(thejellymansdaughter.com)
The cello has been popping up everywhere on the Scottish music scene, from the indie-folk of King Creosote to the dadaist chaos of The Leg. It's not necessarily what we'd expect, however, at the core of Americana-style country-folk, especially in a duo set-up with only acoustic guitar and vocals as partners.
It's to Graham Coe's credit, then, that he can, at will, make his instrument as percursive as a drum, as grounded as a bass or as sweet as a fiddle. The result, on this outstanding debut album, is that The Jellyman's Daughter sound like they've come down from the same cold mountain as The Civil Wars or Grammy-winning duo Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
The other key element here is Emily Kelly's voice, which is richly in tune with the style and material: she makes opener Blue Lullaby feel like it has been tilled from the Appalachian soil and bends every blue note possible out of The Beatles's Can't Buy Me Love. When Kelly and Coe sing together, their harmonies squeeze the heart.
The duo launched the album at a hometown Edinburgh in-store at Coda Records, followed by another gig on September 26 at Hendersons @ St John's. They're in Glasgow at CCA on October 5.
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