"an incredibly diverse range of talent...a remarkable ensemble" (The Herald)
"one of Scotland's most anticipated new bands" (STV)
"aside from their multinational membership, they demonstrate a canny ability to blend disparate styles: from tender odes to serendipity...to jacked-up carnival rock; from Soom T’s MIA-esque melodica-backed protest song to a sinister, bloody ballad - the band fuse their contrasting talents and leave no signs of suture or ego...a ‘supergroup’ that manages to be more than the sum of its parts..." (The Skinny)
"The Burns Unit make a virtue of their breadth of range...please make sure it keeps happening" (The Scotsman)
"from raucous guitar rock to Jacques Brel-esque torch songs to bittersweet country, they drew on a dizzyingly wide spectrum of influences...those in the audience may have come along to see their particular heroes or heroines, but they ended up united in loud acclamation of the whole." (The Sunday Herald)
Introducing The Burns Unit: an 8-piece Scottish-Canadian cohort of big-hearted and immensely talented singers, songwriters and players. The Burns Unit makes its official debut at the 2009 Celtic Connections Festival to a sold-out crowd of 1200 at ABC 1 in Glasgow.
The story of the Burns Unit, featuring Emma Pollock (formerly of the Delgados), Indo-Caledonian Pop Artist Future Pilot AKA, and virtuosic rapper MC Soom T from Glasgow, renowned folk singer Karine Polwart, elegant multi-instrumentalist Kim Edgar from Edinburgh, alt-folk royalty King Creosote from Fife, as well as drummer/producer Mattie Foulds and infectiously energetic piano-man Michael Johnston, both from Canada, begins in 2006.
“Burnsong”, a Scottish initiative to encourage new songwriting, invites these musicians - along with Squeeze’s Chris Difford - to a retreat called the ‘Songhouse’ in December 2006. The concept is to spend one week in a remote country home in Southern Scotland with seven other complete musical strangers.
Amidst five days of power outages and communal meals, quick friendships and unlikely collaborations are formed. Of the remarkable number of songs written together, some 15 favourites are picked to showcase at two intimate concerts held immediately after the ‘Songhouse’.
They are all happily reunited in May 2008 (minus Difford) for an 8-gig tour of Scotland, performing songs exclusively written during the ‘Songhouse’. The audience response to the shows is overwhelmingly positive.
During the tour, the collaborative energy within the group intensifies and flourishes. Several new songs are co-written, including one (entitled, appropriately, “Beautiful Mistakes”) which is finished moments before the final show of the tour begins.
Upon tour’s end, the members of the as-yet-unnamed-band agree a collection of songs should be recorded, and that an official collaboration be launched.
Enter Donald Shaw, artistic director of Celtic Connections, who enthusiastically offers the band their first official show - 3 years after their first meeting - as part of the 2009 Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
Immediately following their debut gig, the eight women and men of The Burns Unit once again retreat to the Scottish countryside: this time to record their much-requested and talked-about debut, to be released in 2009.
"...rarely will you witness eight musicians so evidently delighted to be sharing a stage...they drew boldly but sure-handedly on influences as diverse as 1980s electro-pop, barrelhouse blues, bhangra rap, Weimar cabaret and brash guitar rock. The six singers in the line-up provided for seemingly infinite variety in the swapping about of lead and harmony roles, with nearly as much switching between instrumentation that included piano, electric and acoustic guitars, synth, accordion and melodica.
Yet while every number sounded entirely different from the last, there was nothing remotely scattershot or sprawling about the set: not only had the band clearly put in plenty of rehearsal time, but they were just as palpably united in, and inspired by, their shared creative purpose. Now roll on that album. . . ." (Highlands and Islands Arts Journal)
Any news on the album? I saw you in eastwood theatre last may, and again at the abc in january, and the intervening periods have been a torturous existence, the void filled with substandard musicians, longingly staring at melodicas and remembering what once was! I'm beginning to think it was all just a dream...
I was lucky enough to catch you guys at the Sage last year and am delighted to find you here. Of course if you ever want to add a Geordie, so that Michael doesn't feel like the only foreigner.....
Please support me during the festival that I'm part of in Dublin/Irland. If it's possible, can you send this link out to others to spread the word? If it works out for me in this festival you will be the first to find out:) All the best. From Miriam Sielicka and family
Online Now!
![justmegan [NEW SONG!]](http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/34/s_a2bea745d39a3d4cef09ddd0d32bfb43.jpg)
