Callum Easter
Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh JJJJ
It was impossible not to feel s y m p a t h y f o r E d i n b u r g h - based polymath Callum Easter at this Friday night gig, which was meant to be a showcase of his formidable ability as a DIY indie -rock songwriter in the company of fans, friends and family. Easter’s latest album for the Moshi Moshi label System was recently longlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, to follow up the shortlisting of its predecessor Here or Nowhere in 2019, and this kind of platform is the least his talent deserves.
Yet following supp or t sets f r o m f r i e n d s a n d k i n d r e d spirits Eyes of Others and Law Holt, what was described to the audience soon after Easter’s onstage time had come and gone as “an ongoing first aid incident” in the audience delayed his entrance substant i a l l y. T h e r e wa s n o i mp a - tience or disgruntlement, but by the time Easter came on, much of the substantial audience had to leave and his set was necessarily truncated.
He began alone on piano, s i n g i n g t h e b i t t e r s we e t song of farewell Only Sun, before being joined by his four-piece backing band and a pair of female supp o r t i n g s i n g e r s w h o s e vocals built a gospel tone around Easter’s own livedi n b u t p e r f e c t l y s o u l f u l voice. Highlights included the raw, romantic punk of Little Honey, the righteous synth-pop anti-politics of System, which demands r e l e a s e i n “s we e t mu s i c e v e r y w h e r e ” , a n d t h e smooth dub reggae groove of Fall in Love.
Holt app eared on the balc o n y, u n f u r l i n g a r e d f l a g down to the floor as she sang d u e t vo c a l s o n L o s e S o me - time with Easter, and our host hopefully insisted “let’s dae it again, yeah?”, before a quick but masterful encore of Feeling’s Gone, one of the great S cottish pop songs of recent times. The gig will be rerun in December with all tickets still valid, apparently. If you weren’t there, don’t miss your second chance.