Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, seems to specialise in producing extra-curricular configurations of musicians. That's to say, ensembles made of musicians who have made their name in other bands. That's to say, supergroups, but supergroup is a banned term nowadays. This goes back at least as far as The Reindeer Section. Recently they mostly seem to involve Emma Pollock, as is the case with The Burns Unit — and she's also named as one of the leaders of The Fruit Tree Foundation.
This, the Fruit Tree Foundation's first album, isn't officially released until tomorrow, but I ordered mine from the record label and it arrived last week. It's one of a set of collaborations in which Alasdair Roberts has featured which have released albums in the last month or two. Of course, I have to get them all. If you've had your wits about you, you will have noticed that Alasdair has featured on a Music Arcades release every week this month. There's every chance that that frequency will continue now until the end.
First Edition is possibly my least favourite of the recent crop. That's not to say I hate it, but its centre of gravity is in guitar-led indie rock, and mine isn't. Alasdair sings — and appears to have co-written — two tracks, one of which (The Untrue Womb) I heard him play the song a while back in a solo arrangement. Closet conservative that I am, I think I preferred that version. Open-minded liberal that I profess to be, I find the album version… interesting. The electric guitar is actually great, but somehow the emphasis seems to fall in the wrong place in the lines.
Nice picture of what I take to be a silkie on the cover.
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