{"id":30751,"date":"2024-12-02T15:16:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T15:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/?p=30751"},"modified":"2024-12-02T15:17:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T15:17:38","slug":"gig-review-king-creosote-at-the-international-music-venue-wednesday-20th-november-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/gig-review-king-creosote-at-the-international-music-venue-wednesday-20th-november-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Gig review – King Creosote at The International Music Venue, Wednesday 20th November 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

with Emily Barker<\/h2>\n

Reviewed by\u00a0Phil Taylor<\/a>\u00a0(see his Music Observer blog\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

There was a warm reception for Emily Barker<\/a> <\/strong>at Leicester\u2019s The International<\/a> on a cold early winter\u2019s night. The Australian singer-songwriter had come a long way to join King Creosote\u2019s UK tour, and she seemed overjoyed to be part of it all. The venue under this name is one of Leicester\u2019s newest (although the space itself has been used for a while): a generous, broad area with an impressively deep stage, a modern sound system, a long bar, and plenty of friendly staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Emily Barker. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Emily performed an impressive solo set, using her strikingly pure vocals to great effect. Despite briefly forgetting the words to one of the songs from her new album, she was unfazed, ad-libbing an Aussie band quiz, before picking up with some \u201csad songs\u201d instead. Those included the beautiful, crystalline The Woman Who Planted Trees<\/em> from 2020\u2019s A Dark Murmuration of Words<\/em> and the haunting Nostalgia<\/em> (from the same album).<\/p>\n

When she returned to her new material, it shone through with an honest beauty. Her new album\u2019s title track, Fragile As Humans<\/em>, was gorgeous: a pure, deep and strikingly observational song.<\/p>\n

Emily exudes an almost tangible feeling of compassion and joy as she sings and as she chats between songs, which is perhaps why she was so effortlessly able to conjure up heartfelt audience participation so early on in the evening. She did this along with two other singers, the wonderful Mairearad Green and Katy Fisher, who would return later. Emily also plucked a gorgeous silence from the air, hushing everyone respectfully as we hung on every one of her proficient, clear words.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Emily Barker. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a support set, Emily performed for an all-too-short half hour. But the wonderful thing was that she returned soon after to form part of King Creosote<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s 7-piece band. The headliner, real name Kenny Anderson, is one of Scotland’s most beloved musicians, and one of the UK’s most prolific, having released around 50 records. His latest is I Des<\/em> and the Leicester show was part of an extensive tour to promote the album. It was great to see KC choosing to visit a few sometimes-overlooked cities, such as ours (as well as Warwick, Exeter, Sunderland and more) before ending with two London shows at Union Chapel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Katy Fisher & Emily Barker. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KC\u2019s set began with a lengthy, synth-driven, long-building introduction, with the band members arriving one by one before Kenny himself arrived with a cheery and almost bashful grin. This was an effective, suitably dramatic start to the show. Once everyone arrived, it was a very full stage (which is where The International came into its own, providing plenty of space): no acoustic drums but four men operating synths, samplers, keyboards and other beautiful pieces of tech; and in front, KC himself flanked by Maireared (often playing the accordion), Katy Fisher on violin and backing vocals, and Emily Barker.<\/p>\n

There are times when large bands can feel like overkill, but tonight the group worked in perfect unison, each contributing their parts with just the right level of energy \u2014 subtle enough to ensure KC’s voice shone through, but never fading too far into the background themselves. It wasn’t always finely polished, but any rough edges were the joyful by-product of a group of musicians having fun together. The chemistry between them was plain to see, with KC in particular hardly ever losing his grin and often directing it to his fellow stage-mates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
King Creosote. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a very full set, wending its way first through the whole KC’s new album, before delving into his back catalogue. The newer songs were often driven by throbby synth-loops and relatively modern beats, but always overlaid with KC’s characteristic gravelly, Scots-inflected tones. It’s Sin That’s Got Its Hold On Us<\/em> was an effective opening track proper, and Dust<\/em> and Burial Bleak<\/em> were impactful early on in the set, confirming that KC can make even the darkest of topics engaging and enjoyable (as did his funeral banter around this part of “the death set”).<\/p>\n

Please Come Back I Will Listen, I Will Behave, I Will Toe The Line<\/em>\u00a0was another of the newer songs and featured a brilliant morph at the end, turning into something enveloping, with swathes of sound from the multiple instruments layering up and up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
King Creosote. Photo (c) Kevin Gaughan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the latter (“greatest hits”) part of the set, So Forlorn<\/em> was outstanding, and a great contrast to the new material \u2014 a richly organic, very slightly shambolic shanty of a song, with plenty of scope for the accordion and rambunctious vocals. And No One Had It Better<\/em> came into its own as a live song: punchy, energetic and joyous and providing a brilliant platform for the musicians to leave the stage: KC spelled out each of their names letter by letter adding “… rules OK with me” to which they waved and swiftly exited, eventually leaving only Kenny to grin one final time and depart … before the inevitable encores, of course.<\/p>\n

It must be a challenge for a musician with the experience and vast back catalogue of Kenny’s to choose a setlist which balances new and familiar songs, but he seemed to achieve it well here in Leicester. The I Des<\/em> material was excellent: making good use of modern tech and sounds, but solidly King Creosote in songwriting approach; and the older material was well selected, keeping fans happy while also injecting the songs with a fresh sound.<\/p>\n

It was a great thing that he visited Leicester on this tour, giving The International a great showcase and proving what a great city for music this can be.<\/p>\n

If you would like to share this review, please help us by using the share buttons below instead of a screen print \u2013 thanks!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newer songs were often driven by throbby synth-loops and relatively modern beats, but always overlaid with KC’s characteristic gravelly, Scots-inflected tones.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":30760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[339,216],"tags":[264,239],"class_list":["post-30751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-339","category-gig_reviews","tag-acoustic-music","tag-folk-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_4307.jpg?fit=872%2C581&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73uhX-7ZZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28010,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/gig-review-oceans-apart-at-the-shed-saturday-2nd-april-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":30751,"position":0},"title":"Gig review – Oceans Apart at The Shed, Saturday 2nd April 2022","author":"Kevin Gaughan","date":"08\/04\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As I sipped my pint, I reflected that I have been coming to The Shed for twenty years. 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