Partly to make up for the fact that BM completely forgot to review Callum’s live slot back in the frozen December day of the Xmas Baubles event, but also because it is bloody good, here is the review of CE’s EP from 2018…
This is a completely out-there experience, first track ‘Here or Nowhere’ drenched in reverb but the voice and the instrumentation are spot on, building from opaque strums into a chorus of sorts, like sounds from the dark side of the moon.
‘Back Beat’ sees the East Lothian troubadour serenade us with a high in the vocal line series of calls, “tired of making love to the backbeat”… Are these “found sounds”, maybe a bit of Beta Band and other Scottish ethnic modern varieties… in good company then…
Track three sounds like something he played at Baubles, with the full accordion in situ – a wee bit of rapping, and this is ‘Feelings Gone’ – highly original, recalling Tom Waits via Saint Andrew and Kenny Anderson (can we mention that, Editor?) (No – Ed). But this is something new, and CE is his own man, Scotland’s latest accordion hero… so good… so good!
You can catch him at the Lost Map takeover of the Glad Cafe for Celtic Connections later in January, BM’s local joint…