It was on 17th August 1896 gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek in the Klondike by George Carmack and Skookum Jim. Well coincidence or what but exactly 117 years later, another rich vein of gold was uncovered at the 31st Letham Nights in the Kingdom of Fife. How we keeping on digging up these musical nuggets is hard to say, but hot on the heels of Miss Quincy and the Showdown, we were served up another transatlantic feast with Thom Gill aka THOMAS and Robin Dann aka Bernice as the entre and Devon Sproule as main course.
But first our appetites were whetted by fledgling Dundee outfit Blood Indians, winners of our young local talent competition. Joanne Forbes & Rowan Wright, two young singer songwriters, have emerged out of the Gardyne Youth Music Initiative at Dundee College and look to have a very promising career ahead. Are they going to be Tayside’s answer to First Aid Kit? Whilst their haunting harmonies were evocative of the Swedish sisters, there was a bit more attitude and melancholia emanating from their repertoire. Aged just 17, Blood Indians displayed the confidence and precociousness of musicians who know where they are going. If you have any sense, catch them on the way and enjoy the ride.
Now enter the stage Robin Dann and Thom Gill, performing first as THOMAS and then as Bernice. These were new names to us but in the space of 45 minutes their music and voices have become old friends. The mood was set with an enchanting cover of Lenny Breau’s New York City which gave us a taste of the range and colour of Robin’s voice and waves of unnatural harmonies drifting from Thom’s guitar. Whimsical, languid ethereal with echoes of Joni Mitchell or even Nico came to mind, but with a sound jazz-based undercurrent running through the songs. We sat back and relaxed as the duo’s exquisite vocals took us on a journey where we couldn’t guess what was round the next corner. The set was all too short. If you decide to mine this musical geological seam, you wont find fool’s gold but a colourful, crystalline multi-facetted jewel. So keep on digging!
And so to Devon Sproule. Thank you Letham Nights for bringing us such a gem – Jools Holland knew a good thing when he saw it back in 2008 and if you were not there you missed another treasure!
Despite cutting a slight, almost elfin-like figure, Devon has a huge and hypnotic presence on stage with a guitar in her hand. She just seemed so relaxed and at home on the Letham stage where she was joined by Robin and Thom together with Matt Rheeston of Batsch on drums, Kenny Wilson of Glasgow’s Two Wings on bass. With what we came to recognise as her very particular attention to human detail, Devon opened with a stunning rendition of Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Body’s in Trouble, a surprise response to a pre-gig request from the Letham Nights team. Few could carry off a cover of O’Hara’s unique sound but Devon did it – and with spades of pathos and emotion. We were then treated to a preview of some of her newest material soon to appear on the forthcoming album co-written with Michael O’Neill such as the infectious You Can’t Help It. ‘I am so afraid you going to hate this song’ she told us, before playing The Fan, with an honesty so typical of her totally individual songwriting style – but she need not have worried as the Letham response grew in warmth and affection as the evening unwound. She interspersed new songs with a couple of covers including ‘Runs In The Family’ by the Roches, where Devon and Robin harmonised so naturally, it seemed as if they had been singing together all their lives. Devon says in ‘Colours’ – ‘I have worked so hard just to get this far’. Well Devon, it was worth all our collective efforts to get you to Letham Nights for a night of such unaffected beauty. Of course the audience demanded an encore in which Devon gave us some old favourites – Listen to This, Virginia Block and just to keep the geological theme going, ‘Keep Your Silver Shined’. So Klondike eat your heart out – there was more gold in them thar Letham Hall that night than in all the Yukon. So if you have any sense you will ‘rush’ to hear Devon and her friends when they play at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow and the Tolbooth Stirling in October.
And a big thank you to Rich and Euan from Tin Angel Records for helping us to make a dream come true!
Review by Ron Montgomery
