The Troubadour Sessions @ The Mercat Bar
For a cold and windy Wednesday night in Edinburgh, there's an enviable turn out for any aspiring musician...
| 11 Jan 2007
For a cold and windy Wednesday night in Edinburgh, there's an enviable turn out for any aspiring musician in the Mercat Bar tonight.
Of the three acts touting their wares, the first, John McIntosh (3/5), takes his boyish looks confidently to the stage. Armed with an acoustic guitar and plenty of swagger, a surprisingly powerful and mature voice issues forth. Shaking his mop, he belts out a string of his own songs with a power similar to Liam Gallagher but controlled with the sensitivity of Kurt Cobain.
Jordan Ogg (4/5), accompanied by Vicky Gray on the violin, leads the audience into a hypnotic state of bluesy reverie. Another talent beyond his youthful looks, he transports the crowd to the islands appreciated by the baying Shetland massive. A beautiful voice is complimented not only by Gray's harmonising backing vocals and fiddle playing, but his intricate guitar finger picking - apparently simplistic but relatively complex. Ogg brings a Celtic undertone to the capital with folk songs tainted with sadness and some of an apparently recurring aquatic theme.
Chris Bradley (3/5) winds the evening up with his own take on a tortured artist. The voices in his head come in falsetto tones, ranging from joyful to painful and would sometimes suit a lower register. Nevertheless, a competent acoustic guitar player with stage presence, he ends the night to rapturous applause. [Chris Catley]
Of the three acts touting their wares, the first, John McIntosh (3/5), takes his boyish looks confidently to the stage. Armed with an acoustic guitar and plenty of swagger, a surprisingly powerful and mature voice issues forth. Shaking his mop, he belts out a string of his own songs with a power similar to Liam Gallagher but controlled with the sensitivity of Kurt Cobain.
Jordan Ogg (4/5), accompanied by Vicky Gray on the violin, leads the audience into a hypnotic state of bluesy reverie. Another talent beyond his youthful looks, he transports the crowd to the islands appreciated by the baying Shetland massive. A beautiful voice is complimented not only by Gray's harmonising backing vocals and fiddle playing, but his intricate guitar finger picking - apparently simplistic but relatively complex. Ogg brings a Celtic undertone to the capital with folk songs tainted with sadness and some of an apparently recurring aquatic theme.
Chris Bradley (3/5) winds the evening up with his own take on a tortured artist. The voices in his head come in falsetto tones, ranging from joyful to painful and would sometimes suit a lower register. Nevertheless, a competent acoustic guitar player with stage presence, he ends the night to rapturous applause. [Chris Catley]