Live review: The Outside Track

Published on Wednesday 9 July 2008 20:12

THE OUTSIDE TRACK *** THE VILLAGE, LEITH

THE customary "floor spots" preceding the main act at a folk club gig can be something of a mixed blessing but at Leith Folk Club's weekly gatherings they're often an unexpected treat. The latest example was the splendidly named Wongawilli Bush Band, who delighted the crowd with a selection of rousing ballads and fiddle/accordion-based tunes, drawn from their native Australian traditions. Their set included the song from which the headline band took their name, The Outside Track, a 19th-century poem by Australian author Henry Lawson, movingly set to music by Jerry Hallom, eulogising the renegade spirit of itinerant labourers or "swagmen".

The Outside Track themselves, a young five-piece formed in 2005, don't actually sing the song any more, but the freebooting theme continues in and their repertoire, which mixesmaterial from Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Fiddler Lauren MacColl, a former BBC Young Folk Award winner, recently joined founding members Norah Rendell (flute, whistles, vocals), Fiona Black (accordion), Ailie Robertson (harp) and Alan Jordan (guitar, vocals), completing a vibrant, deftly aligned instrumental mix that gained in depth and attack after a diffident start. Rendell's singing struck a piquant balance between forthright brightness and darker emotional hues, with highlights including the powerfully poignant Poor Old Hen and Karine Polwart's superb, densely worded Thaney – a challenge for any singer to which Rendell rose admirably, even if she did take it a fraction too fast. Jazzy guitar and feisty rhythms lent further spark and spice, in a highly promising performance.