Alan Turner

Review Of Support Gig with Chris Helme
with first up a solo set from Alan (Fae The Rise) - or for those who don’t speak the lingo, The Rise’s guitarist and singer Alan doing an acoustic set!

Alan’s set opened with "My Old Friend" with a wistful vocal and strummed guitar chords carrying through the venue like a warm wind as his clear vocals delivered the verses with a mix of yearning and emotion, rising on the choruses of blue-sky delight. "Lady" had an almost seventies-era Lindisfarne quality to it, a more jaunty number with a neat use of acoustic guitar as rhythm and lead, the story-telling lyric unfolding from a wonderfully strong and in-tune vocal, almost Dylan-esque in its structure only richer sounding, the song itself having a good hookline that catches in your head. "It’s Easy" was more of an "accelerated strummer" of a song, as the vocal veers from hushed verses to soaring choruses that possess a real stretched-out feel, as the full-sounding voice weaves its way over guitar work that ranges from strident to sensitive. The guitar work on "Going Straight" has a distinctly 12-string feel to it, and the tasty intro possessed a real ringing quality to it, as the vocal glides out with his, by now, trademark sense of passion and wistfulness. The song itself seems fragile from the outside but has an inner strength that sails straight into your heart. There’s a real warmth to it, a depth of playing, singing and arranging, into which you quite happily dive. He ends the set with The Rise’s classic track, "Black Monday", here decelerated but still sounding strong as the vocal positively glides through the verses on a slow-motion flight, an erupting rocker now showcased as a glorious bird in flight, evoking nothing but wide-eyed delight in the listener. A much stronger set and one of the best male solo acoustic acts on the Dundee Scene. - Andy Garibaldi

Former vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Dundee band The Rise, with his first solo offerings and the results are seriously fine. The CD starts with "It's Easy" as this chiming sea of acoustic and electric guitars spreads its wings while his light, airy, warm and soaring vocals flows through the song with an anthemic quality to which you're immediately drawn, the song cascading effortlessly as the guitars shimmer, gentle percussive backdrop shakes and the whole thing fills the airways with emotion, optimism and hope, a simply glorious sounding song that you'll just play and play and play, both commercial and serious listening at the same time, and for a sliice of electro-acoustic guitars-driven folk, really rather amazing. If that wasn't a good enough place to begin, then "Lady" is every bit as good. This time a neatly jaunty rhythm sets things goinjg as gentle bass takes the undercurrent above which flowing, sparse guitar lines, subtly used harmonica and a wholly lazily strident arrangement all leaves the strong, emotionally wrought but incredibly emotive vocal to take off and fly throughout the song, another sensitive yet strong rendition of a song that also endears itself to your head and heart with a warmth and spirit oozing from its well-written lyrical qualities. Superb! "Standing On" marches along with what sounds like a combination of guitars and mandolin as another almost echoey vocal just soars above the flowing current of guitars and deep emotive bass, the song itself, if anything, more reflective than before, but still that almost taut and high-flying vocal just stunning above the ringing, flowing, cascading arrangement of guitars, the song rising and falling and sounding just so easily glorious, and as with the rest of the CD, almost like a folkier rerun of Vini Reilly's Durutti Column but pared down to its warm hearted basics. Finally there's "Going Straight" where delicate acoustic guitar gives way to shimmering electric guitar as the early morning vocal comes in and relates its lesson of learning in a gorgeous mix of emotive lead voice and soaring harmonies, full of remorse and yet also full of hope once again. It's easy going, but somehow it's got heart, substance, purpose and direction – for what is essentially solo electro-acoustic folk, it's got a presence that most would die to achieve. All four songs leave you wanting to play them over and over, perfect for late nights round the fireside or good-time singalong with friends or simply addictive listening when you just want to be alone with your mystery friend, here beside you on this remarkable CD. - Andy Garibaldi