Taggart star 'couldn't be happier' with new career in music
'But actually that's not quite true. I was singing in a choir in my very first episode of Taggart.' That debut performance on STV's famous police drama may not have forced her to consider how she'd define herself, however it's a question she has waited a long time to be asked.
'I've been 21 years in Taggart and 21 in the theatre. But the amount of people who have said to me: 'I didn't know you could sing.' I suppose at a certain point in your life it's very hard to be revelatory because people know who you are, but I've always sung, just not in public. People have grown up with you, brought their kids up with you, and they just think: 'That's her from Taggart'. I'm totally happy with that.'
She's happy to challenge it, too. Duff might have been a singer but she didn't have a platform to show it. As the woman from the stalls at the Lyceum observed, the singing detective she wasn't. Then came Christmas 2020.
In the middle of the pandemic, with the impending strain of families held apart by socially distanced Christmas restrictions, she and Fife songwriter Cameron Barnes recorded a version of The Fairytale of New York, which transposed the context of Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl's battling Manhattan lovers into a mother and son held apart by the government response to a global virus. Incredibly, their Pogues cover – a tearjerker ripe for the aggravated emotion of the time – scored a Top Ten position in the UK download chart, landing at No 6.
'I suppose that allowed folk into that part of my world,' she says, of becoming chart singer in her late 50s. 'But now that I have been singing with this band, I just love it,' she says.
This band is Lacunas Music Society, an experimental collaboration between Duff and composer Malcolm Lindsay, with Inverclyde folk singer Yvonne Lyon. Lacunas means gap, the resonance between unfulfilled and realised ambition perhaps unintentional.
The trio share lead vocals, harmonies and spoken word deliveries over layers of atmospheric soundscape. Having performed together just once, in Glasgow last November – a performance of music and complementary visuals so beguiling it belied any notion of debut – they'll embark on a mini-tour of Scotland in coming weeks, with an album due for release at the end of the summer.
'I like the fact that it's more a music society than a band,' laughs Duff. 'It's not so easy to pin down what our show is and I quite like it for that. It takes on the best parts of what we each do and I think that's what's lovely about it – we can be inspired by each other's world.'
The experience has been as revelatory for her collaborators. Lyon had been a long time fan of Lindsay's compositions and met him at a memorial gig for a friend. 'I loved his album Solitary Citizen. We got talking about music at the memorial and it went from there. I really wanted to explore layers of composition,' says the Greenock-based singer, who juggled this project and another separate collaboration with Boo Hewerdine.
(Image: Lacunas Music Society) 'Then when Malcolm said Blythe was interested I was star struck again. I grew up watching Taggart and she was one of the first strong female characters in my psyche, a big image in my mind growing up. It was exciting to get into a room and make some music together. She carries storytelling in her vocal performance so well.'
For musician Lindsay, the connection with Duff dates to his time as a composer on Taggart, although they only met towards the end of the series' decades-long run. 'You'd be staring at the actors and actresses for six or eight weeks, so you feel like you know them,' he says.
'I had no idea Blythe wanted to do music. I didn't know her well enough to know she was musical. It was a very pleasant surprise to find out. You might think Blythe coming from an acting background into music means she would be a lesser player but it's the opposite. She's as much an influence as Yvonne or I which is a nice surprise. 'She brings a totally different attitude to the performance.'
The project will return Duff to Edinburgh's live stage weeks after her acclaimed turn in Wild Rose, the musical version of Glasgow writer Nicole Taylor's stirring Britflick starring Julie Walters and Jessie Buckley. With the stage show widely expected to tour (it was originally conceived as a possible opener at the refurbished Citizen's in Glasgow until date clashes scuppered the plan), Duff is likely to be back on stage alongside Sievewright and Louise McCarthy soon.
'There's no three ways about it, the singers on Wild Rose are big singers who can belt it out with extraordinary range,' she says. 'I know I'm not that so I have to find the right platform with the right songs and with people who understand I am an actress who enjoys singing.'
With Lacunas Music Society, she might just have found it, finally playing the role she always wanted: the singer in a band. 'I like the fact that it seems to be a revelation for folk,' she says.
'I'm fortunate the people I have been able to be in tow with have so many things they bring to the party. The more I sing, the more folk ask me to and I'm quite enjoying that. Maybe that's an ego thing but if people are having a good time and saying it for the right reasons then I'm tickled pink. I really couldn't be happier.'
Love Loss Data by Lacunas Music Society is released in September. They play Edinburgh's Traverse on June 12, Glasgow's Cottiers on June 26 and Birnam Arts, Dunkeld, on June 28.
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