Latest news with #ScottishAlbumoftheYearAward
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Kathryn Joseph on why she finds it 'weird to be headlining'
Artistically, at least. The City of Discovery has had more than its fair share of negative press recently, between the impact of its university's financial distress, and some sobering stats around the levels of deprivation endured by some of its residents. It's in stark contrast to the cultural flourish the place has enjoyed. This month, it welcomes back one of its favourite sons, with Brian Cox stepping out on stage in the National Theatre of Scotland's satire Make It Happen, about the 2008 financial collapse and Fred Goodwin's role in it. Meanwhile, across the river at Newport-on-Tay, a new boutique festival is enjoying its second year. Lughnasadh Festival is hosted by Forgan Arts Centre, staged in its grounds, one of four such events connected to the clicking-through of the seasons. Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the harvest period, and the female-led crop yielded this year is very healthy, with Sacred Paws, Free Love, Lacuna and Becky Sikasa, among the other names on the day-long bill. Joseph is the headline act, but in typically self-deprecating style, wonders why. 'They've booked everyone I love to play with,' she says, laughing. 'So they have very good taste. I've been looking forward to seeing everyone else on the bill. I find it weird to be headlining, I don't feel like I deserve to be doing that, but I'm very excited to. 'Everyone else is better than me, the noises that they make and the humans that they are. I still can't believe I get to do this job.' Joseph's modesty is in contrast with her calibre. A Scottish Album of the Year Award winner in 2015, she's since gone on to enjoy enduring high regard as one of the country's leading indie acts. Her fifth LP We Were Made Prey was released at the end of May, winning plaudits and an ongoing European tour slot with Mogwai, whose Rock Action Records label she's on. It is, she says, somewhat proudly, disgusting. She says: 'This record has a lot of blood and references to things that I think other people find disgusting but that I think are lovely. So disgusting is a word I use a lot to describe myself. I always find it funny that I put people in a situation where I am talking about things that make them feel uncomfortable. 'My 14 year old daughter is now aware of the words and she's also horrified and thinks I'm writing porn, basically. I'm getting a row from my own kid now, so I'm feeling bad about that." The album fuses her distinctive vocals – distinctive in raw content, as much as in unique tortured style – with the atmospheric washes of electro-composer Lomond Campbell's sonic footering. Since working together on an album of remixes last year, the pair have become a twin presence on stage. And he's got her standing up. Joseph says: 'I feel easier about it now because I'm playing with Lomond, and I'm able to enjoy it more rather than thinking about what I'm doing. 'Standing at a keyboard when I'm performing feels like a completely different experience. It definitely feels easier to sing.' The album was recorded in Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis, and is, Joseph says, the album she's most proud of. 'I'm addicted to listening to it, just because of how it sounds,' she says. 'Listening to your own stuff is really strange but it's because of the noises Lomond has made on the record, every noise he made was perfect.' Lyrically, it's a challenging listen. 'The songs are really dark,' she says. 'But we had a hysterical laugh most of time we were making it.' Lugnasadh marks a return to the coast where she found shelter at the height of the pandemic, having switched Glasgow for Broughty Ferry as covid made tenement living in the country's biggest city a challenge. 'That was my experience of lockdown,' she says. 'I was worried we'd never get to live anywhere again, so I went to live by the sea. It was very easy, it felt like where I was supposed to be at the time. I absolutely loved it. I love that bit of coastline and everyone I know who lives there, so I'm really excited to play a festival there.' Afterwards, like the aforementioned Cox, she's on the bill at the Edinburgh International Festival, before heading back on the road with the supersonic sounds of Mogwai, to rattle eardrums across the Baltic countries. And she's learned tour bus etiquette from her earlier sojourn with Stuart Braithwaite and his band. 'I knew you're not allowed to do a poo on a tour bus, but you can't even put toilet roll down there either,' she said, semi-incredulous. 'I actually ended up getting really attached to sleeping in my little bunk. But one night as I was climbing into bed I accidentally pressed something on my phone and Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds started blaring out. It was my first time on a tour bus. I learned a few things.' Mogwai would have a cheek to complain about the noise. 'The boys are great,' she says. 'People who like Mogwai are great human beings and I'm reaping the benefit of that. I feel really happy and comfortable, and I want to enjoy it while it lasts.' Lugnasadh Arts Festival, 2 Aug, Edinburgh International Festival, Up Late at the Hub, 9 August. We Were Made Prey is available from Rock Action Records,
The Herald Scotland
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Head along to the Lughnasadh Music and Art Festival
Head to Forgan Arts Centre for an afternoon and evening of live music and family friendly art activities in the centre's lush grounds. Following the success of last year's festival, Lughnasadh returns with an even bigger line-up featuring Scottish Album of the Year Award winners Kathryn Joseph and Sacred Paws; Mercury Prize nominee BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year Becky Sikasa and many others. Kathryn Joseph (Image: Kathryn Joseph) The Garden 1-30 August. Entry free. Stills, 23 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1BP. Artist Sian Davey and her son Luke spent three years transforming her garden into an immersive wildflower haven during which time their garden wall became a community space for shared stories. Inviting others in, they managed to capture moments of reflection, love and connection which lead to the birth of The Garden - a place for heartbreak, joy and everything in between. Coburg House Summer Open Studios 1-3 August. Entry free. Coburg House Art Studios, 15 Coburg Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6ET. This summer Coburg House [[Art]] Studios marks a major milestone - 20 years since it opened its doors to the public for its renowned biannual Open Studios events. Coburg House is home to over 70 artists, designers and makers and across its four floors of working studios, visitors can discover a thriving hub of creativity that has become one of Scotland's leading artist collectives. Andy Goldsworthy - Fifty Years 26 July-2 November. Entry free. Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL. Taking over the upper and lower galleries in the Royal Scottish Academy building for the summer is Andy Goldsworthy's Fifty Years exhibition. There's over 200 works such as photographs, sculptures and expansive installations as well as several major new works that have been created onsite specifically for this exhibition. Into the Wild 26-27 July. Entry free. Leith Makers, 105 Leith Walk, Edinburgh, EH6 8NP. Featuring work from three Edinburgh-based artists, this exhibition explores the natural, mystical and dark aspects of the world around us. Dani's work explores the relationships animals have with their natural environment while Dee's work imagines creatures tasked with curating natural spaces and keeping their inhabitants happy and healthy. Jim on the other hand is influenced by the darker, more feral parts of nature. Switch Track 26 July-9 August. Entry free. Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art, 164 Renfrew Street, G3 6RQ. Victoria Morton – Switch Track (Image: Victoria Morton) The period between 1995 to 2025 represents 30 years of painting since artist Victoria Morton graduated from The Glasgow School of Art, with this exhibition featuring a selection of works from that spell. It carefully draws upon sketchbook materials, paintings and mixed media works from different points in time. There's painting, sculptural assemblages, photography and sound work which covers the variety of Morton's practice. Shifting Surfaces 28 July-11 October. Entry free. Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT. Immerse yourself in the inspirations and collaborations between Victoria Crowe and Dovecot Studios and mark a major milestone in the career of one of Scotland's most distinguished contemporary artists. Journey through a rich relationship of texture and textiles while overlooking Dovecot's studio where these masterpieces were created. Millais In Perthshire 26 July-30 April 2027. Entry free. Perth Art Gallery, 78 George Street, Perth, PH1 5LB. New for 2025, this exhibition is a private collection of rarely seen artworks and personal belongings of prominent Victorian artist John Everett Millais and his Perth-born wife Euphemia 'Effie' Chalmers Gray. As part of a long-term loan from the artist's great grandson, this display explores the profound connections between Millais and Perthshire, a landscape that inspired several of his most celebrated works. We are the Witches, We are, Hear 1-30 August. Entry free. The House of Smalls, 103 Henderson Row, Stockbridge, EH3 5BB. Discover textile artwork from 70 female artists who aim to use their craft to challenge, disturb and disrupt. Running throughout the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the exhibition explores the concept of the witch as female divinity, female ferocity and female transgression. Eden 26 July-11 August. Entry free. The Briggait, 141 Bridgegate, Glasgow, G1 5HZ. Rooted in the language of nature, Michelle Campbell's work uses the natural world as a source and platform to navigate and express her own experience of the world. The exhibition charts the meeting points between mind and matter, feeling and form, chaos and clarity and invites viewers to enter not only into the natural imagery but into a way of seeing, and sensing that is fluid, raw and vivid.
