http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pdPEqkl4KA

Video for On The Wire made by Julien Pearly, featuring Lindsay Sugden & The Storm, Lili the dancer, and with the help & hard work of loads of others, you know who you are, :)

Got a wee review from my solo gig the other week...

Lindsay Sugden is one of the most refreshing acts this reviewer has seen this year. This is music that makes you step back from the convoluted music scenes of today and appreciate the true beauty that can be found in music. No song here has been written to sell an album; these are songs that have been written out of a love of music: instead of being littered with familiar chord sequences Lindsay writes music that reflects the tone of her lyrics, no matter how diverse. Lindsay is without her storm tonight, but this does not stop her from going down a storm.

http://www.yrock.co.uk/events/gig-reviews/135-outback-eskimos-an-acoustic-masterclass

Advance booking is recommended. www.tentracks.co.uk

For anyone who was not awake at 1am on Monday morning, "On The
Wire" was played on Tom Robinson's Introcucing show on BBC 6 music,
which was very cool.  First time on the BBC, yay :). You can listen again here until Monday 10th March http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00hyddh 

This just went up - very nice o them.  So i have a smile on my face:

[4 stars]
At times rattly and percussive, at others, delicate and intricate - and
that only accounts for Lindsay Sugden’s guitar playing which blends
distinctly Caledonian, ethereal fingerpicking with unusual chord
progressions and bass runs in constant motion. Her breathy vocals float
through these four songs, merging alternatively with the guitar and
gorgeous, unique cello; delicately clattering percussion provides an
urgency in contrast with the dreamy strings. The empathetic production
emphasises every intake of breath, the scraping of fingers on strings
and subtle reverb creating an atmosphere of intimacy. This is proper
contemporary Scottish folk music: neither gimmicky nor anachronistic,
it sounds both familiar and yet otherwordly. [Stephen Toman]

view it online here on the skinny site

Being plugged pre-set as the ones who swiped all the awards at Acoustic Idols the previous week, made me a tad nervous - can one live up to such expectations? Eep.  Well the very kind & also very talented Mr Johnny Pugh has these words to say about the ol' gig in the CG... (below). 

Oh, before I show you that, on another note, apparently the songs have spread across the water, to a suburban train headed for Zurich, specifically, where LS was heard being played by some (as yet unidentified) girls... if it were you, let me know!!  It was by a very strange co-incidence that i discovered this... lets just say, it involved heat pumps.  Mysterious huh?!

Anyways, back to the review:

Lindsay Sudgen and The Storm

"Our main act tonight sees a wealth of musical talent take to the Out Of
The Bedroom stage: Lindsay is accompanied by a cellist, glockenspiel
player (not sure about the correct terminology for that) and backing
vocalist, as well as (what I hear was) a djembe player/ harmonicist.
However, the first song makes it clear that this is a very tight knit
unit, with each part blending together into a beautiful whole. "I Know Its
Odd" begins with fingerpicked, medieval sounding chords, reminiscent of
some of "The Strawbs" acoustic stuff. Thankfully, Lindsay's voice is a
million miles away from Dave Cousin's much ostracised vocal style, the
words at times only breathed into the microphone, yet still audible over
the accompaniment. The lyrics are ethereal, and ambiguous, and I would
probably be doing them an injustice if I tried to interpret them. I get
the impression that this may even be the point.  Anyway a really beautiful
song, expertly performed.
"Beyond These Walls", includes an aching cello line, and some fantastic
backing vocal lines from 'Indigo Rose' (who we shall hear more of later).
It would be easy given the many layers of sound, to forget to acknowledge
the complexity of Lindsay's guitar work, yet in this song particularly,
there are some elegant chords, and musical ideas on show. The chorus
evoked feelings of painful hopelessness that "Nothing will ever change",
and the delivery of each line was perfectly weighted by Lindsay's voice.
Their third Song was "On the Wire". As a newcomer to the Edinburgh music
scene, I only saw Lindsay perform for the first time at OOTB 300 with this
song. It really stood out for me then, and tonight, with the support of a
band, it really was exceptional. It had some thought provoking lyrics (I
particularly liked "Its just desire/ or its all illusion), which were
delivered with some exquisite harmonies. The song was well structured, and
the djembe gave it real direction, particularly when the tempo increased
towards the end. I thought that this song best combined the otherworldly
aspect of Lindsay's sound, and a commercial catchy hook. I didn't catch
the name of the next one, but I've just written down on the back of my
raffle ticket/notepad, "Harmonica Song". Here Lindsay exhibited her
versatility in reverting to the accompaniment of her guitar alone, and the
wailing vibratos of her harmonica player. The latter made lines such as
"she gives up on everything she loves", and "nothing can take the pain
away", all the more anguished. A haunting finesse of a song. Towards the
end of the set, I was rapidly running out of raffle ticket space on which
to write notes, so the remainder of the review is done from some
indecipherable scribbles, and memory. "Time Stands Still" struck me as a
highly polished
song, with some innovative guitar work, and delicate vocals, supplemented
by the pizzicato of the cello. Their last which I think may have been
called "All the Simple Things", had a slightly rockier edge, some of it
comparable to Incubus' less heavy stuff. Although somewhat of a departure
from the other songs of the set, Lindsay's voice rose to the change in
direction well. If truth be told, my notes for this act were pretty
rubbish because I remember being totally immersed throughout the set. The
quality of the performance from all four musicians was equalled by the
musicianship in the songwriting, and although this review may not ably
reflect this, the audience was mesmerised by a stunning set."