Just a few days ago, Julie Fowlis and her band had seen snow while driving in the Highlands.
So perhaps it was Brighton’s sunshine that put them in such a positive mood, despite a 4.30am start from Inverness – without a (poorly) sound engineer.
Fowlis and her four-piece brought an impressive variety of songs with them.
Singing in gentle, lilting Scots Gaelic, she started with an upbeat number, half-jokingly promising some “utterly depressing” pieces to come. Fowlis took care to explain what the songs were about – and some were indeed downbeat, from a supernatural horror-ballad about a “water horse” to a lovely, a capella anti-lullaby and the heart-rending Do Chalum, performed by Fowlis on shruti box with accompaniment from ace fiddler Duncan Chisholm.
But it was consistently beautiful, never depressing. A translated cover of The Beatles’ Blackbird was already familiar (though classily rearranged), and Fowlis gamely encouraged the audience to attempt a singalong – a request met with enthusiasm (and mixed results).
A sound engineer borrowed from Eddi Reader (in town by chance), perfectly balanced bass, bouzouki, fiddle and guitar, while Fowlis further illustrated her versatility by adding whistle and hypnotic, chant-like singing to a series of upbeat, lively “mouth music” pieces.
Superb.
Five stars
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