With such a crowded gig calendar, it can be hard choosing which live acts to spend you money on. Maybe you've never heard of the bands playing; maybe you've heard their name, but haven't listened to any songs yet; conversely, maybe their back catalogue is so large you don't know where to start. Luckily for you, Time Out is on the case: what follows are the five best songs from the five best artists gigging in Edinburgh this month. Use it to jog your memory, or to get introduced to something completely unfamiliar – you might just find your new favourite band.
Admiral Fallow – Electric Circus, Wed Mar 4
Glasgow-sourced indie-rockers Admiral Fallow have been silent since their second album ‘Tree Bursts in Snow’ was released in 2012. While they’ve been gone, however, they haven’t been forgotten and neither have they forgotten us. The new, as yet untitled third album is out later this year, while ‘Evangeline’ (no relation to The Band’s song) was released for public consumption just the other week. It’s a slow-burner, and all the more affecting for it. More, please.
The Handsome Family - Pleasance Theatre, Tue Mar 10
For two decades and more, Chicagoan husband and wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks have ploughed a dark furrow with their rich, resonant litany of bluegrass-infected murder ballads and explorations of mental dissolution. In any of those past twenty years they would have found an audience here, but now their reputation has been advanced to a different level – to many, they’re simply the band who wrote the theme song to ‘True Detective’.
The Unthanks – Queen’s Hall, Fri Mar 20
Don’t let the ‘Jools Holland’s token folkies’ image put you off, Northumberland sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank are formidably affecting musicians and singers whose skills really come into sharp focus when experienced on the live stage. The new record ‘Mount the Air’ was recorded yards from the house Rachel and her partner and bandleader Adrian McNally share – impressively, in the two years before and after she gave birth to their second son.
Paul Weller – Playhouse, Sun Mar 22
Relentless Woking mod-rocker Paul Weller has worn many hats in his time – that of ‘the Modfather’ being most favoured and among the least attractive – but we can be grateful that the still-vital 56-year-old’s autopiloted veer into pipe and slippers territory a decade ago seems to have woken him up, as this meaty first single from upcoming twelfth solo album ‘Saturn’s Pattern’ demonstrates.
Sacred Paws – Sneaky Pete’s, Wed Mar 25
Glasgow’s other other all-female duo who are set to blow up in 2015 (as opposed to Tuff Love, who are already well on their way, and Honeyblood, who are pretty much there), Sacred Paws are Rachel Aggs and Eilidh Rodgers, and they’re actually in a long-distance musical relationship between Glasgow and London. Now signed by Mogwai’s Rock Action label, they play heart-pounding songs like this, so we hope it works out.
