Last Night From Glasgow 10th Birthday Bash review: 'more than a pat on the back'
This was both a showcase for some of the homegrown artists the LNFG label has worked with over the last decade and an album launch for indie four-piece Brontës, one of their newest signings, writes Fiona Shepherd
Over the past decade, a subscription independent record label from Glasgow, named after a line from Abba's Super Trouper, has grown into a prolific cottage industry, providing a platform for new artists from home and away, scooping up some grizzled veterans and unearthing some under appreciated Scottish classics as well as smartly marketing their vinyl catalogue, all with a small but supremely dedicated team.
The 10th birthday party of Last Night From Glasgow, compered with alacrity by label artist Billy Reeves, was more than a pat on the back. As Bluebells mainstay Robert Hodgens asserted from the stage, this was a community. For Glasgow-based indie four-piece Brontës, this was also an album launch, showcasing their pleasant pop songs about falling for a friend, the harm that men do and “a jigsaw I couldn't finish”.
Representing international operations, special guest Pearl Charles tipped her stetson to a rapt audience. This Californian singer/songwriter and her band straddled twanging, strutting country, freewheeling rootsy pop, wah-wah funk and even a touch of Dolly disco on Only For Tonight across a dexterous and charismatic set.
The rest of the evening was given over to the Last Night From Glasgow all-star cavalcade, a tasting menu of a handful of the homegrown artists the label has worked with, showcasing their wares in ten-minute stripped-back slots, from the delicate and haunting songs of singer/songwriters Amy Duncan and Xan Tyler to the classy Scotpop crooning of Hipsway/Cowboy Mouth frontman Graeme Skinner and Friends Again/Bathers mainstay Chris Thomson.
Sister John offered spare despair and alt.country warmth and Scottish punk icon Fay Fife delivered some rockabilly wisdom in her Countess of Fife guise before a boutique line-up of The Bluebells rounded off the celebrations with some mandolin-embellished new material and a massed rendition of their evergreen Young At Heart featuring their LNFG sonic siblings.
The Scotsman’s arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today
Want the latest Scottish headlines sent directly to your phone? Sign up to our new WhatsApp channel here
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.