Withered Hand
Benni Hemm Hemm
Ish Marquez
Emily Scott
Sebastian Fors
Tuesday 9th June
The Electric Circus
£4 doors 7pm first band 7:30
tickets available soon email for more details
Withered Hand is right at the swirling epicentre of Edinburgh’s much-lauded musical renaissance. Fronted by Dan Willson, irrefutably one of the most talented songwriters at large in Scotland today, Withered Hand is among the most righteous and barnstorming of Edinburgh’s irrepressible DIY new guard. The band has found itself playing to ever more devoted audiences over the past couple of years, sharing stages large and small with like-minded luminaries such as Calvin Johnson, Jeffrey Lewis and Malcolm Middleton. This gig launches their new EP "You’re Not Alone". Recorded over a weekend in the tiny meeting hall of the Anstruther Improvements Association, the four tracks of this EP boast the unmistakably grubby prints of Kenny Anderson (King Creosote), who recorded and mixed the songs as well as contributing his own trademark flourishes of falsetto vocal, accordion, and various unidentifiable percussive instruments. Anderson, whose previous production credits have included B-sides for M.Craft and Badly Drawn Boy, has lent Dan Willson’s songs a textured quality that such lo-fi recordings rarely achieve, and although this EP is a solo effort – stripped of the usual cello, banjo and drums – it’s lost nothing of the last record’s energy.
Joining Withered Hand will be Icelandic singer Benni Hemm Hemm, who'll be launching his new album "Murta St. Calunga". On this monstrously entertaining album Benni’s search for a clear yet heavy sound has come to an end with awesome results. Recorded and mixed on tape, this nostalgic procedure produces an environment which fits the occasion and brings out the best of the band’s amazing width. Bigger, fatter and better than a minke whale, not only does this album represent the finest of Iceland’s experimental scene, it’s also packed with sly melodies which stick around in your head and dabble, months and even years after you first insert Murta St. Calunga in your stereo.
Please Welcome Our Very Special guest - Ish Marquez: legendary antifolk singer, guitarist and songwriter born and bred in the Bronx in New York City. Ish hails from the same loose ‘Antifolk’ scene at the Sidewalk Café in the East Village as The Moldy Peaches, Jeffrey Lewis, Dufus, Regina Spektor, and a number of other significant acts. He had a somewhat legendary misfit band called the Lonesome Crew, with Anders Griffen (ex Jeffrey Lewis Band) on drums and Scott Fragalla on bass. His track ‘Gin Is Not My Friend’ made the cut onto the compilation album Antifolk, Vol 1 (Rough Trade, 2002), curated by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches to document the NY-AF scene. This is a date on Ish's second ever tour of Europe, and his last show in Edinburgh was sold out, a powerhouse performance, and fondly remembered.
Also on the bill are the heavenly Emily Scott with her beautiful country folk songs and brilliant Swedish singer-songwriter Sebastian Fors from feted Stockholm-based band Lets Say We Did.