Not so much a new acoustic trio at the Scottish rock and folk music interface, more a concert party.

Star rating ***

Not so much a new acoustic trio at the Scottish rock and folk music interface, more a concert party, this, as Roddy Woomble of Idlewild and folk musicians of many parts John McCusker and Kris Drever gather friends and companions for a night of songs, tunes, stories and ongoing banter about tuning-up requirements.

The album that the trio have just released, Before the Ruin, plays a prominent role but there are visits, too, to McCusker's recently re-issued solo work and Drever's acclaimed Blackwater CD, as well as contributions from McCusker's partner, Heidi Talbot, on vocals; singer, guitarist and songwriter Boo Hewerdine; and Kevin McGuire offering a quiet but firm double-bass presence.

Woomble comes over as the least assured, hunching over a mike that he holds on to for grim death as he intones variously staccato, restless and almost spoken verses and more relaxed, bolder refrains.

My Secret is My Silence, from his McCusker-produced solo album, and Waverley Steps, whose build-up borrows momentum from the winds that routinely assail that part of Edinburgh, are among the night's most memorable songs.

If Moments Last Forever's cittern riff and general mien suggest a possible alternative life as an arena rock anthem, despite Woomble's diffident introduction, then McCusker's fiddle tunes and Drever's championing of jazz guitarist-magician (and sometime clown, as in children's entertainer) Sandy Wright's songs are, by contrast, straight out of a backroom folk session.

Intimately played, conversationally sung and drolly presented, these, along with Drever's Appalachia-toned Shady Grove, run on a natural energy that the new group songs generally haven't quite acquired as yet, although that may come with more playing in.