Dissection Room

A Northumbrian singer/songwriter with a flair for shambolic psych-folk and exploratory rock, Richard Dawson became a fixture in the underground folk scene with his distinctive blend of traditional English folk music.

Laura Veirs grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she often spent summers camping with her family, which gave her much of her songwriting inspiration. Veirs didn’t seriously listen to music until she was in her 20s; instead, she just heard what was in her environment. She listened to folk, country, classical and pop music around the house and on the radio during her youth. Veirs is fascinated with the intersection of art and science and she explores that in her work.

Yorkston Thorne Khan are songwriter James Yorkston (guitar, nyckelharpa, voice), jazz musician Jon Thorne (double bass, voice) and 8th generation sarangi player and vocalist Suhail Yusuf Khan. Meeting by chance backstage in 2015 and playing together ever since, Yorkston Thorne Khan’s musical explorations are well-informed by their rich musical heritage but never reverential, preferring to run with an energy and fun that pushes them to new ground, Rolling Stone calling their Neuk Wight Delhi All-Stars album “a game changing masterpiece”.

Sun Ra was one of the greatest and least known jazz artists of the last four decades, whose influence on diverse musicians is little known to the general public. A pianist and band leader, his style ranged from retro swing to avant free, and often in the same piece. His band could play a swinging Gershwin tune and almost imperceptibly soar into their free cosmic equational tones as if they possessed a single mind.

Few artists are storytellers as deft and disarmingly observational as Andy Shauf. The Toronto-based, Saskatchewan-raised musician’s songs unfold like short fiction: they’re densely layered with colorful characters and a rich emotional depth.

Kristin Hersh proved herself a truly independent artist with her bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave, but her solo career allowed her to express that independence in ways that went beyond her other projects.

Stanley Odd are a force to be reckoned with (so says Clash Magazine). A live hip-hop band based in Scotland. A collective of musicians, producers and pals. Champions of outsiderdom and life on the periphery. Pioneers and innovators, pushing at boundaries, dancing along fault lines. 2021 was a whirlwind of activity for Stanley Odd, including the release of their critically acclaimed album STAY ODD – a collection of musical stories about outsiders, outcasts and the universally Odd; the ordinarily unusual; the typically extraordinary.

Johnny Lynch, AKA Isle-of-Eigg dwelling electro-acoustic psych-pop wonder Pictish Trail is back with a fourth album Thumb World, which was released on February 21, 2020. Four years in the making, Thumb World is the much-anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed Scottish Album of the Year Award public vote winner Future Echoes.

Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish based singer/songwriter that makes the mundane moments mystical: shock-positive pregnancy tests in train-station toilets, coffee machine breakages, cold river swims, the regret of not saying ‘I love You’, the moon & how it pulls, bare feet on wood floors, the soft glow of a house plant, ‘what even is consciousness?’, strange dreams lingering in quiet mornings…

Eight piece post-rock outfit and Rough Trades’ latest signee, caroline, play Summerhall in support of their debut self-titled LP. For fans of Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Balck Emperor & Talk Talk.

Roddy Woomble is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s finest songwriters.Known for his enigmatic lyrics, warm baritone voice and consummate gift for a tune, Roddy has released five solo albums to date.For the past two decades Roddy has also been the frontman of much loved Scottish alternative rock band Idlewild, releasing eight studio albums, and touring worldwide as a headline act, but also in support to R.E.M., Pearl Jam and U2 amongst others.

The second The Night With… concert of the season features Red Note Ensemble performing music for string quartet. Featuring George Crumb’s Black Angels for amplified string quartet, percussion and tuned wine glasses, Caroline Shaw’s Valencia and a new work by young composer Rufus Isobel Elliot, co-commissioned by The Night With… and Red Note Ensemble.

Hairdresser Mike Score (lead vocals, keyboards) formed A Flock of Seagulls with his brother Ali (drums) and fellow hairdresser Frank Maudsley (bass) in 1980, adding guitarist Paul Reynolds several months later. Bill Nelson’s Cocteau Records label issued their first song, the stand-alone single “(It’s Not Me) Talking,” which reached number 78 on the U.K. singles chart in 1981. The band’s