@ Tolbooth, Stirling, on Fri 19 Feb 2016
Acclaimed folk musician, Ewan McLennan won the Horizon Award at the 2011 BBC Folk Awards, besides others. In jeans and shirt, guitar in hand, McLennan enters the stage in true folk style, briefly welcomes the audience and kicks the evening off with Robert Burns’ A Man’s A Man. His gentle, full voice fills the space and carries the bard’s lyrics off convincingly and with feeling. A great start.
What follows is a mix of traditional folk music and McLennan’s own works delivered to beautiful guitar sounds. His voice is just right for his folk music, delivered with honesty. This voice comes into its own in the inevitable, unaccompanied song, that is unfortunately delivered too fast to fully appreciate it.
The songs are introduced with gentle humour in a style that would benefit from a little polishing, at least for the stage. McLennan’s performance is a solid one that would work better and be more fun in the intimate atmosphere of a folk club or pub.
After the interval Fiona Hunter and Band take the stage, all clad in red and black, more reminiscent of American prohibition than Scottish folk. Expectations are raised for a classy performance.
Hunter has been singing with folk band Malinky for many years. Now on stage with her own band, she is widely considered a gifted song interpreter. The band begins to play, Hunter’s voice fills the room. The performance is slick, professional – but the voice, though pretty and clear, fails to convey the emotion of the often dramatic, sometimes gruesome and distressing ballads.
The songs are introduced with humour and their content briefly touched upon. The instruments tend to overpower the voice, which makes it difficult to figure out the words that are so crucial for some songs. Instrumental sequences are played with harmonious interactions, but Hunter’s swinging body movements distract from this.
The performance, though enjoyable enough, is not memorable. The audience is repeatedly encouraged to sing along, but the response is muted.