Gig review: Kris Drever & Éamonn Coyne/Adam Holmes & the Embers/Larsa, Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms

Published on 07/06/2012 05:44

With its starcloth-draped walls and opulently domed/gilded ceiling – complete with mirrorball – the Ballroom at the Voodoo Rooms is the capital’s most alluring and conducive place for up to 200 people to hear music.

It’s here that the talented and enterprising young Borders-born singer-songwriter Adam Holmes has established a monthly folk-based triple bill, featuring his own four-piece band between a bigger-name headliner and an up’n’coming first act.

The opening slot was filled by the strikingly accomplished teenage trio Larsa, comprising singer/guitarist Jack Badcock, Allan MacDonald on bodhran and Ciaran Ryan on fiddle, banjo and mandolin.

“We’ll start with a Burns song,” Badcock said, introducing the classic Westlin’ Winds – and they nailed it, from exquisitely modulated vocals to ultra-delicate bodhran brushstrokes. Two more excellent songs and three taut, fiery instrumentals followed, emphatically affirming Larsa as lads to watch.

Holmes himself, and the slow-burning Embers, varied the mood with deceptively sleepy cadences, sweetly mournful melodies, his gruff yet delicately brittle voice and heartfelt lyrics.

It wasn’t a night for banjo-phobes, with Irish tenor ace Éamonn Coyne topping the bill in his duo with Orkney’s Kris Drever, but the latter’s richly appointed,finger-licking set of tunes and songs completed a mighty fine night for lovers of quality roots music.

Rating: *****