August is festival month in Edinburgh and has been since 1947 when the first International Festival attempted to reawaken and feed the creative spirit of Europe after WW2, soon spawning the Fringe, Film and Book Festivals.
Although live music has bloomed within the festival walls over the years and some excellent small-scale music festivals continue to pop up throughout the city during the summer months, it’s taken 3/4 of a century for a large scale music festival to ring out from the fringes of the capital, the missing piece of the jigsaw finally connected.
CONNECT Festival itself isn’t new, with earlier incarnations in 2007 & 2008 in Inveraray, but its new home at Ingliston’s Royal Highland Centre has revived its purpose, with the intention of allowing people to reconnect with live music in a sustainable environment. CONNECT sees top acts from all genres come together with the cream of Scotland’s alternative scene along with a fine selection of emerging talent. There are even some surprise acoustic sets in the most idyllic of settings, the Tiny Changes X Gardener’s Cottage. Tiny Changes is a charity set up in memory of Frightened Rabbit’s singer Scott Hutchison who played the first CONNECT Festival, with the aim of supporting young people’s mental health. But CONNECT Festival’s not just about music, there’s a mix of comedy and chat, and a chill-out zone with a focus on health and well-being. The festival site is green and airy, with plenty space to wander and take time out. The three day bill is impressive and diverse, and as the weekend goes on it begins to establish itself as welcomed new member of the festival family.
FRIDAY
JESSIE BUCKLEY & BERNARD BUTLER
Friday sees Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler kick off the festival’s Tiny Changes secret sets over at the quaint wee X Gardner’s Cottage before taking to the main stage, The Grand Parade, to enthral the crowd with the beguiling alt-folk of Mercury-nominated debut album For All Our Days That Tear The Heart. Actor/singer Buckley and former Suede guitarist, producer and songwriter Butler complete a five-piece collective including two backing vocalists, Buckley squeezing them protectively as she asks us to “give it up for my witches”. She wraps the gathering crowd under her wings for The Eagle & The Dove before Butler’s intricate guitar work falls into eerie space on 20 Years A-Growing, the unsettling wails of violin building and Buckley’s soulful vocals conjuring up a melancholic dust-storm. As the album’s textures and treasures continue to enchant, Babylon Days sways dreamily between upbeat and uneasy. For Buckley, every second feels like a celebration as she wanders the stage with effortless ease, warming the soggy crowd with her banter as they recover from the earlier mother of downpours. By last number, Catch The Dust, she entices the band to sit down cross-legged and play it again because “we’re greedy f***ers”. Perhaps, but they’re also a joy to watch and the very epitome of the laid back CONNECT ethos.
JOHN GRANT
Acclaimed singer-songwriter John Grant takes us into the evening on the Grand Parade with his brooding electronica as the sombre synth of opening number Rusty Bull swirls off into the crowd. Candid lyrics lay bare Grant’s soul, with bursts of hope in his brooding vocals. His weighty writing is lightened with wit which could find old Richard Burton turning in his grave as the wholesome intones of GMF resonate across Ingliston, including the delightful declaration “But I’m the greatest motherf***er /That you’re ever gonna meet”. Sweet!
IDLES
The highlight of CONNECT comes early for many as Bristol’s Idles whip the crowd into a frenzy with their raucous onslaught of raw and urgent politically-charged punk. They kick off with a looming assault on 2018’s Colossus, a devious glint in vocalist Joe Talbot’s eyes as he orders the audience to split into two for a wall of death as the explosive second half blasts off, retorting “well that was f***ing easy!” Guitarist Lee Kiernan ricochets around the stage before being unleashed into the crowd while Talbot wiggles his hips as he reminds us he’s like Fred Astaire. It’s entertaining and disconcerting all at once, their corrosive collision course continuing with Car Crash from last year’s Crawler smacking us bang the face. Talbot’s almost on his knees, snarling through the pain and elation of last single Crawl while the poetic perfection of The Beachland Ballroom displays a more melodic vocal, uniting the crowd in a sway of arms before the desperate howls of ‘damage’ ring out, conviction pumping through Talbot’s protruding veins, drenched in a sweat of emotion.
But tonight’s set weighs heavy on older material providing a great education for fresh ears including the self-love anthem, Television, off Joy As An Act Of Resistance, which every school kid should listen too before falling prey to the scourge of influencers. Talbot dedicates the glorious Mother to every one of us and encourages the crowd to sing along with him as he chants “f*** the queen” before hissing through the riot of Scum, skipping around centre-stage like a wayward Morris dancer (perish the thought) and bending over like he’s put his back out, which I fear he will one day…telling us after, “that felt really good”.
Before Danny Nedelka, Talbot contemplates why the festival is called ‘Connect’ telling us “it’s almost like live music allows people to make some sort of connection. There’s this universal energy we all have and it’s a f***ing gift and we feel very grateful that you’ll have us…This is a song celebrating the act of connecting new cultures and new people in your lives…It’s a celebration of the immigrants that built our land and made it a better place. Long live the the immigrants and long live Danny f***ing Nedelka!”
With guitarist Mark Bowen on paternity leave, they welcome their ‘comrade’ Tina who fills Bowen’s frock nicely, and kudos to her, it must be quite a feat to step into that! An unhinged energy rages through the whole performance, the band truly relentless in their fury. As the 90 minute set draws to a close, Talbot is again reflective and grateful for the support their fans give them saying he’s been suffering a lot recently and tonight has really helped. His heart’s right there on his tattooed sleeve and you can almost taste his appreciation and pain. And that’s what makes the performance not just great, but downright mani-f***ing-fique!
SATURDAY
THE JOY HOTEL
Glasgow seven-piece The Joy Hotel are a little known collective with a huge pool of talent to boot. There’s a vintage feel to their music, which wavers from pop to surf to psych-rock, with founder members and vocalists Emme Woods and Luke Boyce taking command of CONNECT’s Guitars & Other Machines stage with ease. Their songs are meandering and immense, with Woods’ soulful, vast vocal range smouldering on the moody Killing Time, accompanied by a delightfully distorted surf-rock fusion of layered nostalgia. A joy indeed!
CLOTH
Glasgow duo Cloth played the Guitars stage on Friday but we sadly missed them, though not the rain which accompanied their set! Today they’re back as one of the secret sets on the Tiny Changes X Gardener’s Cottage stage. We catch a glimpse of them through the crowd but it’s hard to hear on the outskirts, with the dominating pulses of the Guitars and Unknown Pleasures stages winning the sound wars. Cloth’s music is the perfect soundtrack for CONNECT, with its stripped back vibe of shimmering guitar and soothing vocals. The duo, twins Rachael and Paul Swinton, complete their acoustic set with new song and title track from upcoming EP, Low Sun, Rachael’s breathy vocals a dreamlike wash of melancholy, reminiscent of Slowdive. Breathtaking!
SWIM SCHOOL
We float into the woozy waters of Edinburgh’s Swim School next on the Guitars stage, their sound melding a grunge-infused discord with the the hazy hues of shoegaze. They’re full of chat and tell us this homecoming show is the last of 14 festival dates for the band, while giving a wave to some familiar faces in the crowd.
They kick the set off with the bruising Cure-esque baseline of swirling debut single, Sway, their sound two years on now bolder and more assured. Vocalist/guitarist Alice Johnson later tells me that over the lockdown they listened to a lot of shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Ride, and inspired by that, today play a heavier, less poppy version of Anyway from latest EP Making Sense of It, which is more like the original version they recorded. Guitarist Lewis Bunting adds “I remember listening back to the demo and it actually gave me goosebumps, that’s when I realised this was the best version of the song so we played it today and a couple of people have said ‘that’s the one, you’ve got to re-do it!’”
The mesmerising atmospherics of Everything You Wanted builds beautifully and they soar through last number See Red, its reverb-laden riff layering a dark ‘80s vibe with a punchy angst in one of their most energetic numbers to date. Hotly tipped by the music press, these guys are riding the wave of success and with a new EP due to be completed this week, keep your eyes peeled for its release!
WILLIE J HEALEY
Willie J Healey’s giving off a bit of a Dire Straits vibe on the Guitars stage with a Mark Knopfler inspired headband and matching sound in opening number, Songs For Johanna. There’re a fair mixture of musical styles going on in his set, from garage rock to an undulating ‘70s soul on latest single Tiger Woods, all served with a fine slice of lyrical wit. Taking influence from artists such as Neil Young, this versatile young musician clearly doesn’t want to pigeon-hole himself to one genre and is definitely one to watch out for.
Meanwhile Caribou aka Dan Snaith fires the Grand Parade crowd into the weekend spirit with a breezy blast of electro-pop, Team Caribou today sporting their white kit. Now which lucky musician will be taking that lot home to wash?
THE TWILIGHT SAD
Normally thriving under a smog of gloom, some fear that bright sunlight will dilute James Graham’s performance today. In fact, the uninitiated within the festival audience may consider The Twilight Sad’s singer to be behaving rather erratically, right down to a wardrobe malfunction…but naw, the scowls and twitches, air punches and back bends mean everything’s in perfect working order. Oh yeah, and the dungarees too. So the show will go on, and what a show it is!
The Twillight Sad’s intense fusion of feedback-laden discord and brooding atmospherics chills the crowd with a sound so dark it should depress but often uplifts the soul. Graham’s another performer who gives it everything and as the bruising bass and grinding synth of Kill It In The Morning kicks off their set, he’s off, literally bending backwards to entertain, jerking his head like it’s infested with nits, his accent spread thick across meandering melodies. With no new music for a few years, the set delves into their back catalogue, including the sparse, haunting drills of There’s A Girl In The Corner, opening track from Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave, which has been covered by TTS fan Robert Smith of The Cure. Graham’s wails of ‘So cold’ on I Could Give You All That You Don’t Want, send shivers over the sun-drenched crowd which appears to include a Twilight dad (and mum). But with Frightened Rabbit’s Grant Hutchison on drums, and since confirmed as their permanent live drummer, it’s The Twilight Sad’s cover of his band’s Keep Yourself Warm that causes the most goosebumps, Hutchison belting on though a sweat of emotion. A wave of unity is unleashed, brimming with both sadness and hope. A moment of true connection.
KATHRYN JOSEPH
Kathryn Joseph’s a late addition to the line up, replacing Low as Mimi undergoes treatment, and even playing a Low number as a tribute. She’s unnecessarily apologetic for her inclusion in this evening’s bill, saying “sorry I’m not what’s meant to be here and sorry none of my songs are very funny.” Yeah well maybe, Kathryn, but your banter is, so bring it on! The contrast is stark, the award winning Glasgow-based musician’s new album For You Who Are The Wronged centred around abuse and trauma. She opens with The Burning Of Us All from the album, the gentle chimes of her piano sparse against her gasping vocal. While others would cry in rage at the subject in hand, there’s an anger simmering but her response remains muted and wavering as she reminds us ‘There is no one coming, every wolf cry call’. This is followed by “another song about abusive c***s”.
As she takes a swig from a can of lager she tells us that she played a gig sober the previous evening and that she was “never, ever f***ing doing that again!” Draped in white, she confesses “yes I am auditioning for Caribou today, thank you to everyone who’s asked me, especially my boss.” Well, Kathryn at least you got the day right, unlike Idles guitarist Lee Kiernan who turned up for said audition in similar white gear last night and is now sulking his way round America. She later tells of the moment her producer’s dog lay his head on her knee while recording Until The Truth Of You, admitting “life doesn’t get any better than that”. Aww. She also declares her love for 6 Music’s Marc Riley who she was chatting to earlier in the week. Another wee swig?
The album’s title track is immense, casting an ethereal energy over the Guitars & Other Machines stage. Like most of her numbers it’s a striped-back, slow burner allowing the crowd to take in the moment and consider, her vocals unearthly and at times reminiscent of Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker. There’s beauty in her music but it’s not a comfortable listen, a piercing pain ever-present. But she’s singing about survival after all, and that’s what makes it so urgent, so tragic, so enthralling.
As an aside, can CONNECT please consider adding Kathryn Joseph to the Speakeasy stage next year if she’s not swanned off with Caribou? If CONNECT can supply the lager, I’ll supply the dog and maybe Mr Riley can provide the other half of the chat…
RIDE
As the sun sets, Oxford’s Ride step back in time on the Guitars stage to play debut album Nowhere in its full shimmering glory, for many the definitive shoegaze album. Ride’s Nowhere was one of Creation Records’ early triumphs and the album continues to influence generations of musicians to this day, including Edinburgh’s Swim School, who chatted to us about just this earlier.
The blistering Beatles baseline groove which drives first number Seagull feels like the heartbeat of my 1990 self, a fuzz of nostalgia sweeping over the crowd. Andy Bell and Mark Gardener deliver lustrous layers of guitar, their vocals dreamy in the fading light. Dreams Burns Down mesmerises, its towering drums and hypnotic melody crashing headfirst into a contorted frenzy of reverb before floating off into the melancholy once more.
It’s great to see the interplay between Bell and Gardener in fine working order, from lush harmonies to brazen effect-laden guitars. Tonight the sound is, like most of us, a tad fuller with age, the fragile textures of Vapour Trail weighing heavier, a glaze of shoegaze transfixing the audience. But to be honest, that just makes it all the more divine. The techno beats and blinding lights of The Chemical Brothers are over on the Grand Parade but I’m not going anywhere until Nowhere fades to haze. Sublime!
Read the review of Sunday at Connect Festival ››
Words: Shirley Mack @musingsbymarie
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh @ayecandyphotography