BURNS UNIT – Side Show CD
BURNS UNIT – Side Show CD
Introducing The Burns Unit: an 8-piece Scottish-Canadian supergroup whose multi-faceted sound can be described as “indie pop meets carnival rock”.
The Burns Unit features indie-rock queen Emma Pollock; Indo-Caledonian pop artist Future Pilot AKA; award-winning folk singer Karine Polwart; alt-folk royalty King Creosote; elegant multi-instrumentalist Kim Edgar; drummer/producer Mattie Foulds and energetic piano-man Michael Johnston (both from Canada), along with virtuosic rapper MC Soom T.
On August 3, 2010, The Burns Unit releases their anticipated debut, “Side Show” through Proper Distribution in the UK. Produced by the band’s drummer Mattie Foulds, “Side Show” was mixed with Paul Savage (Franz Ferdinand) and mastered by Jon Astley (The Who, ABBA, Norah Jones).
“Side Show” is an exhilarating, theatrical and intimate album. Featuring no less than 6 lead vocalists, “Side Show” is surprisingly cohesive and emotionally resonant. Incorporating elements of indie-rock, cabaret, dub, synth-pop, and folk, the 10 songs on “Side Show” are both anthemic and organic, and walk the line from dark to playful and back again.
“We may be the world’s first accidental big band’, laughs Johnston. Formed out of a one-week songwriting retreat - called “Burnsong” - held in rural Scotland in December 2006 (that also included Squeeze’s Chris Difford), each musician arrived with virtually no connections to or knowledge of one another. “Together, we’re such a mish-mash of personalities and styles”, says Johnston, “we had no right to have gotten along as well as we did, let alone form a band and make an album. We often joke that we’re the band nobody asked to be a member of.”
With all 10 songs co-written by at least 2 members of the band, the collaborative sound on “Side Show” is furthered by interweaving vocal parts (Kim Edgar and Karine Polwart’s mesmerizing chant on “Send Them Kids To War” underscoring Soom T’s urgent lead vocal); several duets (like the spellbinding opening track “Since We’ve Fallen Out”, featuring King Creosote and Polwart, and the Jacques Brel-esque “You Need Me To Need This” delivered by Emma Pollock and Michael Johnston); hypnotic instrumentation (the heavy drum & bass groove of “Future Pilot AKC”) and – most interestingly - each member stepping out of their more familiar styles as solo artists.
The unique and bold sound of “Side Show” includes retro synths, accordion, shruti box and tamboura along with guitars, piano, drums and bass.
1. Since We've Fallen Out
2. Trouble
3. Send Them Kids To War
4. Future Pilot A.K.C.
5. Blood, Ice And Ashes
6. Sorrys
7. You Need Me To Need This
8. Majesty Of Decay
9. What Is Life?
10. Helpless To Turn