With the critics' praises for her new album still ringing in her ears, Karine Polwart was faced with a dilemma on this prelude to her autumn tour: how to translate Traces' delicate studio settings for the live stage?
With the critics' praises for her new album still ringing in her ears, Karine Polwart was faced with a dilemma on this prelude to her autumn tour: how to translate Traces' delicate studio settings for the live stage?
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Alan Morrison
The answer was to expand her trio (brother Steven on guitar; Inge Thomson on accordion) into a seven-piece band which embraced woodwind, keyboards and percussion.
Each live arrangement did the original more than justice, with percussionist Iain Sandilands giving the new songs added backbone. In the end, nine of the album's 10 tracks were played; such is the quality of Polwart's writing at the moment that only a scattering of oldies – Daisy, Sorry, an encore of Follow The Heron – were required to round out the set.
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