Kim Edgar

Artist Information

Biography

Singer-songwriter Kim Edgar is “an already refined new talent” emerging from Scotland right now.

Kim's eagerly anticipated debut album, butterflies and broken glass, was released in 2008 to critical acclaim, receiving extensive airplay and Album Of The Week on BBC Radio Scotland (twice!), a five star review in Scotland On Sunday, and earning Kim a place in Radio 2’s New Songwriters Academy 2008.

Produced by Mattie Foulds, the album features Karine Polwart and her band, alongside musicians including Mairi Campbell (The Cast) and Greg Lawson (Moishe’s Bagel, Mr McFall’s Chamber).

During 2006 Kim took part in a week-long ‘Burnsong Songhouse’ songwriting retreat, collaborating with a range of artists: Chris Difford (Squeeze), Emma Pollock (Delgados), King Creosote, MC Soom T, Future Pilot AKA, Michael Johnston and Karine Polwart.

Subsequently, Karine performed their collaboration, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” as a duet with Paolo Nutini, and invited to Kim to record this track with her, and also to create and record piano arrangements of two Scots ballads for her traditional album, The Fairest Floo’er.

In 2008, the ‘Songhouse’ collaborators (minus Chris Difford and supplemented by Mattie Foulds on drums) undertook a TuneUp Tour of Scotland and the north of England, and formed a collective called ‘The Burns Unit’ – they made their debut performance as a band at Celtic Connections 2009 and their album, Side Show, was released in August 2010.

In addition to performing solo, in trio Newfangled Folk and The Burns Unit, Kim enjoys music directing for children's and adult choirs, and arranging piano and strings for other artists as well as for herself. Kim's piano arrangements are featured on Fairest Floo'er (Karine Polwart) and Heartprint Shadow (Stevie Palmer), and her string arrangements can be heard on November (Annlaug Borsheim) and will also feature on David Ferrard's forthcoming album.

Kim has performed with and been the guest of Karine Polwart, David Ferrard and Dean Owens on tour within the UK, and has performed at North American Folk Alliance, Celtic Connections, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Greenbelt Festival and Stokes Bay Festival, sharing the stage with the likes of Kate Rusby, Capercaillie, Luka Bloom, Kris Drever, Emma Pollock and Julie Fowlis. She has also performed in a range of UK venues including The Roundhouse (London), The Queens Hall (Edinburgh), The Sage (Newcastle) and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

A warm and engaging live performer who “positively smoulders” on stage, Kim’s songs combine compelling narratives and strong, piano-led melodies, indicative of her degree in English Language & Literature, experience as a children’s writer and her classical piano training.

Described as “strangely uplifting, despite the well-phrased, sombre lyrics” and “a comfort blanket for the disillusioned soul”, Kim’s songs capture distilled emotions, which increasingly wide audiences across the UK, and beyond, are identifying with and responding to.

"Edgar's original songs are often very moving, literate, allusive and expressively sung - and destined to travel far beyond their Scottish genesis."
***** Scotland On Sunday


For full gig details, visit www.kimedgar.com

For more information, email kim@kimedgar.com

Instrumentation

Kim Edgar Solo: piano, acoustic guitar, vocals

Kim also performs with a range of musicians including:

Mattie Foulds (drums)
Kevin McGuire/Tom Lyne/Lorna Thomas (double bass/electric bass)
Steven Polwart (electric and acoustic guitar)
Inge Thomson (backing vocals/percussion)

Discography

Side Show - The Burns Unit (2010)
1. Since We've Fallen Out
2. Trouble
3. Send Them Kids To War
4. Future Pilot AKC
5. Blood, Ice & Ashes
6. Sorrys
7. You Need Me To Need This
8. Majesty Of Decay
9. What Is Life?
10. Helpless To Turn

butterflies and broken glass - Kim Edgar (2008)
1. Red
2. Just Outside Your Door
3. House On The Hill
4. Heavy Skies
5. Cinderella's Slipper
6. Do You Feel Loved?
7. The Bonnie Lad
8. Scissors, Paper, Stone
9. Climber
10. The Majesty Of Decay

wee dote EP - Kim Edgar (2004):
1. Shelf
2. She Waits For Saturday
3. Tucked In My Pocket
4. Wee Dote
5. Thaw

Links

• MySpace

Audio

• Heavy Skies
  Listen  
• Soaring Home (Annlaug - string arrangement by Kim Edgar)
  Listen  
• Red
  Listen  
• House On The Hill
  Listen  
• Scissors, Paper, Stone
  Listen  

Lyrics

• House On The Hill
• Heavy Skies

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Butterflies And Broken Glass Album Five Star Review [+ Show ]
  

  Edgar’s intensity of performance and songwriting skills have long been noticed (she was one of the r...Edgar’s intensity of performance and songwriting skills have long been noticed (she was one of the recent Burnsong composers) and this polished production sets her piano and guitar skills in textures that move from delicate, quiet confessional with strings to semi-classical rock anthem underscored by resonant horns.
  
  Edgar’s original songs are often very moving, literate, allusive and expressively sung - and destined to travel far beyond their Scottish genesis. * * * * *
  Norman Chalmers, Scotland On Sunday

• Butterflies And Broken Glass Album Four Star Review [+ Show ]
  

  Winning 2006’s Burnsong competition and being chucked into a house with established songwriters was ...Winning 2006’s Burnsong competition and being chucked into a house with established songwriters was a dream come true for Scottish singer Edgar, and she’s made that experience count on this accomplished and intimate debut slice of slick folk pop. Collaborations with Emma Pollock, Future Pilot and Chris Difford appear here, as does Karine Polwart and her band, but it’s Edgar’s own unassuming style which impresses most, from the sumptuous orchestral piano pop of ‘Cinderella Slippers’ to the stripped down folk of ‘Heavy Skies’ and the wonderfully melancholic ballad ‘Climber’. This is an impressive opening salvo from an already refined new talent.
  
  

• Butterflies And Broken Glass Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  The cutting "Scissors, Paper, Stone" is a haunting tale of hurt and lost identity[...] but this raw ...The cutting "Scissors, Paper, Stone" is a haunting tale of hurt and lost identity[...] but this raw emotion is tempered by the album's debut track, "Red" [...]
  
  Kim Edgar seamlessly fuses poetry with the sound of tinkling ivories, in an album that never drifts far from a rich Scottish heritage.

Setlist

Current Set List: Full Band or Solo, two 40 minute sets

SET 1
The Bonnie Lad (Burns/Edgar)
Cinderella’s Slipper (Edgar)
Do You Feel Loved? (Difford/Edgar)
Red (Edgar)
Old Hotels (Edgar)
Heavy Skies (Edgar)
Scissors, Paper, Stone (Edgar)

SET 2

The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow (trad)
Hands Held (Edgar)
House On The Hill (Pollock/Edgar)
Climber (Edgar)
Just Outside Your Door (Edgar)
The Weary Farmers (trad)
The Majesty Of Decay (Edgar)

Encore - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Polwart/Edgar)

Basic Requirements

Calendar