Live

by Lau

Overview

Scots trio Lau attracted a lot of attention with their studio debut, and this live follow-up shows they can certainly deliver the goods. It does, though, highlight their strengths as well as their weaknesses. They're at their best instrumentally, with fiddle and accordion in particular absolutely superb, ducking and diving together or around each other. Where they don't score quite as high -- although they're still very good -- is on the vocals. Kris Drever is an adequate, but not great, singer, who doesn't always put across the emotional content of his material -- that said, he does a fabulous job on "Unquiet Grave." But instrumentally, Lau have few peers, they're willing to take chances and veer into moments of sublime dissonance before diving headlong back into a tune. The centerpiece is "The Lang Set," a selection of tunes that showcases their abilities and interaction in an almost perfect manner. The music is original, but very influenced by the Scots tradition, and they round the night out perfectly with the slow, moving "Gallowhill," an air that carries breathlessly into the night. Once they get the vocals sorted out properly, Lau will be worldbeaters. ~ Chris Nickson

Product Details

Release Date:	06/10/2008
Label:	Compass
UPC:	0766397447926
Rank:	207621

Tracks

1. Stewarts: Auld Stewart/Young Stewart/Last Week's Efforts
2. Banks of Marble
3. Frank and Flo's/An Tobar
4. Butcher Boy
5. Sea Sea/The Lemon Slice
6. The Long Set: A Dog and the Rabbit/A Dog Called Bran/Souter Creek/Alyth's/M
7. Unquiet Grave
8. Hinba Hinba/Funny Weather
9. Gallowhill

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lau   Primary Artist
Aidan O'Rourke   Fiddle
Kris Drever   Guitar,Vocals
Martin Green   Accordion

Technical Credits

Aidan O'Rourke   Arranger
Martin Green   Arranger
Les Rice   Composer
Stuart Hamilton   Engineer,Audio Engineer
Calum Malcolm   Mixing
Traditional   Composer