Retreat! @ St. John's Church Hall, Various Dates Between 5-24 Aug

At last, a much needed respite from the annual explosion of ego and alcohol-fuelled tomfoolery that is the Edinburgh Festival. Retreat! is an alternative event aimed at festival-fatigued natives and the more intrepid visitor who wants a real insight into what actually goes on in the capital's music scene for the other eleven months of the year. Over three weeks of informal gigs organised by a like-minded bunch of local musicians and promoters, the line-up includes alternative pop merchant Ziggy Campbell (20 Aug), post-folksters Meursault (24 Aug), Eagleowl (16 Aug) and Fence Records co-founder The Pictish Trail (6 Aug), plus the wannabe religious cult leader Withered Hand (15 Aug), who told The Skinny exactly why being involved was a complete no-brainer: "The local underground music scene generally disappears off the map when the Festival rolls around and that's a shame when it,s been so vibrant recently. Edinburgh is much more than a pretty backdrop to the latest "hilarious" review show or world class opera. I think that can be overlooked unless the communities that already exist here poke their little heads up and make themselves known while the festival visitors are still here." Amen to that. [Milo McLaughlin]