As it had been a good 5 or 6 years since I’d walked St. Andrews’ ancient cobbled streets, I was quickly reminded how unique my destination was; proving starkly different to the rest of the Kingdom, almost giving the impression it’s a geographical and culturally enclave…so my relatively short journey to The Barron Theatre was already exposing me to a quite distinct and appropriate environment.

My first impressions of the theatre, were of immediate warmth and hospitality, the ‘BandStAnd at The Barron’ night commenced in understated fashion as Phillip Quirie slinked on stage as the solitary member of the one-man dream, ambient shoe-gaze project, Debutant. Lulling us all with the calming reassuring flow of ‘Means to An End’, the easing warm current of his music ably conveys an evocative gentle landscape, allaying the anxieties of even the most troubled souls. Armed with only a guitar, loop pedals and reverb unit his delicate voice and subtle picking and vibrato directs the ebb and flow, and nuances of delicacy that create the shimmering dynamics on offer, ‘Thirst’ and ‘King of Doublespeak’ proving to be the highlights of a set that ends in a surprisingly intense fashion.

With the venue’s outstanding acoustic seemingly suitably for any style or instrumentation, Chris Le-Marr enters stage with a box of tantalizing tricks. Esperi’s opener ‘Cat and Dogs’ (dedicated to his absent wife and band mate Cat) is a 20 minute suite like piece, utilizing a vast array of colourful bric-a-brac, toy instruments, pushbike wrenches, a windup device something akin to a Music Box with Punched Paper Tape (kept in place by his chin), a percussive box doubling as stool, the exotic mbira, coupled with slightly more traditional instruments such xylophone, melodica and rainbow coloured musical bells. Incredibly it’s all fused together with loop and delay pedals as layer upon layer of these oddities converge with Chris’s plaintive tones and serenading guitar, with none of it sounding superfluously out of place. The sheer busyness of the performance containing so many changes of instruments, grips your attention (especially from my crouched vantage point, recording less than a metre away, taking in the vivid aspects on offer). Making use of the props at hand, we are also treated to a Busted-esque histrionic leap from the hefty steps on stage, during the otherwise gentle; mountain biking inspired ‘Dialled’. The mixture of stripped down nostalgia; humour and bewildering amount of instruments make for a heady and intriguing mix.

As the night draws to a close the ever effervescent and jovial Johnny Lynch AKA The Pictish Trail enters the fold, in an ever so slightly inebriated state and in obvious high spirits. As a result there’s a constant flow of bantering with the appreciative crowd, interspersing his lovely compositions with welcomed comic vignettes, tomfoolery (spinning around in the swivel seat, generally having a ball) and not short on crowd interaction as opening number ‘Won’t You Take Me Back’ (a Lone Pigeon track) employs a chorus of whistling, aided by the audience on his command. Bearing in mind the location, much of the crowd are local (hence were treated to numerous in-jokes directed at the local denizens, regarding East Neuk’s idiosyncrasies).

Although the banter provides a prominent feature of the show, it doesn’t detract from the memorising beauty of the songs in question. New track ‘Sequels’ contains moments of utmost delicacy as Johnny’s voice can soar, quiver or croon at a canterm imbuing dark humour, storytelling and emotion. Were treated to a number of tracks from his Platinum selling debut ‘Secret Soundz Vol. 1’ (just to qualify that statement, that’s using “The Anstruther definition…it sold 20 copies”); ‘The Lighthouse’, ‘I Don’t Know Where to begin’, ‘Word Fail me Know’ and ‘Ribbon’ in lieu of the cheekily requested Abba.

The last time I saw The Pictish Trail live he was backed by the fantastic Fence artist Rozi Plain and took a more electronic live direction, fittingly the finale embraced the fuller sound he’s capable of; ‘You Covered The Earth With Your Thumb’ employs heavy use of electronics, drum machine (at the top of the aforementioned steps) and making use of his ever versatile Microkorg; kicking things into overdrive as the space odyssey hits turbulence in the form of a crescendo lead cacophony, reverberating through the whole room, engulfing unprepared eardrums and overwhelming all in its wake as it peaks.

My visit to this intimate setting brimming with character, was a warm, welcoming affair that ended up treading a line somewhere between performance theatre (props and all), stand-up comedy, but most importantly provided three of Scotland most original and engaging performers a platform to perform. A triumphant night for all concerned.

closeAuthor: Craig Harkness Name: Craig Harkness
Site: http://www.last.fm/user/harkyb
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