Possible

Image: courtesy of Summerhall

Photo: Alan Dimmick

Loves 2 Perform

The Stand, Edinburgh, 26 Feb, 3:20pm

Kit Sebastian

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Experience House presents Jon Mancini Church, Dundee, 26 Feb, 10pm

THE SKINNY

Image: Tao-Anas Le Thanh

Jamali Maddix: King Krud The Glee Club, Glasgow, 7 Feb, 7pm A regular on Taskmaster, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Jamali Maddix is fast becoming a staple of the British comedy scene, combining sharp observational humour with the deft political investigation of his VICE documentary series Hate Thy Neighbour. King Crud builds on his liminal space across both worlds, examining ideas of morality and justice with razor sharp wit.

Life and Times, Film Still

Go Dance

Dundee Rep, Dundee, 11-12 Feb, 7pm After premiering to digital audiences in 2021, Scottish Dance Theatre’s acclaimed production The Life and Times comes to Dundee Rep’s physical stage this month – as well as screens across the country. A hybrid performance both live in theatre and streamed into homes, this stunning physical theatre piece brings together phantasmagorical visuals with a decadent Baroque soundtrack.

Ailbhe Ní Bhriain: An Experiment with Time

Image: courtesy Jamali Maddix

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, 4 Feb-19 Mar As the climate crisis continues to destabilise our ideas of time – the certainty of futurity, the collapsing timescales between the human and nonhuman – this new exhibition by Irish artist Ailbhe Ní Bhriain takes an appropriately dreamlike and fragmentary approach to our current reality. Blending film, tapestry, print and installation, An Experiment With Time considers and problematises how humans have, throughout history, tried to control their experience of the world.

Heads Up

Image: courtesy of CCA

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 1-4 Feb, 7:30pm A glorious celebration of communal creativity, this four-day dance spectacle sees community groups across Scotland – from schools and colleges to emerging choreographers – take over Glasgow’s Theatre Royal stage. The dynamic programme of bite-sized performances spotlights the enduring resilience of Scotland’s performing arts scene, and is a perfect way to experience the full spectrum of dance in all its forms.

The Life and Times

Say It Out Loud: Craftivism for OutFest

Jamali Maddix Ailbhe Ní Bhriain: An Experiment with Time, Film Still, 2022

Image: courtesy of DCA

Image: courtesy of Assai Records

Image: courtesy of Theatre Royal

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, 24 Feb, 6:30pm Part of OutFest, a festival of creativity and activities celebrating LGBTQ+ history month, this blend of crafting and activism is a wonderful, hands-on way of channelling radical community change. Bring your favourite messages and slogans and dig into the DCA’s range of colourful textile, sewing, and printmaking materials to craft your own banners, posters and tote bags.

Solo Boy at Go Dance

Maisie Peters

Say It Loud

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

RSA New Contemporaries 2022

Photo: Michael Buisha

Royal Scottish Academy RSA, Edinburgh, 26 Feb-3 Apr

Adult DVD

Rambert dancers in Aisha and Abhaya

Adult DVD Big Thief

Photo: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Barrowlands, Glasgow, 25 Feb, 7pm

Image: courtesy of RSA

Image: courtesy of band and Sneaky Pete's

Big Thief

Rambert: Aisha and Abhaya

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 16 Feb, 7pm

Josie Jones_Sisters Swimming, 2021

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Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 10-12 Feb, 7:30pm

February 2022 — Chat

The Caves, Edinburgh, 6 Feb, 7pm Twenty-one-year-old Maisie Peters’ songwriting is like a fresh sunburst of cheery, brutally honest pop. An ode to the messiness of youth – its heartbreaks, confusion, and ever optimistic coming-ofage – her debut album You Signed Up For This is as dreamy and hopeful as it is wise and unflinching. This Edinburgh gig is the best way to experience the rising star’s music: an intimate album launch in the cosiest of venues.

THE SKINNY

February 2022

presents

THE CINESKINNY A New Film Podcast

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts — 10 —

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All details correct at the time of writing

Photo: Craig McIntosh

Film Glasgow Film Theatre has an absolute treat for Glasgow cinephiles this month with a retrospective of the lyrical films of American director and long-time GFF favourite Patrick Wang. Included in the season is the humanistic epic, a two-part comic delight that takes you inside the day-to-day workings of a ramshackle community arts centre, which is under threat when a flashier venue comes to town and eats up all the local art funding. Open-hearted, wry and utterly skew-whiff, it’s a glorious celebration of the venues that enrich their towns by building a creative community around them – venues just like Glasgow Film Theatre, in fact. Both films screen on separate days over the weekend of 19 and 20 February, with Wang’s equally essential earlier films In the Family and The Grief of Others playing later in the month. GFT is also paying loving tribute to the late, great Peter Bogdanovich, who died 6 January, with two showings of his delightful third feature Paper — 11 —

Dry Cleaning

The Vegan Leather

A Bread Factory

February 2022 — Events Guide

Photo: Jordan Hemingway Wolf Alice

Kicking off February in style is the annual Independent Venue Week series which runs at indie venues all across the country. In Scotland, venues like Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh and Broadcast in Glasgow will be taking part with Callum Easter dropping into both on 3 and 5 February respectively. Head to independentvenueweek.com to find a venue taking part near you and support your local grassroots venues! After getting off to a rocky and uncertain start last month, Celtic Connections soldiers on the best it can with a clutch of shows across venues in Glasgow until 6 February. Highlights of the remaining programme include Scots folk singer Iona Fyfe (Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 5 Feb) and threetimes Scottish Album of the Year Award nominee Adam Holmes (Drygate Brewery, 4 Feb). Postponements and cancellations continue to disrupt the gig calendar well into February, but there appears to be no stopping a couple of artists who landed in our 2021 Albums of the Year list as Wolf Alice play three nights at Glasgow’s Barrowlands (14, 15 and 16 Feb) with the acerbic wit of Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw arriving at Edinburgh’s Summerhall on 18 February before they play Glasgow’s Queen Margaret Union the following night. Earlier in the month, London-based rock duo Nova Twins, who have been recently applying pressure to the MOBO Awards to introduce a Rock/ Alternative category, are set to bring their heavy sounds to both Glasgow and Edinburgh this month, with shows lined up at King Tut’s (11 Feb) and The Mash House (12 Feb). A few other shows getting us excited this month include Goodnight Louisa at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms (12 Feb) where she’ll launch her exquisite debut album, Human Danger, and Paisley art-pop outfit The Vegan Leather at Stereo, Glasgow (19 Feb). We loved their Furious, Not Ominous record from last year and reckon it’ll be quite the party atmosphere making for a great first gig back if you’ve not yet ventured out. A couple of artists with new records out this month are also swinging by Glasgow this February, with instrumental party band Los Bitchos (read our full feature on p24) bringing their debut, Let the Festivities Begin!, to Stereo (18 Feb) while Big Thief bring their latest, the rather wordy Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You to the Barrowlands (25 Feb). [Tallah Brash]

Photo: Sephora Tihmer

Goodnight Louisa

Music

Photo: Pooneh Ghana

What's On

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Melancholia

Photo: Marilena Vlachopoulou

Clubs Well it was touch and go there for a minute, but Fiesta February has officially been given the green light; and, Lorde knows, we want it. You may already have a pretty stacked month ahead, with several cancelled events over the last month rolling over into February, but there are also plenty of newly-announced shows to add to your calendar. First up, Polish-born DJ and producer VTSS brings her For Your Entertainment tour to Glasgow’s Room 2 on 4 February, teaming up with local collective Missing Persons Club and inviting TAAHLIAH to join her. Edinburgh-based TAAHLIAH fans will be pleased to hear that she’ll also be making a trip to Edinburgh the following week, as Plant Bass’d take over Heaters at Sneaky Pete’s on 9 February. Dundee collective Polka Dot Disco Club head to the bright lights of Glasgow for the first edition of their new bi-monthly residency at The Berkeley Suite on 5 February, with a lineup of resident DJs and special guests. Down the road in Paisley, there’s a Scottish head-to-head at Club 69, as Co-Accused invite Neil Landstrumm along to play a live set, with support from Fear-E. As we approach V Day, Loose Joints get into the romantic spirit with their Valentine’s Love Down at The Berkeley Suite on 12 February, featuring sets from System Olympia, Rosehips, Dilly Joints and Nurse. Meanwhile, in Aberdeen All Night Passion, fittingly, celebrate their eighth birthday at The Tunnels. The fun doesn’t stop at Sneaky Pete’s this month, with a whole host of exciting shows throughout February. A few highlights include garage head Dr Banana touching down on 17 February, Habibi Funk and Hiba exploring sounds from the Arab diaspora on 23 February, and enough bass to melt your face from SHERELLE on 24 February. It’s not just All Night Passion celebrating a birthday this month, though. Colours join the 27 club on 5 February, with a huge show at SWG3; Eutony celebrate their fifth birthday at La Cheetah Club on 9 February; FLY turns nine on 11 February, with a party at The Caves; and Palidrone enters its fourth year, inviting London-based DJ Parris to The Mash House.

Punch-Drunk Love

Photo: Naji Freiha

February 2022 — Events Guide

TAAHLIAH

Moon (19 and 22 Feb). Arguably the finest film of Bogdanovich’s storied career, it sees real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal team up to play peripatetic con artists who are grifting their way across Kansas during the Great Depression. If you’re in the mood for more Ryan O’Neal, look no further than Filmhouse’s Valentine’s Day screening of Love Story, in which he plays an Ivy League rich kid who falls for Ali MacGraw’s more down-to-earth music student. Love Story is rarely screened today, despite it being the highestgrossing film of 1970, but five decades later, this swooning romance still has the power to leave you weeping in the aisles as the credits roll. Cinema of a romantic variety can also be found at GFT on 14 February, where Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love will be screening on 35mm along with Casablanca, 10 Things I Hate About You and Touched, a showcase of sensuous shorts by female and non-binary filmmakers. If romance isn’t your bag, how about the apocalypse? The Skinny’s Intersections editor, Katie Goh, is hosting a nifty programme of speculative disaster movies at Summerhall in Edinburgh this month. Included in the season is Melancholia (10 Feb), Silent Running (11 Feb), Mad Max: Fury Road (17 Feb), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (18 Feb), Children of Men (19 Feb), High Life (24 Feb) and Dr Strangelove (25 Feb).

Habibi Funk

Ailbhe Ní Bhriain: An Experiment with Time, Film Still, 2022

Art It’s February, time of chocolates, flowers and sealing all correspondence with a loving kiss (public health regulations permitting), and Embassy Gallery in Edinburgh are cementing themselves as funnest gallery in Scotland with Love 2 Love their month-long of Valentine’s Day-themed programming. So far, their plans include an exhibition, performance event, online film screening and discussion, workshop, postal exhibition and life drawing event. Details are being released as they come, so keep an eye out on their website. In Glasgow, at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, artist Ailbhe Ní Bhriain opens a new exhibition, titled An Experiment with Time, combining film, tapestry, print and installation. Through CGI collage and assemblage, visions of a destabilised future are created, with glimpses of a decommissioned medical site submerged in water, or a chameleon as the only inhabitant of a museum of computing history. 1920s dream theory weaves its way

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THE SKINNY

Photo: Alan Dimmick Anything is Possible, Mohammad Barrangi

Lovecrumbs

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Hannah Lavery

February 2022 — Events Guide

Poetry It’s great to see live, in-person events back in the poetry calendar, and Thomas Stewart is delivering these delights with the return of Lovecrumbs Readings, a poetry night set in Edinburgh’s Lovecrumbs cafe. For a night of poetry, cake, wine and actually meeting your friends again (IRL!), head along to the cafe on 17 February, with doors opening at 6pm and readings starting at 6.30pm. Taking to the stage will be a wonderful set of poets, including Louise Peterkin, Anne Pia, Sabelle Baglee, Jaerin Hamilton, and Thomas Stewart himself. COVID guidelines will be in place for this session, so try to make it as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Another live event is planned for Shannon O’Neill’s launch of her debut poetry collection, Fractured. O’Neill’s book is part poetry and part play; a sci-fi odyssey which explores the dividing of both the mind’s self and the body’s self, on a cellular level. The launch will take place on 3 February in Glasgow’s McChuills, and will feature a whole roster of artists, including Jo D’Arc, Ross McFarlane, Tickle, Miles Better and Apocalypse Theorists. O’Neill will kick off at 7.30pm and, as I’m sure you’re all doing anyway, please do take a lateral flow test before going along. Where would we be if all the poets caught COVID at once? Hannah Lavery, Edinburgh’s newly appointed Makar, is releasing her debut poetry collection, Blood Salt Spring, on 3 March, but pre-orders are available as of now. Lavery is an award-winning writer of poetry, plays, prose, and has performed on spoken word and poetry stages across the country, including festivals such as the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Kelburn Garden Party, and Electric Fields. Whether her work is for the poetry stage, theatre, or page, Lavery’s work is well known for its exploration of the legacy of colonialism and racism in modern-day Scotland. Blood Salt Spring, published by Polygon, continues a deep consideration of these themes, with poignancy and poetic insight that is both rigorously cutting and, at once, gentle. This is poetry that will help you unravel the knotted reality that is the turbulent 2020s. This column missed out on the announcement of Scottish poet Bibi June’s latest page work, titled TransMask. It’s a DIY zine of poetry, drawings, cut-outs, and a dress-up doll with over 15 accessories (more of this in poetry, please). This work is a fulfilling and fun quest through 20 different ways in which face masks can be seen as queer objects, and taps into themes of community care, identity, and gender. For all you poetry and spoken word performers out there, get those applications ready for the Poetry&Words stage at Glastonbury Festival 2022, as applications are now open and due on 4 March. Submissions should include a CV and links to two or three recordings of you performing your work – still plenty of time to pull those together and send in. Best of luck, poets and performers! It would be incredible to see a strong, Scottish contingent on Glastonbury’s poetry stage.

Collective Gallery

Photo: Hannah Mirsepasi

Photo: Andrew Allcock Glastonbury

through the exhibition that rings a surreal alarm about climate disaster. Also beaming out from CCA, the art FM radio station Radiophrenia is back on the airwaves for two weeks from Monday 7 February–Sunday 20 February. For the fortnight, Radiophrenia sets out to explore trends in sound and transmission arts, and includes soundscapes, spoken word, documentary, drama and radio experiments. This year also includes new live-to-air commissions – see the full schedule at radiophrenia.scot One of the Radiophrenia artists, Feronia Wennborg is also showing an ambitious outdoor sound commission in Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop until 13 March. For this, Wennborg has taken recordings from the intimate domestic spaces of three collaborating artists. They each navigate their familiar environments using an instructional score by artist Céline Amendola. The recordings are edited, merged and digitally transformed into a soundscape that merges with the sounds around the concrete tower that the piece is installed in. A whole host of continuing shows are also on through February, including Joey Simons’ poetic excavation of Glasgow working-class history in Collective Gallery – until 13 March. Also in Collective, and until 1 May Cauleen Smith explores New Orleans with musicians who play a famous five-note motif from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in different sites. At Edinburgh Printmakers, artist Mohammad Barrangi is showing prints inspired by Persian art and storytelling until 27 March. In Dundee, Cooper Gallery still has its breathtaking survey of radical schools and alternative education from across recent history. It will be touring UK galleries, but it’s here until 19 February.

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THE SKINNY IN YOUR LETTERBOX!

Copies of The Skinny direct to your door

Risograph prints by local illustrators Atika Bennamane and Inès Gradot

Download code for our Pyramid album compilation

Any additional publications we produce over the course of the year

February 2022

Find out more at theskinny.co.uk/subscribe

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5 Meet the Team — 6 Editorial — 7 Love Bites — 8 Heads Up 11 What’s On — 16 Crossword — 28 Poster — 41 Music — 44 Film & TV 47 Food & Drink — 48 Books — 49 Comedy — 50 Listings 54 The Skinny On… Savage Mansion’s Craig Angus

Features 20 Ben Corrigan introduces the collection of music created as part of his Excuse the Mess podcast. 23 We take a closer look at the New York Counterpoint programme, a collaboration between the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Finnish violin wunderkind Pekka Kuusisto. 24 Los Bitchos on their debut album and their Scottish connections.

25 Yewande Adeniran, aka Ifeoluwa, on their Intervention DJ workshop series touring the UK. 26 Honor Swinton Byrne on returning as Julie in Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II. 30 We meet Tako Taal to learn more about her expansive DCA solo exhibition, At the shore, everything touches. 33 We pick out ten films to watch at Glasgow Film Festival 2022.

34 We consider Sean Thor Conroe’s Fuccboi in the context of the so-called crisis of male representation in contemporary fiction. 35 Ahir Shah chats about how his new show, Dress, rehearses for a new normal. 36 Local Heroes meets Glasgowbased jewellery and homeware designer Isla Cruickshank.

39 Our departing Intersections Editor reflects on the impact first-person opinion writing has had on identity politics in culture and in themselves.

On the website...

Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Raphael Neal; Felix Broede; Tom Mitchell; Ifeoluwa; The Souveneir Part Two; Tako Taal; The Worst Person in the World; Al Jacobs; The Other Richard; Harry Anderson; Eunjoo Lee; Megan Drysdale

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Reviews of the new albums from Big Thief and Animal Collective, and gigs from Caribou, Hamish Hawk and Anoushka Shankar; more details on this year’s Glasgow Film Festival and Sonica festival; listen to our new film podcast The Cineskinny

February 2022 — Contents

38 To celebrate Lunar New Year, one writer explores the significance of the holiday for many ESEA communities in Scotland.

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Games

Across

Down

8. Watering hole – safe haven (5)

2. Yeah, right! (2,2)

10. Long story (4)

3. ___ projection, aka out-of-body experience (6)

12. Allude (5)

4. Polish vodka brand with a blade of bison grass in every bottle (8)

13. Sustained possession or control – entire ton (anag) (9)

5. Jacuzzi – sometimes a time machine? (3-3)

14. Doctor Who described time as a "big ball of ___-___, timey-wimey... stuff" (6-6)

6. Supernatural – I am CG (anag) (5)

18. Pastime where participants assume fantasy personae – ole' lying rampage (anag) (4-7,4)

Animals (5)

11. Disconnect (6)

21. A certain... I don't know what – seen QI's ouija? (anag) (2,2,4,4)

Compiled by George Sully

Tiny people who nick your stuff (9)

9. "__-__, SpaghettiOs!" (2-2)

15. Minotaur: half-man, half-___ (4)

26. Surname of the siblings behind The Matrix franchise (9)

16. Mufasa's wisecracking hornbill advisor in The Lion King (4)

27. When the sun has gone to sleep (5)

17. Sea monster (9)

29. Obi-Wan Kenobi said of the Death Star, "That's no ___, that's a space station!" (4)

19. Psychic crime-predictor in the 2001 sci-fi film Minority Report (6)

30. Give up (4)

22. Happened as a result – transpired (6)

31. The Legend of ___, a long-running Nintendo adventure franchise (5)

23. Chinese general (d.496 BC) traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War (3,3)

20. Made up (8)

24. Bog (5) 25. Blood of the gods – choir (anag) (5) Turn to page 7 for the solutions

February 2022 — Chat

Can you find these words in this puzzle?

HONOR SWINTON BYRNE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE YEAR OF THE TIGER GEORGE MICHAEL SAVAGE MANSION BILLY CONNOLLY EXCUSE THE MESS LUNAR NEW YEAR INTERVENTION TAYLOR SWIFT MARIAH CAREY FATHERSON LUDACRIS EGGSHELL ELEANORE BIG THIEF

KATIE GOH IFEOLUWA SOUVENIR DR JEKYLL TAKO TAAL POMPEII FANTASY FUCCBOI JEDWARD SPRING SASAMI MOGWAI BABY D PEKKA MONA GFF

They could be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, forwards or backwards

28. Chemical symbol: Au (4)

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THE SKINNY

January 2022

— 17 —

November 2021

THE SKINNY

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FANTASY Illustration: Costanza Starrabba

fter last month’s issue was rendered immediately inaccurate by changing public health restrictions, we decided to really lean into the fictional concept by theming the February issue around FANTASY. It’s also a bit romantic, maybe – Valentine’s etc – and it’s an opportunity to delve a little into the strange in-between virtual dream life we’ve all been living for nearly two years. What were our fantasies of the world when we were locked in our houses? We asked our team to cast their minds back to their various periods of captivity to recall what they’d imagined for ‘when this is all over.’ We’re mildly confident most of the stuff we’ve covered here will actually happen. But if it doesn’t, don’t worry – it’s not real life, it’s just fantasy.

Music

Photo: Raphael Neal

THE SKINNY

Ben Corrigan and Anna Meredith

Rule of Three February 2022 – Feature

Ahead of releasing a stunning collection of music created as part of his Excuse the Mess podcast, we speak to composer and podcast creator Ben Corrigan Interview: Tallah Brash

hat if you could create a piece of music with one of your favourite musicians, but there are rules and limitations you have to stick to: no part of the music can be predetermined, you can only use one instrument or item to create that piece of music (electronic manipulation is allowed, however) and you only have one day to complete it. Sounds mad, right? But it’s a major component of composer Ben Corrigan’s award-winning Excuse the Mess podcast, which has now seen him collaborate with 17 of his favourite musicians and composers. The first episode of the podcast aired in September 2017 featuring Austrian hang (handpan) player Manu Delago, who produced Anoushka Shankar’s 2016 album Land of Gold and has

worked and toured extensively with Björk. An impressive first get. Following a 'getting to know you' style discussion between Corrigan and Delago, the pair then set to work on creating a piece of music together, and you get to hear the process as part of the podcast before the composition is played in full. Since that first episode, Corrigan has had everyone from Gold Panda and Hannah Peel to Oliver Coates and Anna Meredith as guests, and while a lot of artists chose to use instruments they’re used to working with, there are some unusual choices to be found too such as an ice rink (Mira Calix) and a pesto jar (Meredith), sundried tomato in case you were wondering. This February, all 17 tracks created via the podcast are — 20 —

getting a two-part digital release with beautiful accompanying limited edition books, so we catch up with Corrigan over Zoom to find out more. The Skinny: Can you give us a bit of background on yourself for our readers who might not be familiar with you and your podcast? Ben Corrigan: I am originally from Carlisle... I listened to metal and played in a metal band, I didn’t grow up classically trained. But I ended up getting into film music and from there got really into classical music... I rustled up a portfolio and got a place at Trinity Laban to do composition. I didn’t really have a clue about electronic music and there was an Introduction to Logic Pro class, and that became the thing I wanted to pursue the most.

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How did you turn the idea into a reality? I tentatively knew a few composers and there’s people who were friends from uni; these people are busy, you know, they’ve probably got a waiting list of people wanting to make music with them. But I was thinking, how can I essentially lure them into a room to make a piece of music, people that I admire, and make it so that it doesn’t feel too committed? [I said] we’ll talk about you and your music, that’s like a bit of promo, and then this idea of a very low stakes, music writing session, don’t worry if it comes out crap at the end. Hence the name – Excuse the Mess. I kind of see my podcast as a reverse engineered Song Exploder. Was it hard convincing people to get involved? Some people were admittedly difficult... Anna [Meredith], for example, she was supposed to be in the first series; it was great to get Anna in the second series. I’m also kind of amazed at the willingness in some ways. I would be terrified to do my podcast from the other side... I try to make the artist feel really comfortable, and it helps that I do either know them or have a tenuous link to them, a friend of a friend, that kind of thing.

I need to know about these snacks. There’s these great crisps, like posh crisps, called Eaten Path, they’re balsamic vinegar and made out of bean and pea. They’ve got a lovely crisp to them. They’re not too greasy but they’re really moreish. You should use them as the ‘item’ for your next track. I like the idea of doing non-instrument instruments, like the pesto jar with Anna. I find them to be

Snacks aside, do you have a favourite finished track? There’s one that’s really sweet and short and quite transportative from the first series with Mark Lockheart, a floaty saxophone thing. But I can’t really say if there’s a favourite, I get a rush off each writing session and the fun of the day really. From Delago’s hypnotic Collider and Mira Calix’s glitchy Skating on Thin Ice to Gold Panda’s vinyl sampling on Lanza and Meredith’s hyperactive Oopsloops, as a collection of music, the Excuse the Mess compilations are remarkably cohesive. What was it like for you experiencing and working with everyone’s different processes? It’s amazing for me... I get a masterclass and I get to sit in the room with someone who’s an absolute beast at what they do, and then get to share that. The beauty of the rules is that it can really focus us and stop us being too distracted and then you get quite a pure essence of the way they work and the way their mind works. What was it like experiencing the Meredith map? Definitely a highlight. That’s a great example of someone who’s really found not only their voice but the process behind that voice as well. Some people have these almost routines like Anna and some people, they maybe have an instinct that leads them towards their sound... An example is Mira Calix’s one. Quite quickly it started sounding like a Mira Calix tune, it was very choppy uppy... Everyone seems to have this little relationship with chaos where they can generate things... Mira’s was just hacking at bits of audio and poking buttons.

and the day, things that still resonate with me now. Hopefully people that like the podcast can flick through it and maybe discover some of the artists, get a sense of them, a sense of the day, a sense of the music. I see the book as CD liner notes on steroids, a beautifully made accompaniment for the music and the podcast. The podcast stopped almost as soon as the pandemic started. Is there a plan for a third series? I think so, yeah. I’ve got a wishlist and at some point I’m gonna start making the gears turn again. It’d be nice to try and do some new things, I’d like to work with more electronic artists. In keeping with this issue’s fantasy theme, who would your dream collaboration be, dead or alive? The whole 'alive or dead' makes it even more difficult, you know I like limitations! I think Ryuichi Sakamoto would be good, I’ve been really getting into Yellow Magic Orchestra. I’m also really into this band CHAI, they’re amazing. I do have a sort of fantasy with the podcast actually, to do a travelling one. It’s a bit of an obvious choice, but I’d do an American series and I could do, you know, a couple of podcasts in various cities and that’s the series, and it could almost be a sort of travel blog as well. I think the podcast would have to get more famous first. It’s got a very niche audience, I would say.

Excuse the Mess volumes one and two, along with accompanying books, are released on 4 Feb via Hidden Note Records Listen to the Excuse the Mess podcast in all the usual places

Did you find it hard sticking to your three rules? Yeah, there’s a few cheaty bits. For example, Hannah Peel was just like, ‘Aw, it would be great to do some singing on this’, and I was like, I can’t say no to Hannah Peel!

etmpodcast.com excusethemess.bandcamp.com

February 2022 – Feature

Everybody sounds surprisingly calm during the process. Was it actually like that or was that just clever editing? I’ve done some edit wonders in the past, but you kind of picked up on something there that I hadn’t really thought about. There is a lack of frantic pressure and stress even though it is really fast working, committing to ideas, trying to generate something stomachable... They’re all kind of harmonious little writing sessions. I guess to have the conversation first puts people at ease, they’re comfortable, I put shit loads of snacks out. People seem to really dig the snacks, it’s almost the thing they remember the most.

almost more exciting. But yeah, biscuits, biscuits, biscuits, lots of biscuits, tea, coffee, cakes, and then a bit of fruit... usually a grape.

Music

I finished my course and spent a while assisting various people and composers and doing sound engineering. I did a stint for [film composer] Patrick Doyle, and Anoushka Shankar, as her engineer. I was basically helping other people and thought it would be nice to have my own thing. I first got into podcasts because I was a Jonny Greenwood fan and he was doing an interview with Adam Buxton. I listened to that, loved it and really liked his style of podcasting. Then I listened to an Oliver Coates album where most of the sounds were made out of just a cello and warpings of cello. A few other factors brought together this whole concept... like Fact magazine’s Against the Clock, that idea of quite a time pressured [scenario to] create something from scratch... The other limitation was no pre-planning, so it feels very spontaneous.

The two digital compilation albums and limited edition books are out this month, was this always the end goal? Not at all. I thought I was just gonna quietly release them on Bandcamp. I did quietly release [volume one] to not much fanfare at the end of that series, but then for various reasons, COVID included, I’ve just been sitting on two complete series and luckily in the last year-and-a-half Hidden Note have had time to be thinking about their record label and what they want to do. They [suggested the] coffee table books... it’s a nice way to put a very digital project into the physical world. What can people get out of the books that they won’t get from the podcast or the music? Without retracing my steps, I’ve talked a little bit about each artist — 21 —

Excuse the Mess Volume 1

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Advertising Feature

It Was All A Dream As Scottish Opera bring their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Glasgow and Edinburgh, we talk to the production’s Assistant Director Emma Black to find out more Interview: Tallah Brash

February 2022 – Feature

fter a two-year wait due to the pandemic, Scottish Opera are finally bringing Benjamin Britten’s operatic reimagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the stage this year, with runs at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal from 22 to 26 February and Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre from 1 to 5 March. If you’re under 26 you can bag any seat in the house for just £10 with Scottish Opera’s Under 26 ticket deal. With many adaptations and takes on A Midsummer Night’s Dream over the years, chances are you’re probably aware of the romantic comedy in some form or another already. Get Over It, the 2001 teen romcom starring Kirsten Dunst immediately springs to mind for us, but maybe you read the play at school? It’s utterly mind-blowing to think that something written in the late 16th century continues to provide inspiration to so many, over 400 years later. “I think one of the reasons A Midsummer Night’s Dream is still so popular today is that its themes are universal,” Assistant Director for Scottish Opera’s upcoming production Emma Black tells us. “Looking at Helena’s plight at the beginning – we’ve all been in love with someone who hasn’t loved us back, or know someone who has been in that situation, and wished for a magic potion to solve our problems. “When we first meet Bottom and his gang – we’ve all been in a group where someone’s a bit of a show-off, and we’ve wanted them to be taken down a peg or two. And we’ve all had a squabble with our significant other, as in the case of Tytania and Oberon, which has caused global warming, right!?” Black continues: “Shakespeare has endured because he was incredible at getting to the root of human nature, and even though A Midsummer Night’s Dream is mainly set in a fantastical version of our world, the human element remains – arguments that couples had 400 years ago are still happening today!” Although best known as a play, in 1960 A Midsummer Night’s Dream was brought to life as an opera thanks to the work of Benjamin Britten and his partner and co-librettist Peter Pears who, as Black informs us, “played the character of Flute in the original 1960 production.” The original play did feature some songs, so its realisation as an opera

makes perfect sense. “Britten put his own spin on [the songs],” Black explains, “plus from a composer’s point of view there’s a lot of fun to be had creating the music for the three distinct groups of characters – otherworldly fairies, heartfelt lovers, and an amateur dramatics group who are by turns bombastic, shy and, ultimately, loveable.” Black adds: “This is the play that gave us ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’, and the now iconic feminist line currently adorning T-shirts and other merchandise: ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’, and they’re all in the opera! The music is also sublime, and is a perfect companion to the play – if you’ve never seen an opera, but enjoy Shakespeare, this is the perfect first opera for you.” And remember, if you’re under 26 then Scottish Opera’s £10 ticket scheme is a great incentive for you to try something new, and what better way to try something new than with such an iconic story. Scottish Opera’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is directed by Dominic Hill with set and costume design from Tom Piper. So what can we expect from their take on Britten’s opus? “You can expect pure theatrical magic,” Black excitedly tells us. “There’s flying, juggling, incredible singing, hilarious jokes and our very own band of fairies. The world that Dominic and Tom have created brilliantly contrasts the formality of the court (which rules over the four lovers, and the six rustics led by Bottom) with the more fluid rules of the wood where we find our two leaders of the fairies. We’re in a post-World War II era, where society was in a process of — 22 —

change, and some of the old rules no longer apply. Our gang of fairy children are not the beautiful pristine choir Britten imagined, but instead are a streetwise bunch of kids that you wouldn’t want to meet down a dark alley!” If you’re itching to experience Scottish Opera’s modern take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream with its slick comedy and magical setting, and are under 26, unlike some other young person ticket offers, there are no restrictions on Scottish Opera’s £10 tickets, meaning if you get in quick you can quite literally get the best seat in the house at any performance of the show you like. Though the price be but little, the experience will be fierce. Scottish Opera: A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 22-26 Feb; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 1-5 Mar

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New York State of Mind The Scottish Chamber Orchestra teams up with Finnish violin wunderkind Pekka Kuusisto for a series of events this March – we take a closer look at the New York Counterpoint programme Music

Words: Tony Inglis Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw moves in an exploratory space as a composer, straddling the farflung reaches of the avant-garde and the direct line of the mainstream. She has written for her own voice most recently, with last year’s Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and has previously collaborated with Kanye West. As multifaceted a composer as they come, it’s Shaw’s Entr’acte – a piece for string quartet – which will hopefully enrapture audience at New York Counterpoint. Not a million miles away from Shaw’s experimental work, the minimal music of Steve Reich will close the show. This is entirely apt: Reich is an artist whose influence on the more imaginative minds of mainstream rock and pop is hard to summarise. It’s his multi-clarinet piece that will be performed on the day that gives the show its name. All of these pieces, and more, will be woven together by the SCO at Pekka Kuusisto Kuusisto’s direction. New York Counterpoint is just the first in a series of three shows with Kuusisto at the helm. Later in the month, Seek the Light will see him team up with Scottish musician Karine Polwart and composer/sound designer Pippa Murphy, while, later still, America, The Beautiful will see him pick up his violin again to play Shrink, a dazzling violin concerto composed by Muhly, for its UK premiere. While the SCO’s work on this series is to dissipate the air of seriousness around classical music, these shows will be much more reserved affairs than your average gig, and so present the perfect reintroduction to live music if you’ve still found yourself unable to return. Photo: Felix Broede

composition Aheym, inspired by the story of the arrival of Dessner’s Jewish grandparents as immigrants in Brooklyn. Dessner’s work as a solo artist, a world away from the brilliantly mopey rock of his band, has been inspired by eastern European folk music, and later in the performance this too will feature through the violin duos of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz. American Nico Muhly signifies the back and forth between the two worlds of contemporary classical and pop, but via the other direction. Quickly making a name for himself as one of the best bright, fresh composers of his generation with commissions from Carnegie Hall to the LA Philharmonic, even working in installation spaces at the National Gallery in London and the Art Institute of Chicago, Muhly has obtained significant appeal beyond classical music. He has worked on movie scores and with a who’s who of indie music, including Anohni, James Blake and, squaring the circle of the SCO’s night, Sufjan Stevens, who brought Muhly and Dessner together for Planetarium, a conceptual concerto spun by a supergroup. Here, his more playful piece made up of field recordings and clarinet, It Goes Without Saying, will be performed.

New York Counterpoint takes place at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 6 Mar, 3pm Seek the Light takes place at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 10 Mar, 7.30pm; City Halls, Glasgow, 11 Mar, 7.30pm America, The Beautiful takes place at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews, 16 Mar, 7.30pm; The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 17 Mar, 7:30pm; City Halls, Glasgow, 18 Mar, 7.30pm sco.org.uk

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February 2022 – Feature

he cross-pollination between the realms of classical music and the pop music of the day has been a determining point in breaking down cultural, social and class barriers for a musical community that can often, rightly or wrongly, be considered stuffy, highfalutin and inaccessible. Whether described as “neoclassical”, or more rudimentarily (and borderline derogatorily) as “indie classical”, examples of mainstream musicians dipping their toe into the classical world – and, in some cases, taking it by storm – are vast. Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Ryuichi Sakamoto swapped 70s synthpop bops for refined stages; Aphex Twin made a sharp pivot from scattered drum programming to the prepared piano of Avril 14th; the technology used in modern ambient allows its musicians to create the swirl of swelling orchestras on their computers. The Edinburgh-based Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a rich tradition of forward-thinking, looking to match the classical with the contemporary, in its choice of compositions to perform and its collaborators. For a new season of music in March, the ensemble will lean into this. One hoped outcome of these shows, performed in association with The Skinny and community radio station EHFM, is to get more young and interested bums on seats than ever before. Pairing with Finnish violin wunderkind Pekka Kuusisto, New York Counterpoint promises to provide an “informal and social musical experience”. Revolving around Kuusisto – something of a rock star in this world, someone who seems unbeholden to norms, tradition, genre or style – he will swap his four-stringed instrument for a place mainly directing the three-show series, bringing with him compositions that are representative of the crossover the SCO expects will draw in new audiences, and centred around artists who have passed through New York City. Bryce Dessner is known for his songwriting and guitar work in one of the biggest bands on the planet, The National. But here it’s his chamber pieces with the strings of Kronos Quartet that get the spotlight – proving truly that the talents of The National are as malleable in the world of highbrow art as they are in that of Taylor Swift – with his

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Music

Photo: Tom Mitchell

Let’s Dance! As they prepare to release their long-awaited debut album, we catch up with Agustina Ruiz and Josefine Jonsson of London-based fourpiece Los Bitchos to discuss their international influences and love affair with Scotland Words: Nadia Younes

February 2022 – Feature

f there’s one thing Los Bitchos are about, it’s fun. Through joyous rhythms and sun-soaked grooves, the band take us on a journey through Argentine cumbia, Anatolian rock, Scandinavian pop, British punk and beyond, showcasing their diverse musical backgrounds and influences. With members hailing from Australia, Uruguay, Sweden and the UK, Los Bitchos truly is a global affair. But it was through playing in different bands and floating in similar circles in London where they all came together. “It’s not intentional; it is quite random that we’re all from all these different places, but London brought us together,” says bassist Josefine Jonsson. Following a chance meeting at a party, guitarist Serra Petale and keytar player Agustina Ruiz originally formed the band back in 2017. Then, a year later, they enlisted Jonsson – Petale’s friend of ten years – to join on bass and, shortly after, found drummer Nic Crenshaw, who was recommended by friends. But watching the band perform, you would think they had been playing together all their lives. “It’s just such happy music to play; it’s impossible to not have a good time,” says Jonsson. “In previous bands, it’s been a lot more serious… but with this I couldn’t even if I tried, because it’s just a fun project. I think having fun is a really big part of our group, and that’s important to all of us.” With fun at the centre of the Los Bitchos ethos, it’s no wonder they’ve named their debut album Let the Festivities Begin! Recorded all the way back in January 2020 in London’s Gallery Studios – before you know what came along – the album was produced by Scottish indie royalty Alex Kapranos, after he had seen the band play live and went on to produce previous singles Pista (Great Start) and The Link Is About to Die.

Los Bitchos

Both singles feature on the album, but – like many of its tracks – have been given a freshen up; so much so that even some of the track titles have been altered to reflect the changes. Previous single Pista (Great Start) has been renamed Pista (Fresh Start), while another popular track from their live sets, Bugs Bunny, has also been given a lick of paint, featuring on the album under its new title Change of Heart. A highlight on the album is its closing track, Lindsay Goes to Mykonos, named after Lindsay Lohan’s Apprentice-esque reality TV series Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club. “That’s why we called it that, because we’re so obsessed with her and we wanted to make a song for her,” exclaims Ruiz. While Jonsson adds: “I’m determined that we’re gonna do a music video in Mykonos for that song!”

“It’s just such happy music to play; it’s impossible to not have a good time” Josefine Jonsson, Los Bitchos Although they haven’t made it to Mykonos quite yet, the trio of singles released from the album so far has taken them to some other interesting places in their music videos. “We don’t think too much… we just find things funny and want to do them,” says Ruiz, while singing the praises of their director – another Scot – Perthborn Tom Mitchell. The video for lead single Las Panteras finds the band resembling Charlie’s Angels on the hunt — 24 —

for mastermind criminal Pantera – who isn’t quite as threatening as you’d expect – complete with dance breaks and a fight scene. The story continues in the Good to Go! video, in which Alex Kapranos makes a cameo as a slightly psychotic game show host, before reaching a conclusion in Pista (Fresh Start). “I think the actual trilogy concept we came up with while we were waiting at an airport,” says Jonsson. “We planned Las Panteras… and we were like we should just build on this first video and do a spin-off for the next two,” she continues. Ruiz adds: “Also, Good to Go!, for us, is really like a game show song… so it ended up making a lot of sense in a way – or at least for us it makes a lot of sense, I don’t know for other people,” she laughs. Funnily enough, the ties to Scotland don’t stop at Kapranos and Mitchell, with Jonsson sharing the realisation that the band “work pretty much only with Scottish people in our team.” Then, Ruiz interjects: “I did say that in a message once to the group. I was like, ‘Oh my god, guys! Our manager, producer, and Tom – they’re all Scottish!’ And no one answered,” she laughs. “You know when you’re drunk and you’re like this is the best thing that ever occurred to me!” Drunken realisations and seemingly batshit ideas are an important part of what makes Los Bitchos so special. Unpretentious, fun, and often a little bit mad, it’s difficult to resist their charm; and, once you’ve had a taste, it’ll feel like the best party you’ve ever been to. Let the Festivities Begin! is released on 4 Feb via City Slang Los Bitchos play Stereo, Glasgow, 18 Feb losbitchos.com

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Livin’ La Vida Local If you’ve ever dreamed of being a DJ but found it all a bit too intimidating, Intervention is here to help. Founder Yewande Adeniran, AKA Ifeoluwa, tells us about the DJ workshop series and its UK tour, which stops in Edinburgh and Glasgow next month Words: Nadia Younes Clubs

“There is a bias towards certain cities, so I’m hoping through the workshops we become less Londoncentric... and focus on other places” Yewande Adeniran Ifeoluwa

In Glasgow, the workshop will be co-hosted by Stereotone, the record label and party series run by Glasgow native Wheelman, who Adeniran says is “one of my favourite producers.” Meanwhile, in Edinburgh Adeniran will team up with Palidrone, who have made a big impact on the capital’s club scene in their short existence through their monthly parties at The Mash House and regular slots on local community radio station EH-FM. “I pay attention to the smaller radio stations in different cities, and their show plays similar music to what I play on my Rinse France show, so that was a big connection,” says Adeniran. “And when I messaged them they were like ‘we’ve actually been wanting to contact you,’ because, obviously, you connect with the same sounds, so that was exciting.” With the workshops prioritising opportunities for beginners, no previous experience in music or DJing is required to take part, and during the workshops participants will be taught the basics, as well as learning tricks of the trade from both Adeniran and members of the various local collectives. “I like to almost throw participants into the deep end, and get them to explore,” says Adeniran. “I find that there’s this patronising attitude when it comes to people who aren’t men that somehow they don’t know how things work,” they — 25 —

continue. “[But] people do, it’s just you haven’t given them the chance. Once you leave people with the equipment, people who love music already understand music; they understand the basics of DJing. It’s just kind of to give them the space and a little bit of knowledge.” With one of the main aims of the Intervention tour being to showcase the wealth of talent in the UK’s smaller cities, Adeniran hopes that this will, in turn, increase media coverage and general awareness of local scenes across the country. “It was really good when we did our workshops in Cardiff, because they actually do have a thriving scene; it’s just that it’s not covered in the media, so people think it doesn’t exist,” they say. “That’s why we’ve partnered up with different collectives and DJs,” they continue. “I feel like it gives people a lot of agency and they can start building their own communities in a similar way that I’ve tried to do.” RA x Intervention Free Beginner DJ Workshop with Palidrone, The Mash House, Edinburgh, 25 Mar RA x Intervention Free Beginner DJ Workshop with Stereotone, Civic House, Glasgow, 26 Mar Sign up now via Resident Advisor

February 2022 – Feature

or many people, the thought of performing to a live audience with little to no preparation would fill them with fear and dread. But this wasn’t the case for London-born DJ, writer and activist Yewande Adeniran, AKA Ifeoluwa. Despite only trying their hand at DJing a few times at parties, Adeniran played their first-ever gig supporting Russian-born DJ Machine Woman at Rye Wax in Peckham in 2016 and, to make things even more difficult, chose to do so mixing vinyl only. Frightening as this may sound, though, it led to a significant lightbulb moment for Adeniran. “I saw loads of women and queer people that I know in the music scene, and I was like this would be even better… if all of you could also be behind the decks,” says Adeniran. Two months later, Adeniran founded Intervention, an event series that hosts free DJ workshops around the UK to encourage womxn, non-binary people, people of colour and LGBT+ people into DJing. Past workshops have taken place in cities like Bristol, Sheffield and London, but last year Adeniran teamed up with Resident Advisor – after participating in the platform’s exchange series, as part of a Black Minds Matter collaboration – to extend Intervention’s reach even further. Beginning in October, at Wigflex festival in Nottingham, Intervention kicked off a 12-date tour across the UK, which also included stops in Sheffield, Swansea and Cardiff. “[Resident Advisor] wanted to facilitate me in spreading Intervention to other cities… so [they] were like, ‘let’s do a community project,’” says Adeniran. “I think, personally, because of the bias towards techno – and even how that’s been whitewashed – places like Leicester and Birmingham, and even Sheffield to a certain extent, are known for more drum’n’bass or bassline. “It’s because platforms like RA prioritise more clean-cut techno that those places are actually really struggling… because they’re battling from so many different angles,” Adeniran continues. “There is a bias towards certain cities, so I’m hoping through the workshops we become less London-centric – less southern-centric as well – and focus on other places.” The tour continues over the next few months, with two Scottish dates planned in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 25 and 26 March respectively, before concluding in Bristol on 29 April. For each date of the tour, Intervention will be teaming up with a local collective to host the workshops, with each one hand-picked by Adeniran – often discovered through their own work within music journalism.

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Friends Reunited Film

Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II sees Honor Swinton Byrne return as Julie, the young filmmaker trying to find her way in 80s London. But this is a steelier Julie than we saw in Part I. Swinton Byrne tells us about her connection to the character Words: Anahit Behrooz

February 2022 – Feature

he Souvenir – Joanna Hogg’s autofiction film of 2019 – ended with the off-screen death of its romantic hero, the heroin-dependent, Foreign Office civil servant Anthony (Tom Burke). A muffled phone call, shuddering sobs seen from behind, and a shot of a young woman grasping an abandoned blazer to her face and it was all over; a deeply felt relationship cut short, just like in life, as the credits rolled. Widely considered one of the best films of Hogg’s acclaimed career – and the decade – The Souvenir was extraordinary in its unfussed depiction of the ugliness of love and grief (love in grief, grief in love), and its attention to the formative ways that such love can break you open, even amid the most elegant of Kensington flats and privileged of lives. Directly based on the director’s own experiences as a young film student in 1980s London, The Souvenir was a Joanna Hogg film in every perfect way those words suggest: considered and muted and deeply concerned with how the studied detachment of the British upper classes pollutes the urgency of intimacy and desire. Yet arguably, what made it such a masterpiece within an already lauded filmography was its star (and Hogg’s goddaughter), Honor Swinton Byrne, who plays the sweet, naive film student Julie who falls for the older Anthony and is laid bare to the tragedy of his addiction. Swinton Byrne – who is the daughter of Scottish artist John Byrne and actor Tilda Swinton (who plays Julie’s mother in both The Souvenir and

The Souvenir: Part II) – hadn’t acted before her starring role, save her wordless cameo as a child in the 2009 Luca Guadagnino film I Am Love. But her Julie is, despite – or perhaps because of – her lack of experience within the industry, utterly captivating. Timid and earnest and disarmingly natural, her performance suggested an actor with decades of ease with the camera under their belt. With the mere clench of her jaw, flicker of griefheavy eyelids or tense shrug of her shoulders, Swinton Byrne could communicate entire volumes of strained devotion. Even before much else was known about it, the idea of The Souvenir Part II made sense, if only to reunite this actor with her well-worn protagonist. It is strange, in a way, meeting Swinton Byrne after almost three years of watching and rewatching Julie. She is irresistibly exuberant and effusive and, quite simply, happy to be there: happy to have returned to Julie and to gush about Julie’s ongoing journey in Part II, as you might enthuse about a friend coming through the other side of a rough patch. Within seconds, it is clear just what it was that made her Julie so magnetic. It isn’t that Swinton Byrne is secretly playing herself, using pure autobiographical performance as a conduit for naturalism (although, as it becomes clear, the boundaries between actor and character are remarkably porous). The real trick, it turns out, is that she loves Julie fiercely. “I view Julie like a friend, like a really best

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pal,” Swinton Byrne says warmly. “And I was just really heartbroken to watch her go through something so tough: she’s not quite getting back on her feet and she’s maybe not getting the help she needs. And so the second part was, for me, like this phoenix rising from the ashes. It was like a fucking reboot.” She laughs, giddy at the very thought. “She’s taking charge and she’s doing it by herself, which is a real key thing for me.

"I view Julie like a friend, like a really best pal" Honor Swinton Byrne “Joanna was very encouraging of me bringing a lot of myself to the character, particularly in the second one,” she adds. What was it about herself that shifted the tone of The Souvenir: Part II? “Feistiness! I like to think that’s a common trait… I hope I’m feisty!” She laughs again. “And passion. There is a scene where I am directing and I kept changing my mind, but I owned it and I say: ‘Right, OK, I actually thought I did want that but I don’t anymore.’ So just not being as apologetic, and owning things, owning mistakes.” In a memoir-ish film based on her godmother/director’s experiences, it is marked how often

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Image: Courtesy of Junafilm

Film

relationship. Grieving her independence, her sense of style, her sense of individuality. Grieving being single, grieving being her own person, grieving feeling excited about him. In the second one, she’s letting it all out: she’s aggressive and crying, but it’s a lot of relief.” Perhaps the difference between the two parts, then, is in their relationship to power, and how it operates within vulnerable structures of romance and desire. In Part II, Julie – much like Hogg – is in a process of reclamation, crafting a film out of her experiences and seeking to understand her trauma and heartbreak through some sort of narrativisation. Has filming The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II made Swinton Byrne warier of how power in relationships can manifest? “I think power can be so funny,” she replies thoughtfully. “This is so random but my mother once told me that every word that could be a fault, like controlling, could be mirrored with a positive, like efficient. Like if someone’s really excitable and annoying you could be like: ‘they’re really high energy’. I think with the word power, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It can be a balance, right? It can be a safety thing for many people. It can be a reassurance instead of a — 27 —

symptom of co-dependency. I think that’s a really fine balance to find in a relationship.” It is a frank and uncynical response that speaks to the authenticity underpinning Hogg’s years-long project: that relationships, with all their small insecurities and anxieties and glimmers of hope, are unwieldy, prickly and ambiguous creatures. That sometimes the smouldering wreckage of a relationship can feel more real, and more honest, than anything that came before. “I really enjoy that The Souvenir is brutally honest and super awkward and realistic about the messiness of relationships, the chaos and confusion and ugliness and vulnerability,” Swinton Byrne says. “That’s really precious and I would like to see more of that in the cinema. I love fantasy in film, but I really want people to be able to go and see films like this and feel not alone in their own messy relationships and their own insecurities about themselves, as filmmakers or young people or old people. “I just want them to feel competent and really…really…” she sighs. “Not by themselves.” The Souvenir: Part II is released 4 Feb by Picturehouse

February 2022 – Feature

Swinton Byrne slips into the first-person when talking about Julie; how very entirely she takes on and cares for her hurts and triumphs. A tight, sincere intimacy seems to bind them. “When I was younger, I had a lot of – I still have a lot of – Julie inside me: the vulnerability and the self-doubt, as every healthy person does,” she explains. “But I think in the second one I brought a bit more power. That’s something I’m still working on myself.” It is perhaps natural that, despite the obvious differences in their characters – the palpable extroversion of Swinton Byrne, all smiles and excitement, and the awkward, gentle determination of Julie – the spaces between them so often collapse in conversation. They did, after all, come of age together. Swinton Byrne was 19 when she began working on The Souvenir. Now 24, she is well aware of how playing Julie has changed her, of how it has shaped her understanding of romantic love and grief at a point in life when their foundations are first being laid. She is startlingly wise about both, and loves the idea that her two films, pre- and post-Anthony’s death, share an emphasis on mourning. “The first one is more subtle,” Swinton Byrne explains. “Julie is grieving while she’s in a

February 2022 – Feature

Film

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Film Costanza Starrabba

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February 2022 – Feature

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Art

Photo: Ruth Clark At the shore, everything touches, 2021, Tako Taal. Installation view at Dundee Contemporary Arts

February 2022 — Feature

Infinite Loop We meet Tako Taal to learn more about about her expansive DCA solo exhibition, At the shore, everything touches Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

ome objects are carefully arranged on the wall by the entrance of Glasgow-based artist Tako Taal’s solo exhibition at DCA, At the shore, everything touches. These include four photos, a newspaper clipping in a polypocket, a detailed drawing of a chair, and an old calculator that reads ‘1987’. The objects were the belongings of Taal’s father Seedy Taal, who died in 1990. “All the documents [were] collected after his death then passed on to me, some at a very early age then others more recently.” Taal’s father’s works and belongings form one important basis for Taal to consider the changing nature of Juffureh, her family’s home

village in The Gambia. Historically a trade post and fort during the transatlantic slave trade, the island is also near Kunta Kinteh Island, named after the central protagonist in Alex Haley’s 1976 bestselling novel Roots: a young man taken from The Gambia when he was 17, and sold into slavery. Roots also tells the story of seven generations of Kunta Kinteh’s descendants. Since the release of the book and the hugely popular film adaptations from the 1970s, there has been a touristic interest in Juffureh and at one point in the 33 minute film work SAMT utterance_01 (how a name becomes a step, a rhythm, a loop), a tour guide leads a small crowd who walk — 30 —

from one side of the frame to the other, as the camera films the mainly white group from a fixed position and at a distance. There seems to be a patient observation by Taal of the visitors, who form part of – as described in the press release – an “ethically complex tourist industry”. I ask Taal how she balances the competing demands of publicity and privacy when making an exhibition that pivots on items of close personal significance. “That question has basically been what I’ve been trying to understand by making this work. I think about what someone when I did a residency in Dakar said: what goes in the work? What is just for you, and what goes alongside it?

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Photo: Ruth Clark

Tako Taal

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At the shore, everything touches, 2021, Tako Taal. Installation view at Dundee Contemporary Arts

and dimensional. Sometimes, the sound suggests the strikes of an excavation, at other points the engine-drone of a journey: a boat, a car, a bus, a plane. Taal describes the ways that the materials repeat between the different spaces, too. In the light space, audiences are invited to spend as long as they want with the documents, the wool embroidered cloth, the facsimiles of Taal's father’s poetry. In the video, they quickly flash on the screen, demanding a more energetic kind of looking to identify the action and detail of the images or scanned items. “What I wanted to tease out were these different ways of being with things: these more rooted and immersive glimpses, the intensity of encountering these things in the video work. Then there’s a – for me anyway – a quietness, and there’s a study and contemplation you can have with the paintings and the gold chain for example, or with the photographs of the installation, or with this piece of fabric.” The film was edited to the rhythm of the 11-minute loop time that came from the technology of the infinite cassette tapes, and working with this predefined time limit was new to Taal. ‘The video work is conceived as a loop, it is three 11-minute sections that form a continuous loop and it’s conceived as such that it could be added to. That loop comes from the 11-minute duration of the infinite tape and so we had to create precise work around this arbitrary timing. This was a new process of editing to me as it had this very formal structure. Because of the way I wanted it to loop, I kept having to think about ways it could potentially be felt differently [than having a conventional beginning and end on a linear timeline].” I bring up an interview when Taal had previously said, “I really enjoy embracing the collapsing of time.” Speaking about this interest as it appears in the current film work in At the shore, everything touches, Tako says, “through the process of looping there was a collapsing of the experience of time, so the experience in the exhibition – I hope – is that you could walk in at any point and be aware that it is happening, that maybe you have entered at a specific point but you might not understand where the beginning and end are, and all you are aware of are these repetitions. You are aware of the cycle rather than the beginning and the end: the line.” At the shore, everything touches, Dundee Contemporary Arts, until 20 Mar

February 2022 — Feature

“These narratives of diaspora, transatlantic slavery and colonialism all hit on other aspects of life both historically and in the present”

handful of sand one can still uncover beads torn from our bodies before an internment which culminated in transportation by ship.” When all nine photos were first exhibited, they were accompanied by Sulter’s words: ‘Only the wailing of the women remained.’ The phrase appears again in Taal’s SAMT utterance_01 (how a name becomes a step, a rhythm, a loop). In the exhibition, Sulter’s two photos face Taal’s two screens, setting up a literal parallel between the two artists’ works. At one point, Taal includes a near identical shot in the film work, initially shot without being aware of Sulter’s photographs. Taal describes a feeling of a powerful moment of recognition, upon seeing Sulter’s photos for the first time. “I had literally been standing in that spot, and knew exactly where the shot had been taken from. There was something about the visual of it and that very embodied memory of a place that I got from looking at the photographs that really surprised me. For me, at that point I was also thinking about what it is to make work about my family and things that are intimate and personal, and there are ways that I understood – as the title suggests, where everything touches or where these things intersect, how these narratives of diaspora and transatlantic slavery and colonialism all hit on other aspects of life both historically and in the present.” Taal felt a rapport, “similar thinking that had gone on” about “the importance of these sites, and how they connected with someone visually in quite a formal way.” Taal says: “They encouraged me that these have a much broader interest.” Throughout the exhibition, there are recurrences and relationships between the physical materials, the filmwork and the audio elements. The structure of the film as three 11-minute loops comes from the length of the infinite tape’s duration. There are two watercolour paintings, which Taal sized to 16:9 ratio to be the same dimensions of the film screen, but at an intimate scale. While there are separate parts to the show, they are brought into contact with one another in surprising ways. At first, Taal decided to divide the space into a light then a dark area, but this division was not so clearcut. “As I was installing, I really understood how much they rely on each other, and there is something about the sound [composed by Claude Nouk in collaboration with Taal, and playing alongside the film in the dark space] that I think really plays quite an integral part to the reading of the wall-based works [in the brighter space, that audiences first enter].” When I visit, the sound work created by Claude Nouk creates a complex audio space, that among its many complicated textures at one point thumps as from below the ground, then becomes an immersive hum, layered

Art

Those three categories of what is present in the work, what is alongside and what I’ve kept have been essential in how I’ve been working with this material.” Even with this clear framework in mind, initial plans for the exhibition and the works nevertheless changed in ways that surprised Taal. “Maybe it’s useful to say how I haven’t worked with it [the collection of documents passed down from her father to Taal]”, she says while laughing at the strange inversion of this approach. “I always thought about using the poems that my dad had written as a script of this video piece. When I first started thinking about it, that’s how I imagined it and when I was shooting the footage, these quite long landscape shots: I imagined this voiceover going with them. That’s why you have these formal, long durational shots. I tried to work with them in that way, but they were just very difficult to edit essentially, and the language is so particular. Also you can see that they’re still first drafts; they have little notations and corrections in them, so they are unfinished in themselves.” Throughout At the shore, everything touches, there are aspects of the installation that push at the expectation of its easy categorisation as a solo show that everything must be singly authored by the artist herself. “It was really important for me in making this work that it wasn’t just my voice in there and I think it’s something about the way in which I’ve gone about the research for this project and I’ve encountered many other ways of thinking about this place.” The writing and photos of Taal’s father are one example of this, but there are also two artworks by the photographer Maud Sulter. “The works by Maud Sulter were a surprise for me,” Taal says. “I wasn’t familiar with them when I started to conceive this project and when I was filming in the project. I only encountered them on my return when I was looking through the Passion catalogue [for the 2015 exhibition of the same name in Street Level Photoworks, in Glasgow].” The images that Taal includes in the exhibition come from Sulter’s photographic essay, Sphinx. To quote Sulter herself, the photos document “the shipping posts of slavery days. Tiny islands off the coast of West Africa where in a

February 2022 – Review

Music

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THE SKINNY My Old School

Benediction

Bergman Island

Fire

Murina

Nobody Has to Know

The Girl and the Spider

The Hermit of Trig

The Worst Person in the World

Film

Pic ‘n’ Mix

Exciting Scottish talent and internationally renowned directors rub shoulders at the latest edition of the Glasgow Film Festival. Stories of gallus imposters, smouldering love triangles and heartbreaking romances are just some of the potential highlights Words: Jamie Dunn Fire (Claire Denis) French director Claire Denis makes films of three flavours: brutal (High Life, Bastards), swooning (Let the Sunshine In, 35 Shots of Rum) or a bit of both (Beau Travail). Expect the second mode here as she teams up with three of her favourite actors (Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Grégoire Colin) for this love triangle about a woman caught between two men. The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier) Cinema is not short of quirky dramas following beautiful people as they fall in and out of love, but talented Norwegian director Joachim Trier has found some interesting things to say about the genre with this sharp, sweet and inventively-told tale of young romance, which centres on a star-making turn by Renate Reinsve as the eponymous rotter.

Benediction (Terence Davies) British cinema’s patron saint of tortured souls, Terence Davies, is back with this rhapsodic, heartbreaking portrayal of Siegfried Sassoon. The film skips back and forth between the poet’s youth and his old age, with Scottish actors in both roles: Jack Lowden is the tender, fresh-faced Sassoon while Peter Capaldi plays him in his embittered dotage. Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve) Mia Hansen-Løve pays a loving tribute to Ingmar Bergman while also riffing on her relationship with fellow French director Olivier Assayas in this lyrical and slyly-meta drama. Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth play a vague version of the filmmaking couple while on a tempestuous working holiday on Bergman’s beloved Fårö island. The Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher) This beautifully controlled drama is centred around a flat moving day and plays out as a deadpan farce, with people

The Hermit of Treig (Lizzie MacKenzie) One of the must-see world premieres at the festival will be Lizzie MacKenzie’s long-in-the-making portrait of an elderly hermit called Ken who has been living in self-imposed isolation in the Highlands of Scotland for over 40 years. It certainly puts your lockdown in a fresh perspective. My Old School (Jono McLeod) You’re always guaranteed a stranger-than-fiction documentary in the GFF line-up, but here’s one that happened on the festival’s doorstep. My Old School tells how ‘Brandon Lee’, a man in his 30s, convinced the staff and pupils of Bearsden Academy he was a teenager who’d recently moved to the posh suburb from Canada. Alan Cumming, who was set to play Brandon in a once-mooted feature film of the story, stands in for him here in this fascinating doc fresh from Sundance. Nobody Has to Know (Bouli Lanners) Belgian actor-turned-director Bouli Lanners comes to Scotland for his first English-language feature. The islands of Harris and Lewis are the backdrop to a tender romance centred on a farmer (played by Lanners), who’s lost his memory following a stroke, and his carer, who fills in his backstory with one massive porky: she claims they were a couple. The filmmaking is reportedly as lush and unpredictable as the wild, beautiful setting. Murina (Atoneta Alamat Kusijanovic) We’ve heard nothing but good things about this brooding coming-of-age drama from Croatia, which follows a teen girl whose remote life with her mother and domineering father is interrupted when her mother’s former lover and father’s business partner (played by Kiwi actor Cliff Curtis) comes to visit. GFF clearly love it too: it’s bringing the curtain down on the festival as the closing film. Glasgow Film Festival, 2-13 Mar; screenings at GFT and Cineworld Renfrew Street, as well as at other partnered cinemas across the UK and online Screening times and full programme at glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival

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February 2022 – Feature

Skint! (Peter Mullan, Lisa McGee) We’re drawn to this BBC Four production sight unseen thanks to the talent involved. Peter Mullan and Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee are the creative directors behind this portmanteau film shot in Glasgow and concerned with people living on the breadline. Playwright and actor Cora Bisset, author Jenni Fagan and on-the-rise Glasgow filmmaker James Price are also involved.

stepping in and out of rooms like ball bearings in a pinball machine. Fond farewells commingle with bitter reproaches and sexual tension in this strange, deeply compelling and formally dazzling film from Swiss brothers Ramon and Silvan Zürcher.

Books

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How to be a Modern Man As Sean Thor Conroe’s Fuccboi arrives in a blaze of controversy, Katie Goh considers it in the context of the so-called crisis of male representation in contemporary fiction Words: Katie Goh

February 2022 – Feature

here have all the bright young men gone? At the tail end of 2021, the book industry was tangling itself up in that question as news headlines questioned: “Why male authors are being written out of fiction” (Daily Mail), “[...] the dangers of women writers dominating fiction” (The Times) and “Where have all the young male novelists gone?” (Dazed). This crisis in male representation largely pivoted on the statistic that 57% of contemporary hardback fiction is being written by female novelists, while the majority of the 43% of published men are already well established within their careers. Where, these articles pondered, is the male equivalent of Sally Rooney, or Candice CartyWilliams, or Megan Nolan? Where are the young men making waves in contemporary literature?

But, perhaps, this question of where are all the men needs the important additional caveat: where are all the white, middle-class, cisgender and heterosexual men? Because, contrary to the headlines, men are publishing very successful debut novels right now: Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water, won the 2021 Costa Book Award for First Novel; Douglas Stuart won the Booker prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain in 2021; and Paul Mendez was shortlisted at the British Book Awards for his first novel, Rainbow Milk. Guy Gunaratne, Graeme Armstrong, Sang Young Park and Damian Barr also spring to mind as exciting novelists early in their careers, many of whom are considered underrepresented in the literary industry as working-class, LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC male authors. But aggressively heteronormative, male-centric fiction is certainly a harder sell in 2022 than it would have been in 2002. Particularly in the post-Trump, post-MeToo years, there’s less of a readership for the Great Male Novelist, à la Philip Roth, Martin Amis and Ian McEwan, and publishers might be wary of trying to market books about toxic young men doing toxic young men stuff. This is a pressing concern for the narrator of Sean Thor Conroe’s aptly named debut novel, Fuccboi. The eponymous fuccboi in question is a young American novelist – also called Sean Thor Conroe – who is trying to publish his debut novel in late-2010s Philadelphia. Early in the novel, a female editor tells Sean to remove all the “rape-y parts” of his book, “every savage, ugly, testosterone-fuelled, shameful thing [that] had been the most difficult to write.” The fictional Sean embodies an essence of modern, youthful masculinity: he’s a chaotic, artsy “sus hetero bro” in his late 20s, writing novels, dropping SoundCloud raps and working as a food delivery biker. Fuelled by Adderall, coffee and molly, Sean swaggers around Philadelphia seeing his guy friends (“bros” with initials instead of names) and female sexual conquests (the nameless “ex bae”, “side bae” and “editor bae”). Plotwise, not much happens over the course of the novel. Set during the Trump years, real life events occur at the margins of the story – Sean cycles — 34 —

past rallies and protest marches – but Fuccboi’s central concern is how to paint a realistic portrait of the artist as a young man in the 21st century. Minimalist, staccato dialogue, recalling rap bars, narrates Sean’s simultaneously self-pitying and ego-driven adventures around the city. He is both “a modern-day hunter, riding my horse-bike around, delivering food to these basic fucks” and a young man hunched over a bike in the freezing rain, developing a skin condition and being screwed over by late capitalist big tech. Artistically, he is fighting against literature that is “masturbatory bullshit completely irrelevant to the culture”, yet adoringly namedrops canonical authors, like Friedrich Nietzsche, David Foster Wallace and Haruki Murakami. Sean is similarly torn up when it comes to modern gender politics: he despises neoliberal feminism, yet gets turned on by his own self-declared “wokeness”. How to be a modern man and win is Fuccboi’s central dilemma. Over the course of the novel, it is Sean’s self-conscious, internal battles over conflicting politics, perspectives and ethics that gets him both closer to and further away from an answer to that question. Fuccboi arrives in a blaze of hype and controversy (including accusations of plagiarism). For readers who have felt like young male hotshots have been missing in contemporary literature, the novel’s testosterone-fuelled vivaciousness certainly fills that gap. But reading Conroe’s novel in the context of conversations around male representation in literature emphasised that there is no longer a one-size-fits-all ideal of masculinity on the page. Fuccboi is a book about a specific sect of young men, and Conroe joins a wave of debut fiction being published this year that explores various facets of masculinity, from authors like Moses McKenzie, Liam Konemann, Daniel Wiles and Ryan O’Connor. We are all a product of our time, and for Conroe’s protagonist, his crisis of masculinity is also modern America’s crisis of masculinity. If men are still choking on the toxicity of historical conventions of gender, then literature should be a welcoming space for exploring, questioning and airing the “savage, ugly, testosterone-fuelled, shameful” things that we would all rather repress – regardless of gender.

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Dress for Success While the world is still raging around us all, Ahir Shah chats about how his new show, Dress, rehearses for a new normal Interview: Yasmin Hackett

Comedy

Photo: The Other Richard

“I

“For so much of this last period of time, it’s felt like we were engaged in dress rehearsals in our own lives” Ahir Shah something that I hope that I didn’t take for granted before but certainly don’t take for granted now.” As someone who often seems like he knows just what to say – does he ever find himself truly lost for words? “I mean, today, as you know, this afternoon, I watched the Prime Minister trying to style out a massive garden party at a time where you know, you weren’t legally allowed to have loved ones or whatever.” It’s a moment that speaks for itself, yet Shah genuinely seems undeterred by the challenge of addressing how the pandemic has been handled and the bare-faced corruption of the government. “I think that it is something that’s worthwhile talking about because otherwise, it could very easily get lost. The sheer scale of the incompetence and dishonesty at the heart of everything that’s happened over the last 18 months are incredibly important things to bring up, honestly, lest we just end up forgetting about them and brushing them under the carpet.” It’s hard not to wonder whether performing material based around the pandemic and political mess would be, to say the least, draining – but turning our shared disbelief and experiences into something we can all laugh at is what Shah does best. “There’s a wonderful quote from the comedian Lenny Bruce, who said, ‘All of my comedy is based on destruction and despair. If the world were perfectly tranquil, I would be on the breadline right behind J. Edgar.’ I always liked that.” Ahir Shah: Dress, The Stand, Edinburgh, 26 Feb; The Stand, Glasgow, 27 Feb (27 Feb), £12 ahirshah.com

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February 2022 – Feature

t’s just, I think, inevitably changed all of us. Right?,” says Ahir Shah, when asked about the past two years. “I think it would be absolutely absurd to say that this [COVID-19, obviously], which for almost all of us will be the largest collective psychological shock of our lives, hasn’t had any sort of marked impact on the way we go about basically everything.” His new show, Dress, aims to make some sense of it all. “For so much of this last period of time, it’s felt like we were engaged in dress rehearsals in our own lives, constantly in preparation for life again, but not quite there. “I’m trying to give a chronicle of the last eighteen months or so, without going too heavy-handed on the obvious stuff, because one of the weird things about this is that we all experienced the same thing. So I’m just trying to give my perspective on what’s happened in life for me, and the stuff that was going on in the country socially, politically, globally. The way that this is sort of affecting us, as a species.” Is the Dress tour a shoo-in for the Edinburgh Fringe this year? “I certainly will come up to visit in some capacity, because I think that my August would just feel very, very weird if I wasn’t there in some way. But, for example, I loved the 2021 Fringe, such as it was, because it was relatively few comics doing relatively few shows. And the people who were there were in a really good mood, and we were able to start working things out towards what we want to talk about in the future.” Shah acknowledges the pandemic’s effects, but does he feel that it’s changed his approach to comedy? “I’m sure that it has affected – understandably – the way that I see the world, which obviously will feed into comedy, and everything. But yeah, I always regard comedy as sort of my vehicle for processing what I’ve been thinking about in the period leading up to that show.” And with his personal brand of political and philosophical comedy, Shah never shies away from being verbose. “Yeah, I mean, my natural tendency is very much ‘why one word when ten would do’, as you will inevitably notice from this conversation that we’re having. “But to be able to condense the way you’re feeling about a particular thing into a joke or into a story, and then be able to express that is, I think, such an extraordinary thing, and

Local Heroes

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February 2022 – Feature

Isla Cruickshank Glasgow-based designer Isla Cruickshank tells us how her family's culinary background informs her work in jewellery and homeware design Interview: Stacey Hunter Photography: Harry Anderson How has being raised by a family of talented cooks influenced your approach to design? I learned how to cook from a very young age from my Grandma and my Mum. I was always a creative kid and cooking felt like another outlet, exploring creativity through food. My awareness of how creativity could bleed into various activities led me to have an open mind about what design could be. My Mum and Grandma were also always so aware of waste and so efficient in the kitchen. This directly links to my approach in cooking and making. I like to think I am curious with material, being conscious and problem solving. This element of practicality within my creative practice I learned from home cooking and growing up rurally. — 36 —

Your work challenges our perceptions of waste – how did this theme emerge and where is it going in the future? It certainly wasn’t intentional, but it quite naturally appeared within my practice midway through my degree. I have been working as a private freelance cook since 2016, and doing this alongside my studies meant that my practice began honing in on themes such as waste and materiality at that stage. I was becoming increasingly aware of the amount of waste from the kitchens I was working within, and particularly materials that became redundant after consumption, such as eggshells. I genuinely feel like there is a wealth of potential in food as a material and we should be encouraging

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Local Heroes

design that is actively considering it as sustainable material solutions for our future. I would like my material focus to expand greatly in the future and allow the brand to display a wider example of what is possible within this field. Where do your colour palettes come from and what process do you use to dye the shells? My colour palette all comes from natural sources. Most eggshells contain natural pigment, such as the Araucana, duck, quail, and Bantam eggs. I also wanted to explore the process of natural dyeing with food waste, further exploring the ability of food as a material and an element of process. I have done countless vegetable experiments that achieve varying tones on your everyday brown eggshells. This involves creating the dye by soaking and boiling vegetable waste and then allowing the dye to develop over time on the eggshells by soaking for anything from a few hours to a couple days. All ingredients are 100% natural and the process is mainly determined by the time soaking.

Do you have any exhibitions or events coming up in 2022? My jewellery is currently on show in London at the Goldsmiths centre, in their Emerging Maker exhibition. This is a physical showcase that followed on from the online and social media emerging makers feature in early 2021. Sadly, I was also due to have both jewellery and homeware pieces in the Visual Art Scotland annual exhibition this January but unfortunately COVID saw this exhibition cancelled. I am hoping that 2022 will provide more opportunity for exhibiting and for people to see my work in person. What was your highlight of 2021? I was delighted to receive the Jorum Craft Award early in 2021, which helped me develop my homeware collection and generally explore my practice on a larger scale. This award was a great catalyst for further exposure, and I was honoured to be featured on both the Craft Scotland website and as a Scottish emerging maker to watch on The Skinny’s website. Where can we see and buy your work? You can see and buy my work on my website andilc.com as well as my stockists, The Barn in Banchory and Prior shop in Bristol. Follow me and my process behind the scenes on my Instagram: @and.ilc

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February 2022 – Feature

What other aspects of your making processes have sustainability at their heart? I have made a real effort to keep sustainability at the heart of [jewellery brand] and.ilc. Alongside the eggshell inlay, I chose supporting materials that continue this focus. Brass and jesmonite are the two main components of this. I have always had slight concerns with precious metals and the ethical issues that can come with them. Although

there are better recycled and eco options these days, brass allows me to work with a metal that is mainly dependable on the recycling of scrap. Jesmonite is a water-based and environmentally friendly substitute to other resins and the non-toxic nature of jesmonite makes it an eco-resin.

THE SKINNY

Year of the Tiger 恭喜發財! To celebrate Lunar New Year, one writer explores the significance of the holiday for many ESEA communities in Scotland Words: Sean Wai Keung Illustration: Hue Zhu

February 2022 – Feature

unar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is celebrated in different forms all over the world. Traditional Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Japanese New Year celebrations all follow moon-based calendars while Mongolia, Tibet and certain parts of South Asia have their own versions of a Spring Festival often within the same couple of weeks in February. Because of this there are a huge number of different ways to celebrate, although some factors are more common than others amongst cultures. For instance, New Year is most often seen as an opportunity to reunite with family, a fact which leads to what is often called the ‘largest annual migration of people in the world’ when people living in East and South East Asian cities travel back to their hometowns or villages in order to be with their loved ones. Once with family, food often plays a significant role in how people celebrate, with family feasts a common occurrence. There’s even a specific term for a New Year meal in Cantonese Chinese: 團年飯, literally a ‘reunion dinner’, which often consists of dumplings, fish and soups. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese term for celebrating their New Year is ăn , which literally means ‘eating New Year’, and often includes a wide variety of vegetables as well as candied fruits. Unfortunately, family feasts aren’t practical for everyone. East and South East Asian (ESEA) communities living in the UK often have to improvise around work commitments, financial pressures and local understanding, or lack thereof.

Over time this has led to even more variation in the way people celebrate, with some families even deciding to use Christmas as their main familial get-together in lieu of New Year. However, for those who do celebrate, food still plays a pivotal role. It is often what defines New Year amongst ESEA people who celebrate, particularly those who find themselves unable to do so with family. As theatre-maker and singer-songwriter Taylor Roh told me during a recent conversation about New Year: “When I lived in Korea, I always looked forward to songpyeon, sweet rice cakes traditionally steamed over pine needles. Since moving to Scotland, as I don’t know any other Korean people here, I have mostly had to celebrate via the local Scottish-Chinese communities instead.” For myself, the amount I celebrate the Spring Festival differs between years. While some of my most joyous family memories come from eating 扣肉, a particular celebratory braised pork dish popular amongst Hakka families, or sharing out dried plum candies bought specifically for the day, some years the logistics and economics of getting everyone together in one household are just too challenging when combined with work, studies or availability. Yet wherever I am on the day itself I will try to make a special meal, even if it’s just for myself, or even if I’ve just had to work a long and tiring work shift. I share GIFs with friends and family featuring fireworks, red envelopes and the sparkling words “恭喜發財!” over WhatsApp. It’s not the same, of course, and I miss the delicious smell of my

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“Some of my most joyous memories come from eating 扣肉, a particular celebratory braised pork dish popular amongst Hakka families or sharing out dried plum candies bought specifically for the day” grandmother in the kitchen cooking and the sound of my grandfather with his cleaver chopping duck into chunks. I even find myself missing the rituals around the meal itself, such as the process of pushing two small tables together to form one larger table in order to fit everyone around it, or the washing up afterwards, during which one of my cousins was always in charge of the sink while I dried up and another cousin put everything away again. These small moments would provide the perfect time to catch up with individuals away from the whole family. I also remember the funny moments of each year, whether it’s an uncle falling off his chair from laughing too much, or that one time it snowed and upon clearing away the condensation on the kitchen window from all the cooking, I was greeted by a glistening layer of pure white. All of this is to say that Lunar New Year is so much more than new animal horoscopes, ancestor worship or lion dances. These can all be important to people, of course, and a prominent part of some people’s New Year, but as a whole the celebration is also so much more than any of its individual parts. And while Chinese New Year may be the best-known of the festivities here in Scotland, it’s only one of the many different New Years that are happening at or around the same time. So however you do, or don’t, celebrate the occasion, let me say that I hope that the beginning of Spring gives you cause to smile. And if you can, cook and eat something special today, even if it’s only for yourself. 恭喜發財!

THE SKINNY

Checking Boxes First-person opinion writing has dominated British media in the last decade. Our departing Intersections Editor reflects on the impact this writing has had on identity politics in culture and in themselves Words: Katie Goh Illustration: Megan Drysdale Intersections

“H

also the task of dismantling systemic oppression within our business! Anti-racism books and identity-based articles about race are written for and sold to a white core audience. The writers of these books and articles are given the impossible task of perfectly distilling complex, sprawling ideas with loaded histories into a singular text that can act as a moral map for its readers. While excellent books and articles are undoubtedly produced by this process, so too is the homogenisation of identity. And this kind of writing feels good to write. Banging out 800 words on how racism is bad is a cheap high. Turning your trauma into the day’s most-read article is cathartic, especially for those whose identity has been weaponised against them in the past. Being in control of the weapon – your body, your history, what has been done to you, what will be done to you – even just for the four minutes it takes for a reader to skim-read your article, feels powerful. But that power is a mirage that fades quickly when you get your fee and capitalism gets your pain. Despite the glossy optics of representation, we are light years away from systemic change that would bring true justice to populations marginalised in our societies. While speaking in a collective voice has radical roots – as well as the potential to return in a radical form – these marginalised groups are now often represented in the media through individual expressions of identity. On a — 39 —

“Power is a mirage that fades quickly when you get your fee and capitalism gets your pain” political level, what do these texts achieve other than personal gain? As someone who has spent years constructing, deconstructing and performing perceptions of their identity by writing for the other, I would suggest that there is little personal gain achieved through this act of self-flagellation. Identity is a trapdoor. Let other people turn it against you and you lose. Lean into it, use it, make money from it, build a career on it and you lose. While I stopped churning out these identityframed opinion articles, I still write about the aspects of myself that for one editor checked boxes. Writers should not be forced to strip their work of their identity – despite many being encouraged to do so to move beyond identity politics into ‘serious’ writing – but we deserve to be more than checkboxes for the sake of being checkboxes. Throw down weaponised identity, pull down the mask and let the illusion of power slip away. Who are you without your signifiers? Who have you always been?

February 2022 – Feature

ow do you identify?” the editor asks me in an email. “I just want to know if this commission is appropriate to assign to you.” “Well,” I reply. “As a person of colour, I suppose. LGBTQ+, I guess. I live in Scotland. I’m Irish.” “Perfect!” she lets me know. “You check a lot of boxes.” She assigns me a piece on East-Asian representation in cinema, a takedown of Ireland’s abortion laws, a piece on the queer politics of a new television show. I’m tasked with convincing readers who are not East-Asian, or women, or Irish, or queer why these things should matter to them. I use my own life experience to do so, turning past grievances into morality lessons. Twenty-something years of existing suddenly becomes my weapon and my shield. I wield them with something that resembles authority. I write the pieces and many more like them. I mine my own history for trauma that I use to hook the reader. I spill my guts trying to rejuvenate pain into something relevant and something palatable. These sorts of first-person, identity-led articles have become ubiquitous in British media. They come from the same good intentions as diversity hires; editors realising that they need more BIPOC+, LGBTQ+, female, working-class, young writers. Opinion writing is how many emerging journalists (myself included) get their start. Journalism and publishing are still industries dominated by white, middle-class men and therefore you quickly learn to play the game: what can you bring to stories that other people can’t? For me, it was the queer angle, the female angle, the Asian angle; these windows onto the world that bear no resemblance to how I actually experience life day-to-day. Instead they are flattened versions of myself that sell headlines, SEO and advertising. Identity-based opinion writing tends to be formed around the same muddy amalgamation of content as the anti-racism book, a genre of nonfiction that has had an unprecedented rise in popularity in the last ten years, a rise that parallels the opinion piece’s. Memoir and reportage rub up against each other in both forms, as writers draw connections between personal anecdote and fact. This can make for powerful writing, a way to personalise vague theoretical discourse or statistics. But it also conflates lived experience with expertise and individual perspective with insight into an entire sector of the population. One person cannot possibly stand-in for every single person they share one aspect of their identity with, and yet a culture of tokenistic representation and hiring practices has created this expectation. A marginalised background has become a desirable CV asset. Congratulations, you got the job and

Music

THE SKINNY

Music Now Welcome to February’s new Scottish music column. Despite being the shortest month, it’s jam-packed with assured new releases, snappy debuts and promising newcomers Words: Tallah Brash

Photo: Fraser Simpson

February 2022 – Review

irst up, Savage Mansion’s third album Golden Mountain, Here I Come arrives this month via Lost Map (25 Feb). “It could be our first record as a band,” says Savage Mansion frontman Craig Angus. “In many ways it is, to the extent that we toyed with changing the name of the band. But you forget it’s a fucking pain naming a band in the first place, so we stuck with it.” So while it’s not quite their first album, it is their first with Beth Chalmers enlisted on keys, and their first that wasn’t almost fully realised before going into the rehearsal room. “We reworked a lot of the songs beyond recognition this time,” says Angus. “I had to let go of a lot of the expectations I had, and it’s a stronger body of work as a consequence, more adventurous.” From the moment opening track Life More Abundant bursts into view with its twisted clarinet melodies (courtesy of Sweet Baboo’s Stephen Black) we are on board, even more so when the hyperactive handclaps, thick sax and delightful harmonies raise their hand. Tying the whole thing together is the titular ‘golden mountain’ motif, found in the lyrics of a few tracks. Bookending the album, its appearance on the opening track feels determined, while towards the end of the closing, much more subdued On Golden Mountain, the sung refrain feels like a huge sigh of relief, a breath of fresh air, a moment of clarity. Angus’s distinct drawl is still placed front and centre across the record, but it and everything around it sounds crisper and more considered this time; instrumental definition across the record is sublime with punchy basslines, guitar melodies, Kinbrae and Clare Archibald clarinet, sax and more given space to pleasantly bob to the surface at just the right moments. Golden Mountain, Here I Come is full of songs you’ll be singing for days. Further proof that not all things that happened during the multiple lockdowns of the past two years were bad comes from Glasgow’s excellently named new old kids on the block Count Florida. Describing themselves as “old friends but a new band”, on Choose Your Own it’s clear this queer indie-pop trio was always meant to be making music together, specifically this

music, and making it now. “We played together nearly 20 years ago,” says drummer Argo Scott. “But we couldn’t have made this album then. We didn’t have the language for half the ideas that shape who we now know we are. We were too anxious, lost and sometimes on too many hallucinogens.” Arriving on 2 February, Choose Your Own tackles “lockdown horniness and bad jobs, queer romance and finding power, transition and transformation, chasing joy and big ginger cats.” These songs are painfully catchy, razor-sharp indie-pop morsels that demand your attention and we genuinely can’t stop listening; the perfect accompaniment to the shortest month of the year, they’re sure to help lift the fug of a never-ending January. We last featured the ambient/musique concrète work of twin brothers Mike and Andy Truscott, aka Kinbrae, in these pages when they were exploring the landscape surrounding the Tay Bridge on their 2019 record Landforms. Now, working alongside writer and artist Clare Archibald, they’re tackling a different landform, this time in West Fife, currently known as St. Ninians. A former opencast mine, the area was also once home to the mining village Lassodie and most recently was the not quite fully-realised living art work by landscape architect and cultural theorist Charles Jencks. Due on 11 February, Birl of Unmap is a fascinating collaboration that tells the story of a place from different times and perspectives. Featuring a whole host of field recordings from the site as well as oral histories and experiences of other Fife residents and former miners, it’s a mesmerising record, which digs deep into the concept of time and space asking: ‘What is immigration and what is home? / …Are we immigrating or are we simply in constant movement? / Concepts of time and space will define the answer’. On the same day, Edinburgh’s Paradise Palms’ in-house label put out their sixth compilation album, Bonnie Tropical 6,

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THE SKINNY

Photo: R.C.

Music Count Florida

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February 2022 – Review

The ever-prolific Modern Studies are back this month too with We Are There arriving on 18 February via Fire Records. Another beautiful collection of chamber pop, the album is filled with intricate little flourishes meaning there’s something new to discover on each listen. And as ever, it’s a thrill to hear the seemingly effortless vocals of Emily Scott coupled with the chocolate rich baritone of Rob St. John – something we’ll never tire of. Dahlia Elsewhere, Glasgow-based three-piece Fatherson release Normal Fears on 25 February via Easy Life Records (turn the page for our full review); songwriter, poet and post-punk spoken word artist Stephen Durkan releases his gritty debut EP, The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves (18 Feb); producer Ewan McVicar releases his hotly anticipated Movin’ On Over EP via Optimo Music Digital Danceforce (11 Feb); Berta Kennedy releases her latest R’n’B cut i’m good (14 Feb) and The Wife Guys of Reddit release the meaty Pig Fat (25 Feb). Photo: Steph Nicol

taking their tally up to 32 releases since their inaugural 2016 release. Sticking to the usual format, the latest Bonnie Tropical is a great way to discover lots of new talent coming up in Scotland, whether that be producers or bands. Glasgow’s Nightshift make an appearance here with the excellent Make Kin taken from their 2021 debut album Zöe, while old hats Numbers Are Futile make a very long overdue and welcome return with Euphoria Comes. There are straight up hypnotic dance cuts to be found too from the likes of Stockholm Syndrome AU and U Diddy, while Nina Stanger and Ritchie Muir’s glitchy breakbeat track Neek offers a mid-album highlight. Following a slew of well-received singles in the last two years, relative newcomer Dahlia is striding into 2022 with her debut EP, AIRMID, a collection of witchy electronic alt-pop with a trip-hop edge sung in both English and Gaelic. There’s sublime production to be found across its five tracks, with Dahlia’s vocals beautifully haunting yet satisfyingly crisp. It’s a great debut and we can’t wait to hear more from this Edinburgh artist in the future.

Albums

THE SKINNY

Black Country, New Road Ants From Up There Ninja Tune, 4 Feb rrrrr

February 2022 — Review

Listen to: Concorde, Chaos Space Marine, Snow Globes

Shamir Heterosexuality AntiFragile Music, 11 Feb rrrrr Listen To: Cisgender, Stability

From the trilling klezmer of Intro all the way into the thirteenth meandering minute of Basketball Shoes, Ants From Up There maintains an impressive musical cohesion. Whether it’s string-laden melodrama (Chaos Space Marine), stately piano (Haldern), bluesy guitar (The Place Where He Inserted the Blade) or cacophonous brass (Snow Globes), the band slot into a groove that can gallop, murmur or shock from one moment to the next, without ever sacrificing a sense of unity. It’s an impressive feat, and gives Isaac Wood a striking canvas to deliver his winding narratives or nonsensical scraps. To say this is a band bursting with ideas would be an understatement and their ‘anything goes’ style can be testing, despite its clear intentionality. With half the album’s ten songs over six minutes long, you’d expect a little space to breathe – and there are occasional moments – but it’s mostly a barrage of sounds and ideas. Though not quite as intense as fellow experimental rockers du jour black midi, Black Country, New Road know that a whispered line about ‘Billie Eilish style’ or piercing saxophone run can hit just as effectively. It’s a fascinating second album from a band that feel genuinely unpredictable.[Lewis Wade] Having released an album almost every year – and sometimes two in a year – since his debut full-length Ratchet, released in 2015, Shamir’s career could be described as nothing short of prolific; but it has also been fairly turbulent. After parting ways with his label following the release of Ratchet and then his management team after the release of its followup Hope, Shamir has self-released every album since, bar one. But 2020’s self-titled release felt like a real turning point in Shamir’s career, and his latest, Heterosexuality, feels like a continuation of those themes. On Gay Agenda and Cisgender he addresses endless questions throughout his career over his sexuality and gender, with an outright refusal to define himself. ‘I’m not cisgender, I’m not binary, trans / I don’t wanna be a girl, I don’t wanna be a man / I’m just existing on this God-forsaken land’, he sings on Cisgender, his signature falsetto soaring. Heterosexuality is an album of liberation and rage; a cathartic release following years of volatility and instability. It feels like the most important record of his career, as he works through his internal and external conflicts to, ultimately, find peace. [Nadia Younes]

Los Bitchos Let the Festivities Begin! City Slang, 4 Feb rrrrr Listen to: The Link is About to Die, I Enjoy It, Las Panteras

SASAMI Squeeze Domino, 25 Feb rrrrr Listen To: Say It, Call Me Home, Sorry Entertainer

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If you think instrumental music makes for perfect background noise, Los Bitchos prove you to be sorely mistaken – Let The Festivities Begin! is a captivating debut, from the first magicmushroom-laced beat until the last. An intoxicating mix of retro-futuristic surf guitar sounds and galloping drums, the record boasts the exact feeling of a Tarantino soundtrack to an all-female 70s Western. Pista (Fresh Start) feels like grooving to music playing in a Nando’s bathroom while tripping on a hallucinogen in the best possible way, transporting listeners from a series of Groundhog lockdowns into a percussion-soaked fiesta. With the album produced by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, it’s no surprise that Las Panteras boasts a mid-song shift-up similar to Take Me Out, derailing the track from a relaxed psychedelic, lava-lamp-marvelling experience into a frenzied, cowbell-accompanied command to dance. By the time the Lindsay Lohaninspired closing track Lindsay Goes to Mykonos unfurls, it’s easy to forget about singing altogether, until the final incoherent chant-breakdown of the track closes the album with a bang. Every second of the record is unconventional, rule-breaking, and mindbending; the kind of album to ride a horse into sunset to. [Jodie Leith] SASAMI is dragging rock’n’roll by the scruff of its neck into a bright new future. Squeeze is a no-brakes theatrical epic that twists together industrial grit with country-pop heartbreak, landing somewhere between Nine Inch Nails and Sheryl Crow. The gulf between the first two tracks alone – the lurid and bloody Skin a Rat and twangy, steely-eyed love song The Greatest – is enough to make your stomach turn, but SASAMI’s rich authority holds together an album that’s pulling apart at the seams. After leaving LA band Cherry Glazerr in 2018, Sasami Ashworth released a simmering shoegaze debut. Squeeze has the same cleverness and heart, but it supersizes Ashworth’s vision. Every track is enormous, from Say It’s grizzly, dystopian verses to the private hurricane of Call Me Home, a dizzying spin of a song about trying to find centre. And through it all, the same question returns: how do you bridge a chasm of miscommunication? Or, as she puts it on the fidgety, frustrated Make It Right, ‘What do you say when there’s nothing left to say?’ Not a Love Song, the record’s sweeping finale, finds an answer in the unspoken, swapping out difficult conversation for a ‘beautiful, beautiful sound’. [Katie Hawthorne]

THE SKINNY

Listen to: Running Away, Remembering Me, Harbour

Listen to: High Alone, Everything is Everything

Listen to: Working for the Knife, Valentine, Texas, Stay Soft

Fatherson Normal Fears, Easy Life Records, 25 Feb rrrrr Listen to: End of the World, Dive, Normal People

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Like a lot of current releases, Normal Fears was conceived, born and raised across lockdowns. Escape from the outside world meant the band could forget what they felt they should be and focus rather on what the band could be. Embracing possibility, the Glasgow-based trio eye experimentation, from placing ping pong balls in snare drums and feeding piano through cassette players to whipping out the keyboard for an increased electronic presence. Album four points towards a playful, new(ish) direction – particularly in its first half on tracks like End of the World, Love For Air and Everything. That said, much of the record sits comfortably with their strong past efforts. At its core is both their usual high octane, groove-laced alt-rock (Dive, Normal People, That Feeling and the Sound) and typically wonderful slower moments, often piano-led and balladesque (All the Time, Honest To God), casting a shimmering spotlight on Ross Leighton’s caramel smooth vocals. While Normal Fears may appear on the surface like a daring first step onto a new path, it’s not entirely dissimilar – and nor does it need to be – to one that they’ve already walked to much success. [Dylan Tuck]

February 2022 — Review

Sevdaliza Raving Dahlia EP Twisted Elegance, 25 Feb rrrrr

Dahlia flowers are said to represent ‘one who stands strong in their sacred values’. Raving Dahlia, then, is a fitting title for Sevdaliza’s latest offering, which sees the artist glide fluidly between meditative introspection and trance-like club beats. Following her 2020 album Shabrang, sonically this six-track EP is somewhat more accessible in comparison to previous works, while remaining true to the idiosyncratic experimentation and vision of her body of work. On opening track System, she chants over a minimal drum beat: ‘And I’m too sensitive / To be your pedestal’. The simplicity of the repeated verse reveals a tenderness that belies firm resolution, and ultimately, acceptance. This quiet strength is one interwoven across Raving Dahlia, through which Sevdaliza aims to ‘put power in the hands of women’. Spanning from the micro to macro, vast ground is covered and often in tandem – from futuristic universes on more conceptual tracks such as The Great Hope Design, to existential ruminations of the self set to the backdrop of electronic melodies. Healing and at times even hedonistic, on Raving Dahlia Sevdaliza offers something transcendent, but deeply, irrevocably felt. [Anita Bhadani]

Mitski Laurel Hell Dead Oceans, 4 Feb rrrrr

‘Let’s step carefully into the dark’ are the words Mitski has chosen to open her record, spoken tentatively over humming synth. ‘Once we’re in, I’ll remember my way around.’ These lyrics carry significant meaning. Laurel Hell – named after a folk term for beautiful but deadly thickets of mountain laurel – marks Mitski’s first release since something of a hiatus. In 2019 she announced she would cease performing indefinitely, citing a disillusion with “staying in the game, in the constant churn.” She addresses this tension on lead single Working for the Knife, where the desire for pure, unadulterated artistic creation becomes a subject in itself. It’s the best song on the record, setting the tone and capturing everything Mitski does best: an enrapturing, satisfying melody, catchy in the most intelligent ways, and with lyrics both deeply personal and darkly pervasive. Other highlights include the stormy, sensual Heat Lightning and the flirty, punchy Stay Soft that drifts with the same restless energy as her sleeper hit Nobody. The record does peter out a little with the closing few songs, and it can’t be said that Mitski has broken significantly new ground. Still, she’s as enchanting as ever. [Katie Cutforth]

Albums

Cate Le Bon Pompeii Mexican Summer , 4 Feb rrrrr

If 2019’s Reward was situated in rediscovering the joy of artistry, Cate Le Bon’s follow-up Pompeii, for all its breadth in referential qualities, becomes a record distilled in reinvention – of the self, the artist. Reserved at times, though satiated throughout, it’s a record that practises the art of never giving too much away. From the beat of its metronomic opening, Pompeii walks us through its structural intricacies with a grace and control that is lauded by the leanings of the absurd in its lyrics. ‘I’ve pushed my love through the hourglass,’ sings Le Bon, on the album’s titular track, as though preparing to turn herself into a new gravity. Her flirtations with pop structures on tracks such as Harbour and Remembering Me introduce a playfulness to the record that is in constitution with its pillars of irony. The latter becomes a stand-out moment on the record as Le Bon shifts her address to stare out through the lens with which she lets us in, before turning away just as quickly into album closer Wheel. Bolstered with warm tones of sax and synth, bearing colourful thumbprints of the past, Pompeii is certainly a success of Le Bon’s continual daring. [Bethany Davison]

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Film

Scotland on Screen: Hope Dickson Leach Edinburgh-based filmmaker Hope Dickson Leach is adapting Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde into an innovative theatrical live screen experience at Leith Theatre, which will also become a new feature film. She tells us more

Interview: Jamie Dunn Filmography: Ghost Light (2020), Strong Is Better Than Angry (2019), The Levelling (2016), Silly Girl (2016), Morning Echo (2010), Parliamo Glasgow (2009), The Dawn Chorus (2007), Cavities (2004)

February 2022 – Feature

hopedicksonleach.com

ope Dickson Leach looks chilly. I can barely see her behind her thick-rimmed spectacles, chunky yellow scarf and scarlet woolly hat as she calls in over Zoom from Leith Theatre, where she is preparing to mount an innovative new production of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. “I’ve got three heaters going in my room,” she says. “I have a diffuser to do nice smells, but also to pretend that there’s some kind of heat – it’s like the same way you look at a candle and think, ‘Oh, I’m warmer.’” Theatre isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of this Edinburgh-based writer-director. She’s best known for The Levelling, her quietly devastating debut feature following a young woman returning to her father’s farm after a series of tragic events (floods, dead livestock, dead family members), and her award-winning short films. But she’s no novice to the theatre racket. “When I was 17, I was in the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, in the design department,” the 46-year-old tells us. “So I made sets. We had these tiny budgets, so we even had to make our own glue from boiled rabbit bones and disgusting things like that. It was really teaching us how to make something from nothing, which was amazing.” It certainly sounds like it was a good foundation for the creative arts, given the number of famous faces who emerged from the programme along with Dickson Leach. “Oh it was hysterical the people who were in my group,” she says. “Chiwetel Ejiofor was in it, and Simon Farnaby… all these kind of amazing actors who sort of became famous.” She pauses, perhaps tellingly. “And Matt Lucas was part of it too, extraordinarily.” That was back in 1993. She then went on to Edinburgh University to study philosophy but ended up embroiled with the theatre kids there as a stage manager and set designer. “I just loved that exciting thing of making something live,” she says of that experience at university. “And when I was at film school, I directed one play in this tiny improv venue. And it was sort of terrifying because you can’t walk on stage and scream ‘Cut! Redo that. Do this,’ you know? But it’s also fantastic for that very same reason. And your notes to the actor become different because you have to be like, ‘Off you go. It’s yours. You can do it.’ So I’ve always loved theatre. But there are no cameras, you know? And as a filmmaker, I want to make beautiful images as well.” Photo: Laurence Winram Jekyll & Hyde

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Hope Dickson Leach

Dickson Leach gets to have her cake and eat it with The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This promises to be a unique retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale, blending both stage and cinema techniques to create what’s been described as an innovative “filmic and theatrical experience”. The project came about following Dickson Leach’s involvement with the National Theatre of Scotland’s Ghost Light, a kind of poetic highlights reel that evokes moments from Scottish theatrical performances past, present and future. It was one of the brightest spots of Edinburgh International Festival 2020, which was forced to be an online-only event thanks to COVID-19. Jackie Wylie, NTS’s artistic director, was keen to work with Dickson Leach again following its success. “We had such a great time on Ghost Light, and Jackie said, ‘Is there something else? Something which is formerly challenging, or innovative? Is there a piece of text or some Scottish writing you wanted to explore?’” After going off for a bit of a think, Hope Leach plumped for Stevenson’s study of the dichotomy of man and one of the defining texts of ‘the Caledonian antisyzygy’ – the concept of duelling polarities within one entity. Which of course sounds perfect for a hybrid production straddling two art forms, but this only occurred to Dickson Leach after the fact. “Yes, the idea that you’ve got two faces is rather perfect for a hybrid, but that wasn’t the reason we chose it,” she tells us. “I was just drawn to the idea of investigating toxic masculinity and exploring the potential connection between toxic masculinity and power. It felt not only like something I’m really interested in asking questions about, but also really contemporary.” While the ideas at work in the text are as fresh as ever, Dickson

THE SKINNY

Photo: Ben Glasgow

Film

Leach hasn’t been tempted to drag the setting into the 21st century. “If it’s really contemporary and powerful, and engaging on that level, then you don’t have to set it anywhere else. You can do the real thing.” By ‘the real thing’, Dickson Leach isn’t just referring to the book’s Victorian setting. Most movie adaptations may be some tickets released nearer to the time), you will enter of …Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – there have been well over 100 Leith Theatre ahead of the show to take a peek at all the nooks – focus in on the novel’s horror elements, taking it to a darker, and crannies where the performance will take place. “There are more graphic, more violent realm than on the page. In most rooms all throughout the building, like this one I’m in now, that versions, the focus becomes Dr Henry Jekyll and his feral will be Utterson’s living room, and behind the stage, there’s an office, so there’s kind of all these different spaces. But no one will alter-ego, Mr Hyde. In Stevenson’s original, however, we instead be able to see the stage because there’ll be a big screen on it.” follow the tenacious lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, who’s Capturing the action will be six cameras while a vision interested in uncovering what the brutish Hyde’s connection is mixer will also be on-site essentially live editing what the to this respectable, mild-mannered doctor. audience sees. “So the audience will walk through the sets, and “In a formal dramatic sense, I guess Jekyll is the main then sit down, then be given headphones, and they will essencharacter as it’s he who undergoes this kind of evolution,” says tially watch a film. But the film is live!” Dickson Leach. “But you’re right, he’s not the protagonist if you All this is beginning to sound a bit like those special read the book. It’s that fantastic thing of Victorian literature seat-of-your-pants episodes of ER or Coronation Street that where the person whose point of view we’re in isn’t as interesting as what they’re showing us, and doesn’t have to evolve. That were shot and broadcast live, like they used to do for old soaps and sitcoms. “Exactly,” laughs is Utterson.” Dickson Leach. “It’s like a live Rather than straight horror, it multi-camera sitcom. But, you know, sounds like Dickson Leach’s adaptawith pretensions” tion will be closer to the genre of There is a third wrinkle to the Stevenson’s book; namely, a protoproject. As well as being broadcast detective novel. “When I read it as live, each performance of the play will someone who loves crime stories, I be recorded and become the raw was like, ‘This is the first serial killer footage from which will emerge a film, book. This is the first detective.’ I Hope Dickson Leach which will be released in the autumn mean, it was written, I think, a year of next year. “We’ll be using all that before Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock material: we’ll have three nights’ worth of live performance and Holmes story. So genuinely it is the first Scottish/British detecwe’ll also be recording some of the rehearsals as well.” tive story. And I love that idea – of Utterson being a detective How different will this feature film be from the live experiwho’s up against the clock as he tries to figure this out, before ence, we wonder? “What’s great about that – and this is what whatever happens.” theatre does as well – when you do it in front of an audience the While the period setting is the same in Dickson Leach’s reaction can sometimes be 'that wasn’t as powerful as I wanted. production, the location is not. The book takes place in the fog-covered streets of Victorian London, but here the action has Maybe we need to change something.' So there’ll be decisions been moved to Stevenson’s hometown. Although Dickson Leach that we’ve been making live on the night that might be changed when we come to cut it. But then we can edit it together the reckons the author would have approved. “If you read it, those right way and it’ll be beautiful and it will be a feature film, and it streets Stevenson describes are clearly not Soho at all; it’s will go out there and have a whole new life.” clearly Edinburgh.” One thing I’m having a tough time getting my head around 25, 26 and 27 Feb: A theatrical live experience at Leith Theatre during our chat is what Dickson Leach’s production will actually look like. Leith Theatre is an appropriately atmospheric arena in which to set this gothic tale, but the three performances are also 27 Feb: ‘As live’ stream to selected UK cinemas going to be beamed simultaneously to cinemas around the UK. “It is really complicated,” admits Dickson Leach. “For a long time Week of 28 Feb: Encore screenings in UK cinemas it was so clear to me but it was really hard for everyone else.” Autumn 2023: Edited feature film broadcast on Sky Arts She assures me that it won’t be confusing for audience members, however. For those who have been lucky enough to For tickets and for more details, head to nationaltheatrescotland.com snap up a ticket (the live shows are currently sold out but there

Leith Theatre

“It’s like a live multicamera sitcom. But, you know, with pretensions”

February 2022 – Feature

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THE SKINNY

Film Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Starring: Kotone Furukawa, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri

Film

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A woman finds a man from her past resurfacing in her friend’s love life. A disgraced student tries to get revenge on his professor, only for his trap to result in a surprising connection and unexpected humiliation. And two former classmates reconnect in a world where all computer technology has failed – but are they the same women each hoped to see decades later? Technology as a social connector plays a key role in each segment of this masterful, understated anthology drama from Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The devices and services themselves, however, are never the focus. Magic happens when two people speak face

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

The Souvenir: Part II

February 2022 – Review

Director: Joanna Hogg

Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton

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One issue with Joanna Hogg’s semiautobiographical The Souvenir was that Tom Burke’s performance as Anthony, a suave heroin addict, threatened to overshadow the much quieter turn by Honor Swinton Byrne as Julie, a young, privileged film student, as his substance abuse poisoned their love. That’s not an issue with this follow-up, with Hogg delving into what drives Julie as she reels from the loss of her Anthony and creates a short film as a memorial to him. Hogg’s precise framing, immaculate sound design and largely improvised (but never aimless) dialogue are all back in spades, along with brilliantly observed supporting characters in Julie’s parents (including Swinton Byrne’s real-life mother, Tilda Swinton)

to face, heart to heart. Hamaguchi’s script effortlessly reveals the absurd in deflections and observations, but each moment of levity cements the underlying human drive for connection. There is a wry awareness that everyone is hiding a unique messiness, but an equally unique maturity can result from confiding that messiness in another. The first two stories – Magic (or Something Less Assuring) and Door Wide Open – are three-handers. Each subverts the love triangle expectation: the former through transcendence, the latter to hope and disappointment. The third story, Once Again, has a more integrated supporting cast but is anchored in the long-buried dreams and loves of two lives unexpectedly intersecting. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy engages through its infinite love for lost souls, and while watching it, the world feels smaller for two hours. [Carmen Paddock] Released 11 Feb by Modern Films; certificate 15

Flee Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Starring:

rrrrr “What does home mean to you?” That’s the question at the heart of Flee. Danish director Jonas Poher Rasmussen is speaking to his friend Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym used to protect his family) who has finally decided to share the painful secrets of his past. After a moment of deliberation, he replies: “Somewhere… safe.” Safety has long been acknowledged as a basic human need but for Amin, whose family were forced to flee Afghanistan in the early 90s, the journey towards a more secure future has been a long and treacherous one. Part interview, part therapy session, Amin discusses his childhood growing up in Kabul, and the physical and psychological boundaries he had to overcome before starting a new

The Souvenir: Part II

and a difficult director (Richard Ayoade), but the film sings when Julie is centre stage and creating. While a filmmaker making another film about their artistic formation may come across as indulgent, Hogg acknowledges the difficulties of creatively articulating deeply personal experiences. Julie is not an effortless director; she’s inexperienced and indecisive, and her crew often struggle to understand her vision or why she behaved the way she did with Anthony. One problem comes in there being a few too many instances where people explain Julie’s psychology, especially since the scenes on Julie’s film set are so illuminating on their own. But after a slow start, The Souvenir: Part II becomes an absorbing and quietly heartbreaking portrait of a young artist, and of the dichotomy of truth and artifice that exists in all art. [Rory Doherty] Released 4 Feb by Picturehouse; certificate 15

Flee

Belle Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Starring: Kylie McNeill, Chace Crawford, Paul Castro Jr. (voices)

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There’s a lot crammed into Belle, the dazzling new anime from Mamoru Hosoda. It imagines a not too distant future where people live two lives: one in their humdrum reality, and one in a surreal cyberworld called U, where they hide behind anonymous avatars that are projections of their inner selves. The richer and deeper hidden your personality is, the more different you appear from your digital projection. That’s certainly the case with Suzu. IRL she’s a cripplingly shy teen with freckles and a tragic backstory, which is revealed in heartbreaking flashbacks. In U, she’s the beautiful pop diva Bell, who’s dubbed the more appropriate Belle by users and quickly becomes the most famous singer on the planet.

— 46 —

life in Denmark as an openly gay man. The decision to animate these conversations was motivated by the need to protect Amin’s identity, but the film’s striking 2D animation also alludes to his deep-seated feelings of loneliness and alienation. For a film about the psychological trauma of displacement, Flee is surprisingly sweet. From an exhilarating sequence in which a young Amin dances through the streets of Kabul to A-ha’s Take On Me, to a lighthearted discussion about the role Jean-Claude Van Damme played in his sexual awakening, the film is punctuated with moments of tenderness and gentle humour. Scenes like these wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the trust shared between subject and filmmaker, with Flee suggesting that home is perhaps not a place, but a feeling of security. [Patrick Gamble] Released 11 Feb by Curzon; certificate 15

Belle

This social media wish-fulfilment fantasy with a dash of celebrity satire is made even more complex with the introduction of Dragon (aka the Beast), a tortured soul who manifests in this digital plane as a ferocious, bruise-covered monster. Belle has been described as a Beauty and the Beast remake, but it’s more of a mystery movie as Suzu and her pals try to uncover Dragon’s true identity. Romance is confined to the real-life world, which plays out as a tender coming-of-age story. It’s all a bit epic and discombobulating, and a distinct step backwards in sophistication from Hosoda’s more intimate fantasies Minari and Wolf Children. But the animation is just jaw-dropping enough to keep you hooked in spite of the unwieldy story and the overly complex teen melodrama on screen. [Jamie Dunn] Released 4 Feb by National Amusements; certificate TBC

THE SKINNY

ELEANORE, EDINBURGH A lockdown favourite moves indoors, bringing smoky flavours, Scandi interiors and the best dessert for miles

eleanore.uk

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A brilliantly-cooked fillet of cod (£22) comes straight off the grill looking a bit like a fishy iceberg, paired with savoy cabbage leaves stuffed with crab. These are the sorts of interesting plates of food you want to take your time over, which is much easier to do when you’re ensconced in whitewashed brickwork and clean Nordicstyle design, as opposed to sitting on a tidal wall trying to scare off a seagull. The barbecued mushrooms (£11) tie everything together nicely; a bed of charred maitake and oyster mushrooms bring the fire, and a super-savoury bordelaise sauce and creamy celeriac purée add touches of finesse. The tiramu-choux (£8.50), though, is a glorious bit of chaos. It’s the five-bird roast of desserts – why make a big treat list when you can just put together a combination profiterole-gâteau-tiramisu-parfait? It’s creamy, salty, sweet, crunchy, soft and chewy, as if the kitchen realised that the dessert probably couldn’t be smoky, so it should just be everything else instead. It’s a fitting end to one of the most exciting meals you can get anywhere in town, and a fine successor to those lockdown days by the beach.

February 2022 – Review

Photo: Murry Orr

Tiramu-choux

The flatbreads make a reappearance, this time topped with potted shrimp and hispi cabbage (£6.50). The presentation may be a little different (what was once a big biffer in a cardboard box has evolved into two discs that are both impeccably neat and impressively tall) but the blackened edges and enormous umami hit are still here. There’s a real savoury funk, some soft bits and chewy edges, and the whole thing smells like a burnt-down church. The hash browns (£6.50) come topped with smoked cod roe and lime-dusted puffed rice, with lime pickle hidden underneath. Underneath! The proportions are perfect, the hash browns are crispy and gooey in equal measure, and the more dishes with hidden lime pickle the better. Elsewhere, the cured halibut (£7.50) is almost pearlescent, daubed with a tiny blob of super-strength chilli and fermented orange. It’s delicate, simple and delicious, but it might also give you a spicy surprise if you lose your concentration. The leek ravioli (£14) with wild garlic pesto is ridiculously rich and dense in the best way, as well as being just incredibly, outlandishly cheesy.

Food

Fri, 5-11pm; Sat-Mon, 124.30pm & 5.30pm-11pm

h, those carefree days on the promenade. Cycling down to the beach, riding along with the wind in my hair, going for a little paddle, then filling up on charred flatbreads topped with grilled courgettes and squid, or some Jerusalem artichokes. 2020, what a time it was. OK, it wasn’t ‘carefree’ by any means; there really was too much needing our care and attention. Portobello was constantly overrun with townies like me keen to escape to the seaside, plus I kept nearly crashing into people and their dogs. In spite of all that, The Little Chartroom on the Prom was brilliant. Inventive and accessible food in a lovely seaside location, it was a lot like being at a fantasy barbecue – loads of variety, plenty of char, and enough distance from the food that you don’t go home smelling like an arsonist. The team behind TLC on the Prom have now moved indoors to the top of Leith Walk, and the only knock on Eleanore comes as a result of that move inside. The restaurant is all high-top dining, with its website pointing out that the seats “don’t have a back to them”. OK, aesthetics and space, we get it. But it’s 2022 – what is someone supposed to do if they can’t get onto a high stool? What if you actually need something to lean on? What if a raised bar is a literal bar to entry? Hopefully it’s something Eleanore can resolve in time, because it would be a real shame for anyone to miss out on this experience through no fault of their own. The good news is that the smoky, pyromaniac energy is as strong as ever, and it’s part of what makes Eleanore one of the most exciting new restaurants in Edinburgh for years. In fact, a couple of the very best dishes are refined holdovers from those days down at the beach.

Photo: Murry Orr

30-31 Albert Place, EH7 5HN

Words: Peter Simpson

THE SKINNY

Books

Book Reviews

What a Shame

Send Nudes

Mona

New Animal

By Abigail Bergstrom

By Saba Sams

By Pola Oloixarac, translated by Adam Morris

By Ella Baxter

February 2022 — Review

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Misfortunes rarely arrive alone, as Mathilda, the protagonist of Abigail Bergstrom’s tender and wise What a Shame, knows too well. Reeling from the death of her father and the abrupt departure of her partner, her heartbreak is – try as she might – impossible to parse. There is a sense of life passing, and barely lived; of the paths laid out before us, both elusive and binding. And over everything, the spectre of female shame lingers. Taking place over mere weeks, What a Shame has the assured focus of a novel concerned more with aftermaths than events. Mathilda’s introspective narration – startlingly funny and achingly perceptive – is broken only by frequent, unnerving shifts to the second-person, towards the unexorcised ghosts of her father and ex. It is not always clear which she is addressing but this is, certainly, the point: the penetrating spectre of male violence is just as omnipresent as that of female shame. Bergstrom’s prose, and especially the core dynamic of Mathilde and her friends (a coven of voice notes and anxious love) has a sweet verisimilitude that is delightfully frank, (re)inscribing warmth and intimacy for warmth and intimacy’s sakes. And if it all seems a bit familiar – the millennial hodgepodge of tarot, bad dates, housemates and female trauma – well, maybe this is also the point. Maybe these stories are more common than we want to believe. [Anahit Behrooz]

Stories circling the complexities and contradictions of girlhood are not hard to come by. We tread fiction’s line between innocence and being forced to grow up too quickly, being our own person vs being the person the world contorts you into, forcing readers to consider real-life tendrils they draw from. In Send Nudes, we dive into these complexities without apology. Each of Sams’ ten stories is packed with a feeling. They are simple but often chaotic, exploring sexual tension, belonging, friendship and connections to famil in such an assured way. There’s an ease to these stories, present and affecting, that makes them almost a pain to move on from. Take the title story, where, after a back and forth, photos are sent, conversations moved on from without a look over the shoulder – the world does not end, it merely continues in whichever path is chosen. It feels like a triumph for the protagonist, and then we are onto the next. Send Nudes is a collection of such snapshots. Glimpses of a life. They welcome you into a feeling, a moment, and then walk through the door to the future, willing your imagination to follow and do the rest. Bus stop conversations, canine affinity, the buzz of festival life – the brilliance lies not in the big life-altering moments, but these fragments in which they’re captured. A punchy, sharp collection. [Heather McDaid]

Hodder, 3 Feb, £19.99

Bloomsbury, Out now, £14.99

Serpent’s Tail, 3 Feb, £12.99

Picador, 17 Feb, £14.99

hachette.co.uk

bloomsbury.com

serpentstail.com

panmacmillan.com

Pola Oloixarac’s Mona, translated by Adam Morris, reads like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory for adults. It fearlessly confronts the absurdity of the literary establishment. Like her protagonist, Oloixarac leaves the reader questioning whether all great art is inherently violent and ultimately a curse for those plagued by the need to create it. Mona’s premise is deliciously chaotic with each contestant of an elite literary prize battling it out while suffering breakdowns and crises of confidence. Against a Swedish lakeside, the novel plays out as a ruthless examination of the literati and 21st-century identity politics. Mona (the protagonist) subverts a culture of affirmative action by leveraging the very markers thrust upon her as a female writer of colour. She scoffs at how they meant nothing to her before emigrating from Peru to the United States, but still, she leverages them to rise to the top of her university’s writing department. Her observations are bitter and refreshing, and although she loves the literary world, she is not afraid to call out all its hypocrisies. While brandishing her wit around the competition, Mona is haunted by some dark, internal trauma represented by unexplained bruises on her body. This violence surfaces elsewhere during the four-day ceremony when Mona finds animal remains out in the open. But instead of solving these mysteries, Mona chooses to go on a pill-induced rampage which feels very apt for this darkly humorous novel. [Andrés Ordorica]

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Amelia Aurelia – funeral home cosmetician and casual hook-up aficionado – is not coping. Her mother is dead, she’s skipped out on the funeral – leaving her family in an emotional and logistical quagmire – and has turned up at her estranged father’s home in Tasmania, seeking solace and obliteration in the local BDSM scene. Sex and death may be strange bedfellows, but in Ella Baxter’s New Animal they are too wrapped up in each other to care. It’s a sticky state of affairs, and one easily primed for tragedy, but New Animal is, if anything, more morbid screwball comedy than grief-stricken drama, fascinated as it is by the absurdity of intimacy and power across both life and death. Baxter’s prose is a heady mix of the bodily and the philosophically deadpan: a handful of wild strawberries eaten by Amelia become her mother, grief rendering the boundaries of her body porous and collapsible. Meanwhile, when a boy from a dating app turns up to take her to a kink club, Amelia’s reply to his inquiries is deliciously impassive: “Human woman, tired, sad, on a date with you, not wholly sure what a sadist is.” This is writing that is sharp and fearlessly chaotic, grappling with the depths humans go to for mere illusion of control. Luridly funny and always surprising, New Animal takes on the promise of catharsis – and upends it entirely. [Anahit Behrooz]

THE SKINNY

ICYMI

The latest Scottish Comedian of the Year, Liam Farrelly, finally gets to watch the iconic An Audience with Billy Connolly Illustration: Miranda Stuart Comedy

the majority of them are, I did manage to recognise a couple like Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane. It says a lot about Connolly’s talent that he isn’t upstaged by any of the cut aways to the celebrity-rich crowd. He even seems to enjoy it; bouncing off the crowd repeatedly and using a famous weatherwoman to set up a bit where he talks about how patronising a weather report really is - one of my favourite bits. Connolly just seems like he’s having a ball throughout the whole show. Although, I think one of the most miraculous things about it is that given how dodgy the celebrities of the 80s were, no-one in that audience has been outed as a beast, which again has aged the show very well. The special feels timeless purely down to the material and stagecraft of Connolly. I knew he was a physical comedian but I didn’t realise just how skilled he was at it til now. The last 20 minutes of this is Connolly working his material and physicality to the bone and is the perfect end to a performance that gets better minute by minute. It’s a special that really encapsulates everything that Connolly embodies and is known for: the down to earth material, the elastic-legged physicality, the screaming ‘fuck off’ at the top of his lungs, the big grin everything is delivered with. It preserves him and his talent perfectly, and it will still be as watchable and enjoyable in another 36 years because it is just that good. I now understand why this is the only stand up my dad has watched; it’s because you’re going to struggle to find anything better. Liam Farrelly - Live!, The Stand Glasgow, 20 Mar, 5.30pm, £10 t: @LiamFarrelly9, f: @LiamFarrellyComedy, i: @liamfarrellycomedy thestand.co.uk

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February 2022 — Feature

n terms of comedy, Billy Connolly is an undisputed legend. In terms of Scottish comedy, the man is a god. So it makes it all the more shameful that I have watched so frighteningly little of his stand up. There’s not a good reason for it either. I’ve always known how good he is and how well regarded he is. I’ve seen all the highlights like the ‘park my bike’ joke on Parkinson, the banana shoes and crucifixion story, but I’ve never watched a full special. It’s a bit like Pelé; I know he was the best footballer in the world, seen clips of his skills and goals, but I’ve never sat down to watch a match he played in. The only excuse I really have for it is that I’m 22. I was born in 1999, fourteen years after this special was released. It’s admittedly a pretty shite excuse but in this scenario, youthful ignorance is all I have. When trying to pick which one of Connolly’s specials to watch I asked a bunch of other comedians for advice, and this one is the one they all suggested. It’s also the only stand up comedy that my mum says my dad has ever watched, so I thought it was probably a good place to start. It’s probably the most iconic of Connolly’s performances. Everything from his look (that zebra print shirt) to his material, it all very much shows a performer at the peak of their powers. With all the prestige and hype that surrounds such a work of art, the temptation to be edgy and say it isn’t actually that good, followed by something equally as outrageous as ‘The Beatles are pish and The Kinks far surpass them’ so I can walk away from this with some sort of controversial indie cred to my name, weighs heavy on me. Sadly it’s just as good as everyone says. Despite it being nearly 40 years old, it holds up extremely well. The only areas that date the special are in the references to products that no longer exist and all the celebrities of the time that inhabit the first five rows of the audience. Oblivious to who

THE SKINNY

Listings Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Find listings below for the month ahead across Music, Clubs, Theatre, Comedy and Art in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings

Glasgow Music

Fri 04 Feb

Tue 01 Feb

ALBERTINE SARGES

THE PARROTS

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Madrid.

Wed 02 Feb

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Liverpool. BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Alt pop from Berlin. IDLES

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

JAMES BAY

Post-punk from Brighton.

Singer-songwriter from England.

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

EXAMPLE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Rapper from London. TARJA TURUNEN

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Heavy metal from Finland. TOM BRIGHT

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:30

Folk from the UK. Part of Celtic Connections.

Thu 03 Feb GNOSS (MAIRI MCGILLIVRAY)

MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:30

Folk from Glasgow. Part of Celtic Connections.

HANNAH RARITY (THE ALT + KEVIN BURKE) MITCHELL THEATRE, 19:30–22:30

Trad from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections. PALACE

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Blues rock from London.

SLIME CITY

Nerd rock from Glasgow.

BRATAKUS (GOTH GF + GOBLIN KNIFE + COUNT FLORIDA) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:30

Riot grrrl punk from Scotland.

THE SHARON SHANNON QUARTET (THE TRIALS OF CATO)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:30

Folk from Ireland. Part of Celtic Connections. TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:30

International folk line-up. Part of Celtic Connections. LENA JONSSON TRIO (LYRE LYRE)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:30

Folk from Sweden. Part of Celtic Connections. ADAM HOLMES (CLARE SANDS)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:30

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Folk from Edinburgh. Part of Celtic Connections.

IDLES

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

GEORGE O’HANLON

Singer-songwriter from the UK. BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Post-punk from Brighton.

PENANCE STARE (BLACK HOLES ARE CANNIBALS + FRENETIX + PERSIAN RUST)

DUTCH WINE

Indie from Glasgow.

IONA FYFE (RACHEL HAIR & RON JAPPY)

NIMBUS SEXTET (NORMAN WILMORE)

Jazz folk from Aberdeenshire. Part of Celtic Connections.

Jazz from the UK.

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:30

KOSHEEN

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Electronica from the UK. THE LAURETTES (REELY JIGGERED + DIGNITY ROW)

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Scotland.

Sun 06 Feb BANNERS

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Alt indie from Liverpool. DEJA VEGA

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–22:30

Psychedelic rock from Manchester KAYLA PAINTER

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Producer from Bristol. BOB LOG III

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Punk blues from Arizona. ROSS COUPER

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 13:00–22:30

Fiddle from Shetland. Part of Celtic Connections. TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:30

International folk line-up. Part of Celtic Connections. AROOJ AFTAB

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:30

New Age jazz from Brooklyn. Part of Celtic Connections.

LAND OF RUBBER MEN (BLACK CAT BONE + TIARA FILTH)

ESPERANZA (RUDEBEARD)

Indie rock from Glasgow.

Mon 07 Feb

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Sat 05 Feb

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Ska from Glasgow. THE KOOKS

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:30–23:00

EABHAL + THE FRIEL SISTERS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

KATHLEEN MACINNES + CYNEFIN + ANNAMARET

Trad from Glasgow.

MICHELLE

Rock from Newcastle.

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:30

Trad from Wales, Scotland and the Arctic. Part of Celtic Connections.

February 2022 — Listings

CAST

BLUE ROSE CODE (EVE GOODMAN) ST LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:30

Americana from Edinburgh. Part of Celtic Connections. JARROD DICKENSON CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:30

Country from Texas. Part of Celtic Connections. EOGHAN Ó CEANNABHÁIN + ULTAN OBRIEN (BRÌGHDE CHAIMBEUL)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 19:30–22:30

Folk from Ireland. Part of Celtic Connections. CONCHUR WHITE

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie from Ireland. Part of Celtic Connections.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

HEIDI TALBOT + DIRK POWELL (KIM CARNIE) MACKINTOSH CHURCH, 19:30–22:30

Folk pop from Scotland. Part of Celtic Connections. JAMIE WEBSTER

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Singer-songwriter from Liverpool. CALLUM EASTER

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Multi-instrumentalist from Edinburgh. RURA (N’FAMADY KOUYATE) THEATRE ROYAL, 19:30–22:30

Folk from Scotland and Guinea. Part of Celtic Connections. SIAN (MICHAEL MCGOLDRICK QUINTET)

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:30

Folk from the Islands. Part of Celtic Connections.

Indie rock from Brighton. SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Alt indie from the UK.

JAWS THE SHARK

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie from London. PIP BLOM

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Indie pop from Amsterdam.

Tue 08 Feb THE KOOKS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Brighton. CASSELS

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Alt rock from Oxford.

ALEXANDRA SAVIOR ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Singer-songwriter from Portland.

RADIOPHRENIA LIVETO-AIR: PAGARANI & MASIMOV/DUBCOMBE & WENBORG CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00–22:30

Multidisciplinary from Glasgow.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:30

Sat 12 Feb

ADULT DVD

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Synth pop from Leeds.

KING KING

Rock from Glasgow.

Wed 09 Feb

ALEX AMOR (LAVENDER LANE + DEV GREEN)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow. KEITH BUCKLEY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Hardcore rock from the US. MATT MALTESE

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

WOLF ALICE

BAD TOUCH (BASTETTE)

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Norfolk.

RADIOPHRENIA LIVETO-AIR: CRYS COLE & OREN AMBARCHI/ AMAYA

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

THE REYTONS

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Yorkshire. LILY MOORE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Soul from London.

Alt-rock from London.

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

Experimental line-up.

KIRSTEEN HARVEY (NICO EV + RAE LENA) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

MELANIE C

Thu 10 Feb

Pop from the UK.

Singer-songwriter from Glasgow. Part of First Footing.

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Wed 16 Feb

KNEECAP

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Indie pop from London.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

SARPA SALPA

SMOKE FAIRIES (SAMANA)

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Alt indie from Chichester.

VINE (THE SUMMITZ + UNDETERMINED + THE RAMPANTS) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie from Glasgow.

A YEAR OF O (PALMES ZIEDAS + GRAVELLE + HIGHSHIFTING)

Indie from Northampton. BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Hip-hop from Belfast.

RADIOPHRENIA LIVETO-AIR: ALICE KEMP/ BARROSO-LUQUE & WENNBORD/COS & WHITE

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–23:00

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

POUYA

FRAZI.ER

Experimental line-up.

Multi-genre line-up.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

THE OVO HYDRO, 17:30–22:30

RADIOPHRENIA LIVE-TO-AIR: DAVID TOOP/IRIDE PROJECT/ SUSANNAH STARK

LEAVING BORDEAUX (ST CLEMENTS + PAUL MULLEN + BEN WALKER)

Techno from Glasgow.

Rapper from the US.

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

Indie pop from Glasgow.

Electroacoustic line-up.

Fri 11 Feb

Sun 13 Feb MARC REBILLET

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

NOVA TWINS

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Punk rock from England. POSTER PAINTS

Electronic from Texas.

THE DANGEROUS SUMMER (HURTLESS + THE BRKN) KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Maryland.

Indie from Scotland.

JODIE NICHOLSON SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Prog rock from North England.

BOSTON MANOR

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Blackpool. AS SIRENS FALL

FOXES

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie pop from England. PARADISE LOST

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Goth metal from Halifax.

GOOD SAD HAPPY BAD (TARA CLERKIN TRIO) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie pop from England.

A CUT ABOVE X POP MUTATIONS

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Indie line-up.

BEACH BUNNY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Yorkshire. DEATHCRASH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

slowcore from London.

Mon 14 Feb WRABEL

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Electronic dance from the US.

THE LAST RESORT

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Punk from the UK.

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

WOLF ALICE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Chicago. SIMPLY RED

Alt-rock from London.

THE OVO HYDRO, 19:00–22:30

Tue 15 Feb

Pop from Manchester.

CRASHKID! (NEWS FEED + KYLE O)

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Falkirk.

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

— 50 —

DRY CLEANING

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

Post-punk from London. THEO BLEAK

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie pop from Dundee.

THE LATITUDE (MUTUAL DECISION + DEMO) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie rock from Wishaw.

THE VEGAN LEATHER STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Art pop from Paisley.

ONA SNOP (STIFF MEDS + GOBLIN KNIFE + PISS BATH + VEN)

Pop rock from the UK. WOLF ALICE

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Alt-rock from London.

Thu 17 Feb

BEARS IN TREES

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Indie pop from South London. COVET

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:30

Math rock from California. DEAD ROMANTIC

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Alt rock from Yorkshire. KIT SEBASTIAN

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie pop from London.

AUTHOR & PUNISHER STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Producer from the US.

THE DELINES (JERRY JOSEPH) ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Country soul from Portland. RADIOPHRENIA LIVETO-AIR: NWANDO ABIZIE & ETTTA FUSI/ VON CALHAU!/P6 CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00–22:30

Fastcore from Leeds.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

THIS FEELING: VANSLEEP + GLASS RASPBERRY + ROBIN ASHCROFT + RUVELLAS BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie line-up.

WOLFE TONES

TWELVE FOOT NINJA

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Heavy metal from Melbourne. HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Indie rock from California.

Wed 23 Feb CASSYETTE

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Rock from Essex.

THE ELEPHANT TREES NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Leeds

STAND ATLANTIC

Pop punk from Sydney.

SKYND

FEET

Rock from Sydney.

Britpop from Coventry.

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Buffalo.

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

SNAIL MAIL

MIMI WEBB

Indie rock from the US.

Singer-songwriter from the UK.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Thu 24 Feb

THE NIGHT CAFE

Pop from Liverpool.

SINEAD HARNETT

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from England. CONOR SCOTT

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie pop from Belfast. STARSET

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Rock from Ohio. NECK DEEP

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Pop punk from Wales.

SAD NIGHT DYNAMITE

Electronica from Somerset. ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Indie from Manchester. NORDIC GIANTS

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

Post-rock from England. AMARA (ARIANE MAMON + MASHU HARADA)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Mon 21 Feb

ST LUKE’S, 19:30– 22:30

Rapper from Watford.

Jazz from London.

LOS BITCHOS

Psychedelic pop from London.

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Glasgow. Part of First Footing.

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

KSI

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Trad from Ireland.

Tue 22 Feb

CORY WELLS

SONS OF KEMET

THE LATHUMS

Punk from Glasgow.

Indie from Scotland.

Sun 20 Feb

Fri 18 Feb KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Experimental line-up. VLURE

CRAIG PATERSON (JAMIE WELSH + NORTHERN HOLIDAY)

Rock from Leeds.

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Guitar from England.

Hard rock from Finland.

Psychedelia from Scotland.

VENUS GRRRLS (THE DRIVE + VELVETEEN RIOT)

Thrash metal from Huddersfield.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:30

DAVE HAUSE AND THE MERMAID

EVILE

LORDI

STEVEN YOUNG

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:30

WILKO JOHNSON (JOHN OTWAY)

CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:30

Sat 19 Feb

BEN OTTEWELL AND IAN BALL KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Rock from the UK.

BLOOD YOUTH (CANE HILL) THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Hardcore punk from Harrogate.

PUMA BLUE (LUCY LU + UMA) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:30

Multi-instrumentalist from London. GLASVEGAS

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Glasgow. JASON ALLAN

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Indie from Liverpool.

THE HOLLOWAYS

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Indie from London. NADA SURF

ST LUKE’S, 19:00– 22:30

Alt rock from the US.

CAPTAIN ACCIDENT THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Reggae from Cardiff.

Fri 25 Feb

DANKO (ST DUKES + BROGEAL) KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:30

Rock’n’roll from Falkirk. JOSEF SALVAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Australia. MYSTIC PEACH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Indie from the UK. BIG THIEF

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

Indie rock from New York. THE LUMINEERS THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:30

Folk rock from the US.

THE SKINNY

BLEACH LAB

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Indie from South London.

Sat 26 Feb DLÙ

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:30

Trad fusion from Glasgow. VC PINES

KING TUT’S, 20:30– 22:30

Soul from London. ALY & AJ

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:30

Pop from California. MELLA DEE

SWG3, 19:00–22:30

Producer from London. DEATH BELLS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

Post-punk from LA.

COLUMBIA (THE PHANTOM PROJECT + STEREO FIRE + RYAN PHILLIPS) BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

Rock from Liverpool.

RANDOLPH’S LEAP

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

Folk pop from Scotland.

Fri 04 Feb

HANLEY AND THE BAIRD

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Indie from Edinburgh.

Wed 16 Feb ADULT DVD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Synth pop from Leeds.

Electronica from the UK.

CAIRD HALL, 19:30– 22:30

Sat 05 Feb

THE LATHUMS

THE MEDINAS

BOB LOG III

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Punk blues from Arizona. DAISY CHUTE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Multi-instrumentalist from Scotland. CAST

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:30

Indie rock from Liverpool.

OZRIC TENTACLES

PAUL CARRACK

Psychedelic from the UK.

Soul from England.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:30–22:30

CHURCH, 18:30–22:30

VENUS GRRRLS (THE DRIVE + KONSI)

Rock from Leeds.

Rock from Scotland.

Indie from Manchester. SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

DRY CLEANING

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:30

Post-punk from London.

Sat 19 Feb

Metalcore from Tokyo. EXTC

STEREO, 19:00–22:30

MAISIE PETERS

EASY DAYS

Indie folk from Sussex. ERJA LYYTINEN

Singer-songwriter from Finland.

Thu 10 Feb

SEAN TAYLOR (LORNA REID + NEIL WARDEN) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–22:30

Blues Americana from Texas.

Indie pop from Glasgow. GERRY JABLONSKI AND THE ELECTRIC BAND THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:30

Blues from the UK. FEET + BULL

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Britpop from Coventry.

Thu 24 Feb

SONS OF LIBERTY

Political rock from Teesside.

Folk from York.

STEVE NORMAN AND THE SLEEVZ

Mon 28 Feb

ASTRID

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

CASEY LOWRY

KING TUT’S, 20:00– 22:30

Brunch pop from California. SET IT OFF

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:30–22:30

Fri 11 Feb

PAPER SPARROWS

Fri 25 Feb

Rock from the Isle of Lewis. ASSEMBLY ROXY, 19:30–23:00

BROADCAST, 19:00– 22:30

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:30–22:30

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN

Sat 12 Feb

Rock from Liverpool.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

BARROWLANDS, 19:00– 22:30

FIT TO WORK (DEATH BED + GAY PANIC DEFENCE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:30

Punk from Glasgow.

Edinburgh Music Wed 02 Feb

BEN POOLE + GUY SMEETS

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

LONELADY

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:30

Post-punk from Manchester.

VOODOOS

Indie from Glasgow.

GOODNIGHT LOUISA (FAUNA)

Dream pop from Edinburgh. AGNIESZKA CHYLINSKA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:30–22:30

Singer-songwriter from Poland. DICTATOR

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie pop from West Lothian.

Multi-instrumentalist from Edinburgh.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:30

Sun 13 Feb

SALIVA (PSYCHO VILLAGE + DEVILSBRIDGE)

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

Rock from Tennessee. TONY MACALPINE

Rock from the US.

Tue 15 Feb

THE LAST RESORT (BRASSKNUCKLE + HALF CHARGE + ROTTWEILER)

BANNERMANS, 18:00– 22:30

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best pop-punk, rock and hip-hop.

RAD APPLES, 19:30– 22:30

Cathouse's Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up. FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

Screamy, shouty, posthardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style.

Sat 12 Feb

NOSEBLEED (TERRORPINS + SMOKEY REAPER)

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. SUNDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) HELLBENT

From the fab fierce family that brought you Catty Pride comes Cathouse Rock Club’s new monthly alternative drag show. SUNDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH) FLASHBACK

Pop party anthems & classic cheese from DJ Nicola Walker. SUNDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) CHEERS FOR THIRD SUNDAY

DJ Kelmosh takes you through Mid-Southwestern emo, rock, new metal, nostalgia and 90s and 00s tunes.

Sun 13 Feb BAD TOUCH

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:30

Rock from Norfolk.

ROUND EARTH THEORY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5

Global party vibes.

RETURN TO MONO: SLAM & THAM

Mon 14 Feb THE LATHUMS

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

FAT SAM’S, 19:00– 22:30

Bass and synth.

Sat 12 Feb

Indie from Manchester.

PAUL WOOLFORD

Wed 16 Feb

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

THE LAST RESORT

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:30

Punk from the UK.

Electronica dance music.

PUSH IT: VALENTINE’S DAY STEREO, 23:00–03:00

R&B, hiphop & pop.

SOLVENT SYSTEM (KALOPSIA + KIEF + NERVE DAMAGE)

Glasgow Clubs

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5

Hard dance event.

Fri 18 Feb

Industrial techno.

FAST MUZIK (COY HIRN + DJ FLUFFIE + HEARTC0REGIRL + JOEY MOUSEPADS + NICCY BUZZ)

SWG3, 22:00–03:00

Rave, donk and hardcore.

BREATHE. (TALKLESS + JAMIE GUNN + ROBBIE BEN KEEGAN B2B FJ)

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Fri 04 Feb NICO MORENO

SWG3, 22:00–03:00

GOLDEN DAYS (LLUNA + SIMON D + RESIDENTS)

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £8

Genre-bending dance.

Edinburgh Clubs Thu 03 Feb

VOLENS CHORUS (CASEMENT) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Bass-heavy percussion from Glasgow.

Fri 04 Feb

MISS WORLD (NINA STANGER + MORAY LEISURE CENTRE) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Punk rock from England. SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

EXTC

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:30–22:30

Rock from Swindon.

Sun 27 Feb

THE GREIG TAYLOR BAND THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Singer-songwriter from the UK. MARTINA TOPLEY BIRD

SUMMERHALL, 19:00– 22:30

Multi-instrumentalist from London.

FRESH BEAT

I LOVE GARAGE

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. WEDNESDAYS

GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night.

SATURDAYS

Garage by name, but not by musical nature. DJ Darren Donnelly carousels through chart, dance and classics, the Desperados bar is filled with funk, G2 keeps things urban and the Attic gets all indie on you. SUNDAYS SESH

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Techno, house and disco.

TEK-NO PRISONERS (DEEP SPACE MILITIA + SIGGS + VRMVC) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £8

Rave fueled techno.

JAVA (BUTHOTHEWARRIOR + OPTIMISTIC SOUL)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

Afrobeats.

Sat 05 Feb

NAUTICA: HOUSE TALES (ELK (CURATED WAX)) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

House from Glasgow.

SURGE INVITES (JON KRIEGER + ERROR E) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5

Electronica.

Fri 11 Feb

DR NO’S MEETS VAVA-VOOM HI FI MONO, 21:00–03:00

Ska and rocksteady. ABBA DISCO WONDERLAND

JOHN LE DON B2B DJ SUZIA (HAMZAH)

Techno, disco and house.

BALKANARAMA: BAGHDADDIES

SUMMERHALL, 22:30– 03:00

Balkan, gypsy and klezemr. BACK TO THE 80S

Fri 25 Feb

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

Pop extravaganza.

OUT OF LEFT FIELD W/ SCRATCHA DVA (VAJ. POWER + CASUAL LOOK + MOTOR CITY DONK ENSEMBLE B2B BAWZ) STEREO, 23:00–03:00

UK funk.

ANIMAL FARM X MISSING PERSONS CLUB (SPFOAKS (SPFDJ B2B HECTOR OAKS))

Sat 26 Feb

Party and disco.

Eclectic sets all night.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

House and techno.

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

EHFM PRESENTS: NIKKI KENT & RAVELSTON

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00

FLEETMAC WOOD PRESENTS WILD HEART DISCO

SWG3, 23:00–03:00

Sat 19 Feb

ADSR III (MANU_ FACTURER + 3SBAT + KALOPSIA + L0CKBACK)

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

Industrial breaks, dark techno, and electro.

Punk from the UK.

STAND B-SIDE MY VALENTINES

TAIS-TOI PRESENTS: SHAMPAIN

House, disco and acid.

Techno and rave.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Fri 11 Feb

HOT MESS (SIMONOTRON) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

For queer people and their friends

Sat 12 Feb

MOXIE ALL NIGHT SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

OG NTS resident and revered club DJ.

CALIFORNIA LOVE LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

90s and noughties hip-hop and R&B.

Thu 17 Feb

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

FRIDAYS

#TAG TUESDAYS

TUESDAYS

Funk and house.

Techno and nu-house from Edinburgh.

ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangervs galore.

Noughties pop tunes.

Sat 26 Feb

Soul from London.

ELEMENT

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

BARE MONDAYS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Sat 05 Feb

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00

MONDAYS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

SO FETCH: 2000S PARTY

PEAK (VIGILE + FROLIC)

DON E

The Garage Glasgow

Wed 16 Feb

Electronica.

Old school rock from the UK.

Classic rock through the ages from DJ Nicola Walker.

Two DJs from the North.

STEREO, 23:00–03:00

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:30

SLIDE IT IN

THURSDAYS

Rock from Leeds.

ACRAZE

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR

SUNDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)

RAD APPLES, 19:30– 22:30

Producer from Essex.

Punk rock from England.

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

ROSS FROM FRIENDS

Rock’n;roll from Manchester.

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

CALLUM EASTER

Post-punk from South London.

SPANGLED

Mon 14 Feb

Folk from England.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

NOVA TWINS

Thu 03 Feb

THE TRIALS OF CATO

DEADLETTER

CATHOUSE WEDNESDAYS

SATURDAYS

Synth pop and 80s anthems.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Afrobeat, Arabic and dancehall.

Mon 07 Feb

HEAVY FLOW: THE RETURN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Disco, italo and house.

Thu 24 Feb CLUB SYLKIE: SHERELLE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

High-speed rave and 160BPM.

Fri 25 Feb

HOBBES MUSIC

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00

House and disco.

LIONOIL: FEENA & PANOOC (PERCY MAIN) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

UKG-revival.

Afrobeat, Arabic and dancehall.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Fri 18 Feb PURE HONEY PRESENTS: ALEKSANDIR

THE CAVES, 23:00– 03:00

British-Turkish electronica.

Sat 26 Feb

SAMEDIA SHEBEEN LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:00–03:00

Mon 28 Feb

TAIS-TOI & FRIENDS (AGORA + MACKENZIE + TECHNO TITS) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

TONTO TECHNO PRESENTS: NUSHA

Techno, breaks and acid.

Techno and rave.

Dundee Clubs

THE LIQUID ROOM, 23:00–03:00

ATHENS OF THE NORTH (SAM DON + EUAN FRYER)

Techno from Bristol.

Reggae tunes.

Dance-floor vinyl.

REGGAETON PARTY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Thu 10 Feb

Sat 19 Feb

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

ZERO CHILL

DECADE CLUB NIGHT: NECK DEEP AFTER PARTY

DUSKY ALL NIGHT LONG (DUSKY)

HEYDAY + PROSUMER + JOE DELON

Deep house electronica.

Queer house.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00

Pop punk and emo.

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CHAOS IN THE COSMOS RESIDENT’S TAKEOVER (JODIE MOONEY + CHEGGY + MERCER + REYKA)

Top EHFM fixtures.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00

Disco, house and funk.

Mon 21 Feb

DR BANANA PRESENTS: SNEAKY PETE’S CLUB (DR BANANA + AIDAN)

HEADSET 7TH BIRTHDAY (BATU + YUSHH + CANDO + SKILLIS)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:30–03:00

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00

Sat 12 Feb

SWIFTOGEDDON - THE TAYLOR SWIFT CLUB NIGHT CHURCH, 23:00–03:00

Non-stop pop.

Sat 26 Feb

EXPERIENCE HOUSE PRESENTS JON MANCINI

CHURCH, 22:00–03:00

House and techno.

February 2022 — Listings

Acoustic blues from the UK.

Indie rock from Yorkshire.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:30–22:30

Multi-instrumentalist from Spandau Ballet.

Rock from Florida.

Jangle pop from Toronto.

Hard rock from South England.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:30

Folk-Americana from Edinburgh.

DUCKS LTD

FAT SAM’S, 19:00– 22:30

Psych rock from Bristol.

BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH

BENEFITS

THE REYTONS

Rock from the American South.

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

Rock from Swindon.

Fri 11 Feb

Rock rom Bradford-onAvon.

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

WEDNESDAYS

UNHOLY

JESUS JONES

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

Cathouse

THURSDAYS

YO NO SE (INDICA + PORTABLE HEADS)

Sun 27 Feb

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

RAD APPLES, 19:30– 22:30

DESERT STORM (BATTALIONS)

Sun 06 Feb

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

CRYSTAL LAKE

Indie rock from Dundee. PAPER RIFLES (SLOWLIGHT + DOG EARED)

Tue 22 Feb

Reggae from Jamaica.

SUBCULTURE

BANNERMANS, 19:30– 22:30

SUMMERHALL, 19:30– 22:30

Wed 09 Feb

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:30

SATURDAYS

Sat 05 Feb

ROOM 2, 19:00–22:30

THE WAILERS

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft' joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

Sub Club

Fri 18 Feb

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00

Indie rock from Scotland.

Regular Glasgow club nights

KOSHEEN

THE CAVES, 19:00– 22:30

VERCES (THE FRONTIERS + OCEAN VIEWS)

Dundee Music

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Comedy The Glee Club

JAMALI MADDIX: KING CRUD 7 FEB, 7:OOPM 10:OOPM

Taskmaster legend takes his new show on the road. SUKH OJLA: LIFE SUKHS

13 FEB, 6:30PM - 9PM

A searingly funny look at mental health and identity. LADY BUNNY: UNMASKED AND UNFILTERED

10 FEB, 7:30PM – 9:20PM

A full-length cabaret experience.

The OVO Hydro JOHN BISHOP

19 FEB, 7:00PM – 10:30PM

Comedy superstar from Liverpool.

The Stand Glasgow

MARK THOMAS: 50 THINGS ABOUT US 12 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

Mark Thomas combines his trademark mix of storytelling, standup, mischief in his new show. MARC JENNINGS: HERE, BUT

2-3 FEB, TIMES VARY

Join rising Scottish comedy star Marc Jennings for a brand new show following his sold-out debut at the Edinburgh Festival.

ALFIE BROWN: SENSITIVE MAN

8-9 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

In his brand new show, Alfie Brown addresses ideas of sensitivity and masculinity with his signature wit. RACHEL FAIRBURN: MANIAC 9 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

A stand-up special exploring the hilarious madness within us all. JAMIE MACDONALD: REASONABLY ADJUSTED (WIP) 10 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

A blend of blindingly funny jokes and the usual 2022 personal struggle. MATT CHORLEY: WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? 14 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

The award-winning Times columnist and Times Radio presenter is back with an hilarious new show exploring who really calls the shots. LUKE KEMPNER: MACHO MACHO MAN 20 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

Luke Kempner brings his highly anticipated brandnew show, Macho Macho Man on the road. TWO MR P’S IN A PODCAST - LIVE

GLENN WOOL: THE TINY KINGS OF WINTER

Royal Lyceum Theatre

An hour of unsettling stories about settling down.

13 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

23 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

AHIR SHAH: DRESS 27 FEB, 7:30PM 10:10PM

Double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Ahir Shah returns to stand-up with a new show about significance, insignificance, and scurvy. KIRI PRITCHARDMCLEAN: HOME TRUTHS

28 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

Kiri Pritchard-McLean looks back on the last two years with a wry eye.

Edinburgh Comedy Festival Theatre

JIMEOIN: TURN IT UP 13 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Sharp stand-up from one of Ireland’s foremost comedians. ROSS NOBLE: HUMOURNOID

27 FEB, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

British mainstay comedian by way of Melbourne.

22 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

NISH KUMAR: YOUR POWER YOUR CONTROL

The host of The Mash Report takes a wry look at COVID and British politics.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

ED GAMBLE: ELECTRIC 20 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Taskmaster champion takes to the stage.

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club ALFIE BROWN: SENSITIVE MAN

In his brand new show, Alfie Brown addresses ideas of sensitivity and masculinity with his signature wit. JAMALI MADDIX: KING CRUD 6 JAN, 8:30PM 10:10PM

TUESDAYS

MIDNIGHT BASS

Big basslines and small prices form the ethos behind this weekly Tuesday night, with drum'n'bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage aplenty.

FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH) ELECTRIKAL

Sound system and crew, part of a music and art collective specialising in BASS music. FRIDAYS (MONTHLY, WEEK CHANGES) SOUND SYSTEM LEGACIES

Exploring the legacy of dub, reggae and roots music and sound system culture in the contemporary club landscape. FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)

February 2022 — Listings

DISCO MAKOSSA

Disco Makossa takes the dancefloor on a funk-filled trip through the sounds of African disco, boogie and house – strictly for the dancers. FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH) OVERGROUND

Offering a new breed of lofi, raw house and techno. FRIDAYS (FIRST OR LAST OF THE MONTH) HEADSET

Skillis and guests playing garage, techno, house and bass downstairs, with old school hip hop upstairs.

SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH) MESSENGER

Roots reggae rocking since 1987 – foundation tune, fresh dubs, vibes alive, rockers, steppers, rub-a-dub.

SATURDAYS (MONTHLY) MUMBO JUMBO

Everything from disco, funk and soul to electro and house: Saturday night party music all night long. SATURDAYS (MONTHLY)

SOULSVILLE INTERNATIONAL

International soulful sounds.

SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH) PULSE

Techno night started in 2009 hosting regular special guests from the international scene.

Sneaky Pete’s 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 resident C-Shaman presents a month of ambiguous local showdowns, purveying the multifarious mischief that characterises Sneaky’s midweek party haven. SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) SOUL JAM

Monthly no holds barred, down and dirty bikram disco. SUNDAYS POSTAL

Multi-genre beats every Sunday at Sneaky Pete's, showcasing the very best of local talent with some extra special guests.

The Stand Glasgow

The Queen’s Hall

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.

MILTON JONES IN MILTON: IMPOSSIBLE 17 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:30PM

The Stand Edinburgh

MARK THOMAS: 50 THINGS ABOUT US

Mark Thomas combines his trademark mix of storytelling, standup, mischief in his new show. MATT CHORLEY: WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? 13 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

A searingly funny look at mental health and identity.

The award-winning Times columnist and Times Radio presenter is back with an hilarious new show exploring who really calls the shots.

The Edinburgh Playhouse

20 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

Taskmaster legend takes his new show on the road.

SUKH OJLA: LIFE SUKHS 13-13 FEB, TIMES VARY

JASON MANFORD: LIKE ME

An evening of observational comedy from 8 Out of 10 Cats alum.

LUKE KEMPNER: MACHO MACHO MAN

Luke Kempner brings his highly anticipated brandnew show, Macho Macho Man on the road. GLENN WOOL: THE TINY KINGS OF WINTER

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 noveltystuffed. 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.

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.

Double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Ahir Shah returns to stand-up with a new show about significance, insignificance, and scurvy. KIRI PRITCHARDMCLEAN: HOME TRUTHS

27 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

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

Glasgow Theatre

SLIC

Oran Mor

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.

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30

The big weekend show with four comedians.

THE GHOSTING OF RABBIE BURNS

13-14 FEB, TIMES VARY

A hit comedy about love, life, and Scotland’s premiere poet. OSCAR

14-19 FEB, 1:00PM – 2:00PM

After a tragedy, a composer moves to a Scottish island to grieve and finish his work, where a blossoming new friendship turns into a musical. THE TICKET MEISTER 21-26 FEB, 1:00PM – 2:00PM

A man with an eye for the lost souls of the streets comes to believe he is being stalked by a looming nemesis.

The King’s Theatre THE OSMONDS

15-19 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A new musical telling the story of the Osmond brothers. THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW 31 JAN-5 FEB, TIMES VARY

It’s time to go to Transylvannia in this thrillingly lascivious musical.

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SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 21:00

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

Monkey Barrel Comedy Club

FRIDAYS

RED RAW, 20:30

TOP BANANA, 19:00

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

MONDAYS

Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts. FRIDAYS

THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians. SATURDAYS

THE SATURDAY SHOW, 21:00

The big weekend show with four comedians.

WEDNESDAYS

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.

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

SATURDAYS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY'S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 19:00

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

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

Monkey Barrel's flagship night of premier stand-up comedy. MATTHEW BOURNE’S THE NUTCRACKER 22-26 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Theatre Royal

WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS

26 FEB, 3:20 - 6:00PM

Kiri Pritchard-McLean looks back on the last two years with a wry eye.

RED RAW, 20:30

An hour of unsettling stories about settling down. AHIR SHAH: DRESS

Subway Cowgate

TUESDAYS

A distinctive take on the traditional ballet, inspired by the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.

22 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

The Liquid Room

Regular Glasgow comedy nights

Twice BAFTA-nominated comedian turns a sharp observational eye to the chaotic world.

17 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

9 FEB, 8:30PM – 10:30PM

Regular Edinburgh club nights The Bongo Club

28 FEB, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

Nonsensical jokes from the Mock the Week star.

20 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A live podcast recording of the weird, wonderful, and plain bizarre world of primary schools.

JOSH WIDDICOMBE: BIT MUCH!

SCOTTISH OPERA: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM 22-24 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A magical staging of Benjamin Britten’s take on the Shakespeare classic. GO DANCE

1-4 FEB, TIMES VARY

A diverse programme of community dance projects.

Tron Theatre MOORCROFT

17 FEB-5 MAR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A blistering, forceful examination of working class masculinity.

Edinburgh Theatre Festival Theatre

SHORT AND SWEET 3 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Seven short works of physical theatre and puppetry. Part of Manipulate Festival. RAMBERT: AISHA AND ABHAYA 10-12 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

A dynamic dance piece incorporating fierce, pulsating choreography with a cinematic fantasy tone. BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS

16-20 FEB, TIMES VARY

Magical musical based upon the classic film. BURN THE FLOOR 26 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

World-leading ballroom show from some of the best on the dance floor. NORTHERN BALLET’S PINOCCHIO 27 FEB, TIMES VARY

A balletic adaptation of Pinocchio aimed at children.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

ANIMATED WOMXN: AARONIMATION

21-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

Experimental animated shorts by legendary American artist Jane Aaron. Part of Manipulate Festival.

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

It’s time to go to Transylvannia in this thrillingly lascivious musical. THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WADROBE 8-12 FEB, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

The classic Narnia story is brought to magical life. THE DRESSER

15-19 FEB, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Julian Clary and Matthew Kelly star in this warm love letter to backstage life.

Leith Theatre

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE 25-27 FEB, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Set in Edinburgh and directed by Hope Dickson Leach, this electric adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel will also be broadcast in cinemas across the UK after its live staging.

5 FEB, 12:00AM

ANIMATED WOMXN: INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 5 FEB, 12:00AM

A selection of some of the most lauded shorts from this year’s festival circuits. Part of Manipulate Festival. MY FAVOURITE WAR 5 FEB, 12:00AM

A screening of animated Latvian documentary My Favourite War. Part of Manipulate Festival.

The Edinburgh Playhouse BAT OUT OF HELL

8-19 FEB, TIMES VARY

A heavy rock musical featuring songs from Meatloaf’s extensive back catalogue.

The Studio (LE) PAIN

4 FEB, 8:00PM – 10:00PM

Royal Lyceum Theatre

Circus, dance, folklore, and baking come together in this unique performance. Part of Manipulate Festival.

25 FEB-19 MAR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM

Usher Hall

THE SCENT OF ROSES

A dark, funny take on marriage and authenticity from Scottish theatre powerhouse Zinnie Harris.

SASHA VELOUR

Summerhall

Dundee Theatre

DINNER WITH PLUTOT VIE 4 FEB, 6PM

A dinner and cabaret show featuring song, spoken word, and magic. Part of Manipulate Festival. ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS

5 FEB, 12:00AM

A series of unmissable short films programmed with Edinburgh Short Film Festival. Part of Manipulate Festival.

10 FEB, 8:00PM – 10:30PM

One-queen theatre from the beloved drag queen.

Dundee Rep

THE LIFE AND TIMES

11-12 FEB, 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Scottish Dance Theatre’s acclaimed, Baroque exploration of creativity comes to the physical stage for the first time.

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Art

Edinburgh Art

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

&Gallery

AILBHE NÍ BHRIAIN: AN EXPERIMENT WITH TIME 4 FEB-19 MAR, TIMES VARY

Combining film, tapestry, print and installation, this exhibition explores disorienting, environmental experiences of time.

Compass Gallery

SANDRA COLLINS: SHOW ME EVERYTHING

26 FEB-31 MAR, TIMES VARY

Surreal paintings interrogating the relationship between reality, dreams and myth.

Glasgow Women’s Library

JOAN EARDLEY: A CENTENARY OF LIVES AND LANDSCAPES

1-12 FEB, TIMES VARY,

Exhibition of five paintings celebrating the birth of renowned Scottish artist Joan Eardley.

CONSCIOUSLY RISING 1-5 FEB, TIMES VARY,

A series of print works created under lockdown and probing the intersection between the personal and political.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum FRANCE-LISE MCGURN: ALOUD

1 FEB-1 JUN, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

France-Lise McGurn’s newly commissioned installation draws on her personal experiences of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, creating bewitching, almost sculptural forms that fill the museum’s gallery.

South Block HARRIET SELKA: BONES

1-8 FEB, 9:00AM – 5:00PM

An autobiographical exhibition exploring experiences of illness and bodily fragility.

Tramway

KHVAY SAMNANG: CALLING FOR RAIN

1 FEB-6 MAR, TIMES VARY

Multimedia exhibition by Cambodian artist drawing on folklore to explore our relationship with the Earth. AMARTEY GOLDING: BRING ME TO HEAL

1-27 FEB, TIMES VARY

5 FEB-2 MAR, TIMES VARY

Dreamy snowscapes are given a sharp, graphic edge that reforms ideas of landscape painting.

Summerhall

13-20 FEB, 12:00PM – 6:00PM

1 FEB-20 MAR, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

EDEN DODD: LOVE 2 LOVE - SEVERANCE

A solo exhibition exploring ideas of duality, reflection and double through the lens of queerness.

Fruitmarket

City Art Centre

JYLL BRADLEY: PARDES

1 FEB-20 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of sculptures paying homage to Fruitmarket’s industrial and agricultural past.

REFLECTIONS: THE LIGHT AND LIFE OF JOHN HENRY LORIMER (1856-1936)

The first retrospective of Fife painter’s work.

TAPESTRY: CHANGING CONCEPTS 1 FEB-13 MAR, TIMES VARY

Group exhibition of 19 contemporary artists associated with the former Tapestry Department at Edinburgh College of Art.

Collective Gallery

JOEY SIMONS: THE FEARFUL PART OF IT WAS THE ABSENCE

1 FEB-13 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A multimedia exhibition of poetry, drawing and audio exploring the role of rioting in Glasgow.

CAULEEN SMITH: H-EL-L-O 1 FEB-1 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Through installation and video, this exhibition draws on musical motifs from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to imagine sites of greeting and healing in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Dovecot Studios

KURT JACKSON: MERMAID’S TEARS

1-5 FEB, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A series of paintings exploring the devastating effect of plastic pollution in the oceans. THE ART OF WALLPAPER: MORRIS & CO.

1 FEB-11 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

The legacy of the great Victorian designer comes alive in this collection of over 130 pieces of his archived work.

Edinburgh Printmakers

MOHAMMAD BARRANGI: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

1 FEB-27 MAR, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

An exhibition of prints by Iranian artist Mohammad Barrangi drawing on ancient Persian storytelling. LEENA NAMMARI + LOUISE RITCHIE: PRESENCE OF ABSENCE

1 FEB-27 MAR, 11:00AM – 4:00PM

A two-person exhibition exploring the interplay between the practices of Leena Nammari and Louise Ritchie, as artists, peers and collaborators.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

FERONIA WENNBORG: AIR LEAKING THROUGH

1 FEB-12 MAR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

A polyvocal sound installation, reimagining the Beacon Tower as a portal between public, domestic and imaginary space, a site for listening and drifting.

1 FEB-18 APR, 10:00AM – 7:00PM

HOWARDENA PINDELL: A NEW LANGUAGE

1 FEB-2 MAY, 10:00AM – 7:00PM

Multimedia exhibition spanning the artist’s decades-long career and her anti-racism activism.

Ingleby Gallery

JAMES SINFIELD + RADOSLAW LIWEN: REMOTE CONTROL

A collaborative exhibition emerging from the artists’ conversations in their shared studio space during the pandemic. DAVID WILLIAMS: ONE TASTE: (N)EVERCHANGING

1 FEB-20 MAR, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Three extracts taken from photographer David Williams’ Kyoto-based series exploring ideas of time and space in Japanese culture.

ABIGAIL SIMMONDS: SPACE BECOMES TIME

1 FEB-20 MAR, 12:00PM – 5:30PM

Strange glittery objects play with ideas of space and time, daringly confronting the viewer with themselves.

JAMES HUGONIN: COFFEE & BLOODY MARYS

Talbot Rice Gallery

Tiny blocks of colour shimmer in this new painting series by James Hugonin, exploring the relationships we create between different adjacent objects and shades.

1-19 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

2 FEB-26 MAR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Open Eye Gallery

ANGELICA MESITI: IN THE ROUND

One of Australia’s leading artists explores how performance can be used as a mode of social and political storytelling, examining ideas of colonialism and environmental collapse through dance and sound.

The Scottish Gallery

Black and white photography and poetry celebrating the city of Edinburgh.

Five recent graduates from jewellery making and silversmithing courses in Scotland showcase the cutting edge of Scottish design.

CITY IN CONTRAST

1-5 FEB, TIMES VARY

A mixed exhibition of largescale paintings act as a love letter to Edinburgh. JAMES FAIRGRIEVE: JOURNEY - A RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION

12 FEB-5 MAR, TIMES VARY

An exhibition celebrating acclaimed artist James Fairgrieve’s 40 year career.

CLASS OF 2021

3-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

CHARLES SIMPSON: HOME & AWAY

3-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

Landscape paintings drawing on the changing landscape of the Highlands and Borders. DAVID MCCLURE: A SICILIAN STORY

3-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

Royal Scottish Academy RSA

A series of paintings inspired by the artist’s life in Sicily during the 1950s and 60s.

1-13 FEB, TIMES VARY

3-26 FEB, TIMES VARY

IRON: TRANSLATING TERRITORIES

IMPRESSIONS IN STONE

Seven artists examine iron’s creative and material possibilities.

Five contemporary sculptors specialising in letter crafting employ delicate craftsmanship and natural materials.

AWARDS 20

1-6 FEB, TIMES VARY

An exhibition of work from the 2020 RSA Award winners.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

RAY HARRYHAUSEN: TITAN OF CINEMA 1-20 FEB, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £5 - £14

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition brings together the life work of a giant of cinematic history and the grandfather of modern special effects, showcasing some of his most iconic designs and achievements.

Cooper Gallery SIT-IN #2: TO BE POTENTIAL

1-19 FEB, TIMES VARY

This dynamic exhibition by The Ignorant Art School interrogates the institutionalisation of knowledge by examining how artistic practice can challenge, resist, and demand liberation.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts TAKO TAAL: AT THE SHORE, EVERYTHING TOUCHES 1 FEB-20 MAR, TIMES VARY, TBC

Glasgow-based artist brings together film, collage, and painting to explore Black subjectivities. RAE-YEN SONG

1 FEB-20 MAR, TIMES VARY, TBC

GORDON HUNTER + DON LEDINGHAM: EDINBURGH REVISITED

1-5 FEB, TIMES VARY

Dundee Art

Torrance Gallery

Multimedia exhibition creating an immersive space to explore ideas of self-mythologisation and identity.

The McManus

A LOVE LETTER TO DUNDEE: JOSEPH MCKENZIE PHOTOGRAPHS 19641987

1 FEB-1 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Turning to black and white photography from the 1960s-1980s, this exhibition charts the changing landscape of Dundee’s waterfront and the evolution of the City’s fortunes and its people. THE STREET AT THE MCMANUS

1 FEB-22 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Immersive exhibition looking at Dundee’s historical architecture.

V&A Dundee MICHAEL CLARK: COSMIC DANCER

26 FEB-4 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A groundbreaking exhibition exploring the life and works of acclaimed Scottish choreographer and dancer Michael Clark. YINKA ILORI: LISTENING TO JOY

3 FEB-24 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

A vibrant and interactive artistic playspace for young and old alike. DESIGN FOR OUR TIMES

FEE DICKSON

1-5 FEB, 11:00AM – 5:30PM

Large-scale paintings inspired by the Scottish landscape.

NICOLA MCBRIDE + DEBORAH PHILLIPS

3 FEB-13 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Using materiality to explore how design can offer sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.

12-26 FEB, 11:00AM – 5:30PM

Two distinctive Scottish artists working in genrebending mixed media.

Stills

FUTUREPROOF 2021 1-5 FEB, 12:00PM – 5:00PM

A cutting edge exhibition of 12 graduates from across Scotland’s photography or fine art degree courses.

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Edinburgh Venues SHRIMPWRECK 47-49 FIGGATE LANE, EH15 1HJ

There’s something fishy going on in Portobello, and street food enthusiasts might already have clocked Shrimpwreck’s presence. Their seafood stalls have been creating quite a wave across Scotland’s foodie ports, from Edinburgh’s The Pitt to Glasgow’s TRNSMT. Having bagged themselves the People’s Choice award at the Scottish Street Food Awards, they’ve now secured a permanent home on the Porty prom. The salty setting provides the perfect backdrop for their nautical fare, which includes treasures like crab mac ‘n’ cheese, crispy Sichuan and ginger squid, the all-important fish finger sarnie and a chowder that wouldn’t be out of place in San Francisco bay. EL CARTEL ROXBURGH’S COURT 1 ROXBURGH’S COURT, EH1 1LW

Mexican street food restaurants, El Cartel, have already proved a firm favourite with Edinburgh diners, occupying spots on Thistle Street and Teviot Place. The Skinny’s readers have also shared their love for the chain, where they regularly topped our annual food and drink surveys. Now, they’ve added a third joint to their arsenal, primely placed on Roxburgh’s Court (just off the Royal Mile). If first impressions are anything to go by, we’re pretty sure they’ve a hat trick on their hands. Their newest joint offers up delicious hand-pressed tacos and antojitos (“little cravings”) in a vibrant setting, with exposed brick walls competing for attention against colourful talavera tiles. There’s also a tequila selection that’ll put hairs in all sorts of unwanted places. Prices are reasonable, the food is well prepared and plentiful and the atmosphere is friendly. We’ve no doubt that El Cartel’s latest feeding hole will stick its head well above the crowds in Edinburgh’s Old Town. TANTRA 15 CASTLE ST, EH2 3AH

Team Tantra are on a mission to revolutionise the way we think about Indian dining. They argue that for too long, perceptions of Indian food have always come back to two things: curry and tradition. Their Castle Street venture hopes to break down those old tropes, with a small but essential addition of whimsy. Their progressive menu is stuffed to the gunnels with fun: Scottish mussels, tucked inside edible gold bags? Sizzling tantric mixed grills? Deconstructed desserts? Whatever the dish, diners are promised a multisensory experience where appearance, texture, flavour and aroma all take centre stage. The traditional Indian influences are all there, but the innovation reigns supreme. Oh, and did we mention they’ve a killer cocktail menu too? NQ64 25 LOTHIAN ROAD, EH1 2DJ

It’s safe to say that NQ64 didn’t exactly make a quiet entrance when it burst onto Lothian Road in August 2021. In fact, the word ‘quiet’ seems altogether out of place when describing this retro arcade-themed watering hole. From the moment you step inside, you’d be forgiven for wondering if you’d fallen through the inner workings of a kaleidoscope and wound up back in 1989. The neon-splattered walls. The UV lights. The chiming of the vintage consoles, ringing through the air. Yup, NQ64 is a nostalgia-fest and gamer’s delight, all rolled into one. Even the drinks come inspired by arcadia, with legendary characters like Princess Peach, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man all making cameos on the cocktail list. Of course, you could always play it safe with one of their craft beers. Either way, the buzz is well and truly on. BABYFACED BAKER 341 LEITH WALK, EH6 8SD

While many of us struck up new and quickly-forgotten pursuits during lockdown (banana bread, anyone?) Edinburgh-based baker Rhiain Gordon wisely turned to fond memories of baking with her gran. What started as a sanity-maintaining recipe blog quickly took off across social media. Soon, her Insta-friendly cakes were being stocked in venues across the capital including stalwarts of the cafe biz Cairngorm Coffee and The Pantry. Quite rightly, she’s bagged herself her own shop on Leith Walk, nicely placed and kitted out too. With a signature list that already includes mocha buns, Biscoff millionaire’s shortbread and handlaminated cruffins (think croissant/muffin), the only trouble we can foresee is those shelves running dry before we’ve had the chance to hot-foot it down the Walk.

February 2022 — Listings

Filmmaking, photography and textile exhibition exploring generational trauma and healing in Britain.

ANDREW MACKENZIE

Embassy Gallery

THE SKINNY

The Skinny On...

The Skinny On... Craig Angus With their third album Golden Mountain, Here I Come due this month on Lost Map, Savage Mansion frontman Craig Angus takes on this month’s Q&A

What’s your favourite place to visit? One of the last things we did before lockdown was play Monkey Week festival in Seville. One of the best times of my life, that weekend. I love Glasgow but the older I get, the more I find the cold and darkness depressing. What’s your favourite colour? No favourites. I wear a lot of black but that’s not a colour is it? And I wouldn’t paint the gaff black. Who was your hero growing up? I had family members I looked up to – that’s probably the closest thing. Whose work inspires you now? Over the last few years I’ve been impressed by how much great stuff Tim Heidecker is involved in – in particular, the On Cinema universe is genius.

What book would you read if you had to self-isolate? Monument Maker. I love David Keenan’s work and his last three books were excellent... I’ll probably try and read it on tour when I’m not driving, but it’s an absolute tome – so no promises. Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

What’s your favourite meal to cook at home? For a special occasion we’re having tacos with a few ice-cold beers and tequila cocktails. Day to day I make a lot of chilli, because it’s easy, delicious, nutritious and leaves little in the way of dishes. Or curry. I love my grub.

to create. With the new Savage Mansion record it was less about personal experience and more about something imagined, so it was easy to view the act of making as an escape. I’ve been enjoying balancing a few creative projects without being that arsed whether it ‘does well’. I worked on some solo music and started a new band with Martha Ffion and former members of Secret Motorbikes and Catholic Action. Beyond that I tried to read a lot, the extended band family started a weekly film club, and I got really obsessed with Red Dead Redemption 2 for a while. I’d sometimes load it up just to have a virtual bath, a few beers down the saloon, maybe start a bit of trouble. Don’t get me wrong, it was a bad time. I had a few meltdowns, I was depressed for a long stretch and had to get help.

February 2022 — Chat

What three people would you invite to a dinner party? Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Kenny Dalglish.

Who’s the worst? Flag-shagging grifters of any kind, let’s not waste words or energy on them. When did you last cry? When Beldina [Heir of the Cursed] died. She’s such a big loss. What are you most scared of? I’m constantly afraid of bad things happening to people I love. When did you last vomit? Johnny Lynch [Pictish Trail] invited us over to Eigg for his 40th and I kicked the arse out of it for a few days... Along the way I was sick in about a dozen different locations, each more picturesque than the last. Tell us a secret? Last week we had to bin some soup because I started heating it up a couple of hours after shaving, didn’t change my jumper, got loads of wee bits of hair in it. Which celebrity could you take in a fight? Surely we’re above violence, The Skinny? Piers Morgan would be a funny guy to batter though, and I would. If you could be reincarnated as an animal which animal would it be? The spectacled bear – real wise-looking but not about to be fucked with.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? A few years ago we were trying to get into The Double [but it was] sold out. We got tickets for Noah instead... We lasted 20 minutes, maybe less. Harsh, but the only film I’ve ever walked out of.

Who would your fantasy festival line-up include? In the interest of brevity let’s just say it would be cool to have peak Talking Heads topping the bill at the festival of Savage Mansion.

What’s your favourite album? I don’t have one... Maybe the album that’s had the most profound effect on me is Wowee Zowee by Pavement. I bought that on a day trip to Glasgow when I was 15 and listened to it the whole bus journey home, wide-eyed, amazed.

If you could collaborate with anybody who would it be? I loved Licorice Pizza, so fresh from that joyous experience, I’d like Paul Thomas Anderson to do a music video for the lead single from our next record.

What are you listening to right now? Andrew [Macpherson, guitar] has put me onto Sly and The Family Stone’s Fresh. It’s amazing, so tight and so loose. I loved Summer of Soul and I’ve been on a big Sly and Nina Simone kick since watching it.

Golden Mountain, Here I Come is released on 25 Feb via Lost Map Records Savage Mansion tour the UK in support of Pictish Trail this spring with dates including Summerhall, Edinburgh, 7 Apr; Beat Generator Live!, Dundee, 8 Apr; The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, 9 Apr; The Tolbooth, Stirling, 10 Apr

How have you stayed inspired since the beginning of the pandemic? Quite easily, and I feel lucky to say that because I know people with way more talent who struggled

Savage Mansion

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savagemansion.bandcamp.com

THE SKINNY

October 2020

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February 2022 — Chat

The Skinny On...

THE SKINNY

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The Skinny February 2022

Articles inside

To celebrate Lunar New Year

Local Heroes meets Glasgow based jewellery and homeware

Ahir Shah chats about how his new show, Dress, rehearses for a new normal.

We consider Sean Thor

Los Bitchos on their debut album and their Scottish connections.

Yewande Adeniran, aka Ifeoluwa, on their Intervention DJ workshop series touring the UK.

We meet Tako Taal to learn more about her expansive DCA solo exhibition, At the shore, everything touches.

Ben Corrigan introduces the collection of music created as part of his Excuse

Honor Swinton Byrne on re

We take a closer look at the New

We pick out ten films to watch at