The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Justin Currie
Perth Festival of the Arts, Perth Concert Hall, May 26
Justin Currie has never played Perth Concert Hall before but he does have a unique connection to it.
His father – a chorus master with the Scottish National Orchestra chorus – was one of the prime movers in getting the venue built in the first place.
Currie headlines at the concert hall tonight, performing new solo material with his band The Pallbearers, including tracks from his latest album This Is My Kingdom Now, which was released earlier this month.
The former Del Amitri frontman is looking forward to his debut performance tonight and reveals how his father even wangled him a place on the guest list back in the day:
“My dad lived just north of Perth and he was something to do with the board of the concert hall, he was involved in getting it built,” he explains.
“So when they opened it, my dad, who was in his 70s, got me on the guest list for a Belle and Sebastian concert. “I never quite returned the favour.” After 22 years toiling in the pop and rock world of Del Amitri, Currie made the decision to go it alone in 2003 and spent the next four years writing, drinking and doing any weird non-rock gig he was invited to participate in.
Jazz shows, folk shows and soul shows added more strings to his collection of bows and in 2008 he finally got back down to business with the release of his masterpiece of maudlin, What Is Love For.
Now comes the fourth in a series of solo records he’s released over the last decade or so since Del Amitri split up – or as he prefers to describe the band’s demise, since he “stopped answering the phone.”
Not a concept as such, it’s more a loose collection of songs that would never have seen a Del Amitri set list.
“The solo albums are linked, to the extent that most of the songs on the records I wouldn’t have proffered to Del Amitri since they were too slow or too introspective or whatever,” he explains.
“I like the album so far; when I put the CD on to check it after it came back, it sounded the same to me as the master. I didn’t take it off, put it that way, which I would usually do.”
Of the sound, he adds: “This is quite minimal but it was meant to be just a piano and vocal album. Then I kind of lost my way and I ran out of steam. I thought this needs drums and so it developed from there.”
The result is yet another fine collection of songs by one of Scotland’s most gifted singer-songwriters. Lyrically brooding and reflective as ever but with Currie’s keen ear for a melody, it’s often more uplifting than maudlin and the live set looks set to provide a memorable night at the venue his father helped to build.