Situated in the heart of the Scottish Highlands is possibly the most famous body of water in the world: Loch Ness. Tonight however, the centre of attention is not on the mythological monster beneath the surface, it is instead on a small boat steadily making its way down the loch. The “Bella-boat” is, for one night only, the location for a very intimate gig from two of Scotland’s best female acoustic artists.
Starting the night is local girl Rachel Sermanni who, with just her voice and acoustic guitar, creates beautiful music with the depth of a songwriter twice her age. She grins nervously around the cramped little on-board bar and confesses that she’s left her set list in her car. “Don’t worry though,” she adds, “I’m good at awkward moments so I’ll just try and remember what I was going to play.” New song ‘Ever Since the Chocolate’ fits in well with the delicate ‘Little White Dove’ and the country tinged ‘Lighting Candles.’ An acoustic version of the Jackson 5’s ‘Want You Back’ goes down nicely and Midway through her set Pearl slips her way through the crowd to sit, with her band, cross legged on the floor, likely to make the slightly uncomfortable youngster a little more at ease.
As the boat stops in the middle of the water parallel to the extremely picturesque Urquhart Castle, Pearl and her Puppets once again make their way through the cramped bar area to play. Pearl swings her guitar strap over her head tentatively so as not to hurt her bandaged wrist as her Puppets climb behind their instruments and sit or stand on various objects, such as the emergency stairs and the lifejacket cupboard, alongside the heavy amps already sitting on the top of the cupboard. I’m sure health and safety would have something to say about that!
‘Mango Tree’ is the opener and with it’s catchy drums and quick guitars it makes you think more of the Pacific than Loch Ness but it’s still an excellently laid out song. A beautiful rendition of ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon allows the Puppets a break and Pearl to seemingly make deep eye contact with everyone in the bar. A slightly faster version of possibly her most famous song ‘Because I Do’ (which featured in a Vodafone advert in Australia) comes midway through the set with cheers and applause from the crowd and a lot of “bah baw, badda bow”-ing. The extremely catchy ‘Make Me Smile’ (which is also my favourite song) finishes off an amazing set from the most exciting female acoustic artist since Kate Nash and Laura Marling, definitely one to watch.
Pearl and the Puppets are on Myspace at: www.myspace.com/pearlandthepuppets
The debut album is due out next year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment