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the scattered notes
As part of the Edinburgh festival, I went up to The Ukrainian Centre at Royal Terrace in Edinburgh, which is a new venue for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience while watching local East Lothian band the Scattered Notes.
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The band consists of Father and son Arthur Wilson, Guitar and Vocals, Stuart Wilson on Bass, from Prestonpans, Caitlin McGilvary on vocals, Ross Dryburgh on Guitar and Duncan Smith on Drums.
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They covered off a few of my favourite tracks including ‘Like a Bird in the Clear Blue Sky’, ‘Take a walk with me’, ‘I wish you were here by me’ and while most of the set was pulled from their album, ‘The Past on Wings’ and new EP ‘And Birds Will Sing Again’ they also included some new, yet to be recorded tracks, including the fantastic ‘Barcelona Blues’.
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All tracks on the album and EP were written by Arthur Wilson and Bob Shields and recorded at the Lane Studios in Prestonpans.
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Most of the songs were brilliantly sang by vocalist Caitlin McGilvary, who has such an amazing and powerful voice, with some excellent harmonies by Arthur Wilson, which put me in mind of The Beautiful South.
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The band vacated the stage to allow Arthur to sing one of his own compositions ‘Pure Vodka Tears’ from one of his three solo albums, ‘Those Precious Things’. The song is all about the, long gone, Castlepark Social Club, known locally as Billy’s Bar and is well worth a listen and is definitely one of my favourites from Arthur.
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Great band, great songs and a great venue.
Reviewed by Radio Saltire's Colin Torley 29th August 2022.