There’s a thing about pointing a gun at someone. You’ve got be serious about it because, if you aren’t, you are going to have to shoot someone just to prove you’re not a wimp. Death disco even if you’re not dancing, musically speaking.
Turn it round and you have a Glasgow singer songwriter like Adam Naylor. You can’t argue with his earnestness but where was his ukulele? Here was a perfectly decent chap who hadn’t figured out that the earth wasn’t flat. Abandon the guitar young man and get your hands on a ukulele (or a mandolin) and pitch those songs higher up the scale.
Running flat wasn’t going to happen to Angus Munro (escaping tonight from The Dirty Demographic with only a keyboard and a bow tie to keep the cold out). Spinning his musical yarn with the poise that you would expect of a man thoroughly trained in the ways of such things, Mr Munro showed that it is all in the breeding. After all, you can’t really do a song called “Porn” without humour and the balance that comes with confidence and practice and yet still manage to avoid pigeonholing. I think the actual word I am looking for is clever. Angus Munro was indeed that.
Rougher, rawer and even more charming were Fireside Kicks. Compared to the solo artistes, Fireside Kicks were the seventh cavalry only this time they weren’t fighting the Apache. Instead they went for the musical equivalent of diplomacy and negotiated the kind of settlement with the audience that would have made Henry Kissinger proud. Starving a song of harmonies might not seem a logical choice but when you have the aural intoxication of Leanne’s vocals on your side then it hard to avoid a victory march. As if to balance that delicate tonal precision, a hint of devilment sneakily peeked through too. Always remember that first prize is a Cadillac and second prize is a set of steak knives so take your chances when you get them.
Time for a fried food ending to the night but even chicken pakora won’t protect me from a second hand car salesman and a red wine powered woman from the posh part of Airdrie. There is a posh part to Airdrie apparently although I doubt that your sat-nav will take you there.