There have been a few reasons to get excited about folk this year (and this month), and a recent performance by Malcolm Middleton and James Yorkston at St Giles-in-the-Fields has rounded out the year in fine form.
Malcolm Middleton started off the evening with his solo set. The former Arab Strap man has kept busy since turning his one man show into a full-time project, and since he made waves last year with his long-shot Christmas single "We're All Going To Die." But at St. Giles it was all pretty melodies and Malcolm's self-deprecating wit. And we appreciate the whimsy of performing a song about being visited the devil and an angel while in a church (especially one in which the singer refers to his songs as shite).
James Yorkston was a bit shier about swearing in a church and thus constantly and comically censoring himself. Yorkston's set featured songs from his latest, "When The Haar Rolls In", as well as the heart breakingly beautiful early single "Tender To The Blues," and a cover of folk great Lal Waterson's "Midnight Feast."
Still, given the setting, it would have been nice to hear a Christmas song.
Photo of Malcolm Middleton by Amanda Farah.
