Gillian Christie

"a wonderful piece of acoustic folk pop" - Jim Gellatley

BETWEEN your KT Tunstalls and your Amy Macdonalds, there's been no shortage of chart-bothering female singer-songwriters emerging from these shores of late. The new coming lady of Scottish acoustic mellowness is this East Kilbride 19-year-old.

Gil
ADVERTISEMENTlian Christie, pictured, has the kind of fresh image, breezy confidence and natural talent – not to mention skilfully controlled voice that ducks and dives in all the right places – that would have the X Factor judges swooning. Strolling on stage looking every bit the part between her carefully dishevelled black curls and loud flowery dress, she forgot to plug her guitar in at first, but otherwise showed little sign of being fazed by the prospect of entertaining a full house, alone, at this Acoustic Affair showcase in the City Halls Recital Room.

Her lyrical themes are about as sophisticated as you'd expect from a teenage girl – mostly boys, nice ones, nasty ones and even imaginary ones in the case of the whimsical He Doesn't Exist. A curious number are apparently inspired by David Icke's wackjob reptilian conspiracy theories, but we'll put that down to too much time on the internet.

A cascading rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow – a song that Christie proudly reported had reduced grown men to tears around a campfire at this summer's Wickerman festival – proved she has that all-important skill of making somebody else's tune her own.

Christie's yet to pen a song which screams hit, and a guitar tuner would probably be a wise investment for future shows, but we foresee a very bright future for her – Tunstall and Macdonald, watch your backs - the scotsman