There appears to be new nights popping up all over the capital at the moment and one such soiree caught my attention recently at the Wee Red Bar. A firm favourite with any music fan in Edinburgh, the Wee red is home to the Egg club on Saturday nights and was also the venue for the filming of the recent music docu-film The Art School Dance. It is no surprise then, that the organisers of Trampoline should choose it for their shindigs given the history and location as part of Edinburgh’s Art School.
I arrive tonight, having just missed the opening act Les Enfant Bastard, who I am informed finished his set by falling over his amp and spilling his pint all over the electrics, to find a cosy crowd of music fans, familiar faces and generally a really pleasant ambience. It is so encouraging to see nights like this one taking off and with all the great bands around Edinburgh at the moment, this is an ideal platform to announce yourself on the scene. The first band (a two piece) I manage to see are Over the Wall who I previously saw at the Jamhouse last month and although I only heard 2 songs that night, it was enough to make me want to see them again. They appear slightly apprehensive but needn’t be, as their array of classic keyboards and synths alone are enough to satisfy this listener; that the songs they play on them are equally impressive is all the more pleasing. ‘Gimme Five’ complete with live trumpet playing was one of the tracks I heard live in December and as it strikes up, so do the hairs on the back of my neck. There is something so rewarding about seeing a band who look like they genuinely love what they are doing and it certainly seems like this pair, who have an obvious rapport on stage, are doing this as much for their own enjoyment as the audience. If I was to describe their sound, the best I could come up with would be folk electronica – I’m sure the phrase folktronica has already been coined so I will not be so bold but their fusion of banjo and synthesizer is certainly an appealing one. I noticed with some amusement that the singer Gavin had a Bathgate Thistle t-shirt on and found out afterwards that was his local team. Hailing from the West Lothian town myself it appears they can add Over the Wall to the list of famous sons which so far includes a Dr Who and an Indycar champion amongst others.
The final band of the evening were a 3 piece from Edinburgh called Meursault whose name I had seen around for a while but for some reason I had not managed to catch live. They seemed to have everybody’s attention in the room and I almost felt a little guilty that this was my first experience of seeing such an interesting and original band. Singer Neil Pennycook’s voice has that same fragile quality that is used to great effect by Win Butler in the songs of Arcade Fire, but please don’t think I am goin to go down the tired route of comparing them to the Canadian behemoths as I think there is a great deal more to them than just that. The song which stands out most for me is the fantastic ‘The Furnace’ which, having heard it before on their myspace page, really showcases their sound and the banjo sounds absolutely brilliant set against the drum loops and electronica.So although a little disappointed at having just discovered them, I get the feeling there will be plenty more people this year wondering where they have been hiding.
I expect plenty more people to discover Trampoline as well, as they have some excellent line ups in the pipeline for the coming months with the hotly tipped Broken Records, who recently played to an army of rabid A&R men in Glasgow, Fence Collective’s brilliant Found as well as ITM? faves Y’all is Fantasy Island and Gasgiant…
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