BE CHARLOTTE
During the easing of lockdown, a number of Scotsman Sessions have taken place al fresco, from forests in Aberdeenshire to saunas in Finland. Dundonian singer and multi-instrumentalist Be Charlotte is the latest artist to make a break for the great outdoors, with her strolling minstrel rendition of current single Lights Off, filmed in Monikie Country Park on the outskirts of Dundee.
“I’ve spent a lot of time indoors over the last few months so I’m taking any opportunity I can to get out in some fresh air,” she says. “Also there are so many beautiful places in Scotland, I love to show them off!”
Lights Off is the title track from her major label debut Dreaming with the Lights Off, but the musician born Charlotte Brimner has been a pop prospect since emerging from Glasgow Kelvin College’s music business course, with her aptly titled 2016 debut single Discover released on its esteemed Electric Honey label (former labelmates: Belle & Sebastian, Biffy Clyro and Snow Patrol).
Brimner spent a couple of years living in Berlin but returned to her native Dundee at the start of 2020, where she hosted Scotland’s first allfemale songwriting camp before lockdown forced a gear change.
“I’ve been trying to stay creative and productive,” says Brimner, “Some days that feels harder than others. I’ve learned to take each day as it comes and know it’s okay to binge watch a TV series and eat snacks some days and then write songs on other days.”
Like many of her peers, Brimner has embraced the live-streamed show but is hankering for a face-to-face with her fans on her 2021 tour.
“I’m so excited at the thought of playing live shows again and these shows are gonna be bigger and better than anything I’ve done before,” she says. “I’m also working on lots of new songs and something very special that I will be able to share soon.”
FIONA SHEPHERD
Be Charlotte plays the Mash House, Edinburgh, on 10 March, King Tut’s, Glasgow, 11 March and Church, Dundee, 12 March, https://iambecharlotte. com/