A Month of Sundays festival reaches its climax

Sep 8 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

MUSICAL collective The True Gents rounded off this year’s A Month of Sundays mini-festival with a flourish.

Closing Greyfriars Bar’s annual event, the Perthshire nine-piece played songs from their latest EP at the popular South Street venue last Sunday.

The band, which was formed around two years ago by the talented duo Toby Jeffrey and Euan Nicol, have been making a big impression locally.

Their distinctive take on diverse traditional genres from folk to shanties, all rendered with more than a nod in the direction of psychedelia and indie pop, has made listeners sit up and take notice.

From poignant songs of love and loss such as Sunshine to driving ‘sea-stomps’ like Blackbeard’s Ghost, The True Gents’ performance is held together in a live context by an instrumental line-up that includes: main men Jeffrey and Nicol on guitars and vocals; Rich Minto (Mandobird / vocals); Ian Scobie on accordion; Dave Macfarlane (fiddle, mandolin and guitar); Ross Ainslie on cittern, mandolin and whistles; bassist Stevie Bairstow; Gordy Duncan on djembe / percussion; and lead vocals by Heidi Proff.

Songwriting honours are shared between the founding duo and Rich Minto, who manage to provide the band with a range of material which utilises their undoubted musical and vocal talents to best effect.

The quietly evocative Winter contrasted nicely with traditional shanty-style numbers like Brother, but the highlight of the set was surely the rhythmically melodic and lyrically enchanting Beautiful End.

This tale of old habits and new beginnings showcased all the talents of a group of young musicians who will surely enjoy a bright future.

Check them out at www.myspace.com/thetruegents

While the Amos festival may now be over for this year, the live music at Greyfriars is set to continue.

There’s the venue’s famous open mic night every Wednesday, while several bands have been lined up to play Sunday night gigs over the coming weeks.

Glasgow-based power-pop three-piece The Twisted Melons are first up this weekend.