Emma Pollock - 'Confessions' @ The SAY Award: Live at the Longlist 2018...

Performing at the the Scottish Album of the Year longlist ceremony back in 2018, this is a typically easygoing performance by Emma Pollock. I haven't been able to find a full live stream of her on YouTube, but she did recently feature in an episode of Stay At Home Festival, which you can watch here.

Fantasy Festival number 1: The lineup

Zoe Graham: Newly relocated to Glasgow, Zoe Graham is a young Scottish singer/songwriter with three singles under her belt. She's also a Scottish Alternative Music Award winner. You can find her on Facebook here. 

Katy Carr: Polish-British singer/songwriter Katy Carr performs ukulele and electronic piano led folk and baroque narrative history music. She featured in my 2017 Fantasy Festival lineup, and it seemed only right to include her here. You can find out more about Katy over on her website. 

Helen McCookerybook: Frequent readers of the blog will know that Helen is a regular here, both as one of my punk women interviewees, but also in her capacity as a highly innovative solo singer/songwriter. Helen began her career on bass in Brighton punk band Joby and the Hooligans, was a founding member of The Chefs, and then went on to form Helen and the Horns. Helen's 7" album Pea Soup was recently reviewed here, and her album Green is out now. You can find out more about Helen over on her website. 

Maple Bee: Like Helen, Melanie Garside has a long musical history. Beginning as a multi braided front woman in Tabitha Zu in the 1990s (later just 'Zu'), she was one of Katherine Blake's Mediaeval Baebes for a while, served bass duties in sister Katie-Jane's band Queen Adreena before embarking on a solo career under the name Maple Bee. Her most recent album is Little Victories. Future releases are awaited with interest and you can check out her website here. 

Siobhan Wilson: Born in Elgin, Morayshire, classically trained composer and singer/songwriter Siobhan is two albums into a career of rigorous reinvention and experimentation. Based in Edinburgh these days, 2019's The Departure featured a more abrasive guitar sound and included a duet with Honeyblood's Stina Tweeddale. You can find out more about Siobhan over on her website. 

Emma Pollock: Former Delgado Emma Pollock and co-founder of Chemical Underground records has been carving out a solo career for fifteen years now. Her albums are regularly nominated for Scottish album of the year and she featured in the Scottish scene reunion film Lost In France. You can find out more about Emma over on her website. 

Honeyblood: Currently operating as a solo adventure, Honeyblood is the project of singer/songwriter and noise merchant Stina Tweeddale. Formerly of Edinburgh, these days resident in Glasgow, Tweeddale has been composing perfectly executed riff driven punk pop and grunge anthems since 2012. The critically acclaimed In Plain Sight, Honeyblood's third album, was released last year.  You can find out more here. 

First Aid Kit: Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit are comprised of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg. They are four albums into a phenomenally successful career, and their gorgeous melodies 

and harmonies have allowed them to climb the live music ladder to larger venues at the same time as 

they have been garnered with multiple industry awards and nominations. You can find out more here. 

Emmy The Great: Understated, wry, quiet and well crafted songs always impeccably performed, musician, writer and composer Emmy The Great has been building up a body of work for over ten years now. She has released three albums, has collaborated on a number of film and TV soundtracks, and has an impressive body of work as a journalist. You can find out more here. 

Laura Marling: The great Laura Marling is seven albums into a long and prodigious career that while rooted in folk has become increasingly experimental over the years. 2017's Semper Femina exemplified this approach while 2020's Song For Our Daughter signals a return to her roots, and was a most welcome unexpected lockdown release. You can find out more about Laura over on her website. 

Emma Pollock - Old Ghosts (Live at Celtic Connections 2016)

This is Emma Pollock performing 'Old Ghosts' at Celtic Connections 2016. It wasn't her first visit to Celtic Connections and, while I've been unable to find a good enough quality full live set of Emma for you, I do recommend her cover of Billy Connelly's 'Everybody Knows That' from 2010's Celtic Connections festival. 

Fantasy Festival #3: The Modern Classics Festival - Lineup

Skating Polly: Skating Polly are a teenage sister duo from Oklahoma, comprised of the fantastically named Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse. They formed in 2009 and have been taken under the wing of  Babes In Toyland (who took Skating Polly on tour with them a couple of years back) and more recently Nina Gordon and Louise Post of Veruca Salt. They make visceral, sometimes angry, sometimes eerie and unsettling guitar driven punk rock in the grunge tradition.

Miya Folick: Miya Folick is a Los Angeles based singer/songwriter who comes from an acting background and makes slightly otherworldly indie rock. She has the kind of voice that can quite literally stop you in your tracks, and you can read an interview with her in Vogue, of all places, from last year. 

Emma Pollock: Legend of the Glasgow music scene, co-founder of Chemikal Underground records, and a former Delgado, Emma Pollock is flying solo these days. Her music is experimental and pared down, making use of strings as much as guitars, understated and stylish. Her current album, In Search of Harperfield, was nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year award in June.

Emmy The Great: Musician and culture writer, Anglo-Chinese Emmy The Great grew up in East Grinstead, and has been making music since 2006. I hesitate to call her a bedroom folk artist, because I've never felt it to be much of a compliment, but I do see her as someone who creates amazing sonic landscapes largely independently much like Nancy Elizabeth. Her album, Mahal Kita, is out now.

Jesca Hoop: Former Mormon, former nanny to Tom Waits' children, and persuaded to decamp from the US to distinctly unsunny Manchester by a certain Guy Garvey. It was always going to be an intriguing backstory, even before Jesca Hoop started to release records. Memories Are Now, her fourth album, was released last year. She is electrifying live, almost Shamanic. She played Latitude on 16th July, and continues to tour and play festivals throughout the summer.

Laura Mvula: I really loved Laura Mvula's debut album, Sing To The Moon, and, while I couldn't get into the follow up, The Dreaming Room, I was still shocked to hear that Sony had dropped her (by email!) earlier this year. Even if The Dreaming Room wasn't my cup of tea, musically, I respected it as a record because it was experimental and new, and was a strong departure from the debut album, which had it's roots in jazz, blues, and soul. Laura is touring at the moment, and into Autumn, so there are plenty of chances to see her live.

Martha Wainwright: Martha Wainwright has been releasing records from 2005 onwards, and her music has taken a number of differing musical twists and turns along the way, from the bloody minded folky j'accuse of 'Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole' to the slinky soul groove of the more recent 'Take The Reins'. She is currently on the Canadian and US leg of her tour.

PJ Harvey: Polly Jean Harvey has been making music since the early 1990s and, as you would expect, her music has evolved and changed considerably in the past (nearly) thirty years, as has her singing voice. In recent years she has been reinventing the protest song and the radio ballad, and has diversified into poetry and broadcasting. One thing Harvey has never lost is her integrity, and her approach to music in recent years has reflected that.