Rachel Sermanni: a star in the making at Celtic Connections
Ah, Showcase Scotland, an industry showcase for local talent, how lovely! Though it might not have had the most energetic audience of Celtic Connections so far, the crowd were sat in respectful silence for most of the sets. Any worries of it being full of industry sleazebags and halfwits were unfounded. (Even if I was around to add to the quotient.)
First up were The Mick West Band (also The All-Male Band), the experienced seven-piece band trading in the sort of traditional folk sound that you might most readily associate Celtic Connections with. While they weren't there to push the boundaries they were pleasant enough for its duration, the band fluent in some complex counter-melodies, West's voice bringing with it a pleasant, comforting familiarity to their interpretation of some older numbers.
Then onto The Halton Quartet, the foursome (shock horror!) providing upbeat instrumentals that were more spritely by comparison, the fiddle singing sweetly over the top and the accordion containing a spring it its step. There was an amusing diversion into Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely early on, and all in all it was a very entertaining set.
Launching into Song For A Fox, it was immediately apparent to anyone who witnessed her New Voices show on Sunday that Rachel Sermanni is a star in the making, and in this shortened set that same realisation still shone through. Remember her name, as you'll surely be hearing more of it soon.
For sake of easy comparison, the Carrbridge singer-songwriter lies somewhere between Laura Marling and Regina Spektor. At the tantalisingly early stage of her career where she is still without a proper solo release to her name, Sermanni is already amazingly assured on guitar with a delicious richness to her breathy vocals, which are already something quite special. Oh, and as well as that, she's utterly charming onstage, and backed by a talented band of fellow young musicians.
Much as saying that she's the 'full package' makes me wince and feel like a grotty salesperson, Sermanni is one to watch out for and to catch at all costs if you have the chance, and deserves to be anyone's Scottish tip for the coming year. It's already easy to run out of words of praise for her performance: in a few year's time we'll probably have to be coming up with new ones. (I bagsy tradelicious, since you ask...)
An all-female quintet, The Poozies lined up together at the front of the stage, singing a song about pirates for sea-faring types in the crowd and providing a lovely, sweeping sound, one which had the welcome tendency to occasionally burst into more boisterous life as the mood took them. The dual harps added a nice colour to proceedings, as did their slightly awkward but charmingly unprepared between-song chatter.
On last, Mike Vass and his motley crew began by embarking on a slow, intense groove, not unlike traditional music meets dubstep: tradstep anyone? Oh well, maybe not... Effortlessly slick, the seven-piece flew through their set in a breezy, uplifting manner, finishing off with quite the flourish. All in all, it was a great night showing that Scottish acts are more than capable of competing with the influx of fantastic foreign bands for Celtic Connections.
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