This was very much a last minute decision to attend. I read that the gig was the first in promotion of their debut album Only Fear Dies and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect with it being part of Celtic Connections.

They are described as being non genre, classed as folk, indie or rock depending on where I read.

They were playing at Broadcast which is a small basement venue but set up well to host an intimate gig.

They kicked off with Emerald City which made them even more genre defying, some great guitars and a very folk underlay but topped with a more rock vibe, a great start to the night immediately gripping the crowd.

Each song they played seemed to get better and better, they are a very accomplished set of musicians, bouncing riffs and harmonies off each other to great effect.

The band are very relaxed sharing banter between songs with each other and the audience, good to see such confidence.

We nearly had a slight hiccup when John almost forgot to invite their guest violinist on stage to play on the last few songs of their set !!!

The set was played with a huge raw energy, almost a contradiction to some of the lyrical subjects of love and death, the band complementing each other perfectly.

My personal favourites were Mayans a really tuneful number with some great drumming and lyrics, Forest in My Mind, which clearly brought through their folk roots in The Highlands and their final tune Kings of Nowhere was a perfect crowd raising finale to a great set.

They are a band who deliver great tunes, with a passionate live performance and this was definitely a perfect way to launch an album which is certainly going to become well played in my household.

Setlist

1. Emerald City

2. Mayans

3. It Calls

4. False Fear

5. How Can We Pretend?

6. Home

7. Forest In My Mind

8. I’ll Wait

9. Kings of Nowhere

Check the lads out by clicking the link below:

https://youtu.be/uJQf35yQWbQ