Added on Thursday 20 Jan 2011

Old Fruitmarket January 16th 2011

Review by Pauline Keightley

'The Burns Unit' made their debut at Celtic Connections 2009. I went along to take some photographs at this gig and was immediately struck by the diverse and colourful nature of the talented, young band members of this Scottish and Canadian eight-piece. Members include, the renowned folk singer-songwriter ,Karine Polwart, Emma Pollock of Delgados fame, Fife's King Creosote, guitarist AKA pilot, pianist Kim Edgar, the exuberant Canadian, Michael Johnston, and rapper MC Soom T plus producer and drummer, Mattie Foulds. I had previously seen Karine perform her emotional acoustic folk songs at several gigs - and to see her pounding those drums ( I assume to initiate her into the rockier rhythms of the band) was a dramatic change of direction!

This is a band in slow motion! After writing in pairs, at the end of the songwriting week for the Burnsong in 2006, they were persuaded by Johnston to perform their new songs collectively so a new band was born. All the artists pursue their individual careers, fitting in duties such as young parenthood, therefore, The Burns Unit is very much a part-time collaboration.

At first glance they appear an accomplished but disparate group whose members have little in common except their love of music and Celtic roots. However they have brought together a unique blending of influences to produce challenging and interesting songs, clearly enjoying their musical collaborations. Their set is varied with the mood changing from mainly folk/rock to the dancing Caribbean-tinged rhythms of singer MC Soom T with some very catchy numbers.

The Old Fruitmarket is full of old-worlde charm and is the perfect venue for this kind of line-up. The stand out performances were from singer songwriters Emma Pollock and King Creosote and I enjoyed the strong vocal harmonies. Inevitably with only short periods together, some members may feel more comfortable within the band than others. I felt Johnston on keys was bouncing around the stage rather too much, although, he did interact well with the audience. Karine Polwart makes a valuable contribution, performing some of her touchingly sincere acoustic guitar songs but I wasn't entirely sure how comfortable she was at times. However they performed an enjoyable set with memorable songs. It will be interesting to follow their progress. Their debut CD, 'Side Show', was released in 2010.

Photography

PKIMAGE photography, Glasgow - photographic artist of mainly music, portraits and events. Please visit my website to see my photo work and to get in touch with any questions.
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