Siobhan Miller Band: A Powerful End to Edinburgh Tradfest

Four-time winner of Best Singer at the Scots Trad Music Awards, Siobhan Miller, needs yet another article explaining what a superstar she is, like my cat needs more whiskers, or the world needs more billionaires.

Well, too bad, because that’s what this wee review is destined tae be.

A Gentle Opening: Stewart, White, and a Surprise Entrance

Playing support act, regular band members, guitarist Innes White, and fiddler Charlie Stewart took the stage first with a pretty waltz, followed by a cracking reel. Outstanding musicians in their own right, they don’t just play fine arrangements; they tell stories with each one. However, no sooner had they played Stewart’s lockdown-penned tribute to the hill out his window, and a rather romantic strathspey, than they were joined by a surprise guest: Miller herself.

Now, artists playing as part of their own support isn’t all that common, but it made perfect sense. With only White and Stewart for company, she launched into an acoustic set of predominantly sad songs. Misery, she explained, was almost inevitable when she was left alone with only her fiddler and guitarist for company. The pick of these openers, for me, was ‘The Selkie of Sule Skerry’, an immensely haunting and soulful rendition of the old Orkney song. The pleasure Miller takes in an elegant sequence of notes is written plain in her smile, even as she tells of the dismal fates of shapeshifting seals.

“The pleasure Miller takes in an elegant sequence of notes is written plain in her smile, even as she tells of the dismal fates of shapeshifting seals.”

Full Band, Full Power: Miller in Command

A short break and drummer Louis Abbott, pianist Tom Gibbs, and bassist Euan Burton joined the opening trio on stage, thus bringing the Siobhan Miller band to full force. Cue a stirring ‘Queen of Argyll’ and an irresistible ‘I’m a Rover’, two of the standout tracks from Miller’s 2022 album, ‘Bloom’.

Recordings capture Miller’s vibrant tone, but not the full power of her voice. Sure, she can hit the sweet, lilting highs, but it’s a potent midrange which injects proceedings with real oomph.

From Singalongs to Subtlety: A Masterclass in Range

So, whether delighting the socks of her Auld Reekie audience with a blisteringly quick rendition of ‘Tranent’, or inducing one of the more nuanced sing-alongs I’ve ever witnessed with ‘Sorrow When the Day is Done’, there really wasn’t any danger of her spell breaking. The latter also afforded Abbot the chance to impress with a funky solo on the keys, and no one is more delighted when other talents are shining on stage than Miller herself.

What’s particularly impressive is her ability to take songs, old and less old, and interpret them in fresh, but not needlessly revolutionary ways. Songs like ‘I’m a Rover’ have passed through many storied hands, not least the Dubliners, but find fresh energy with her and her trusted bandmates.

“Siobhan Miller is that rarest of things: a genuine star.”

Songwriting Strengths and a Glimpse of What’s to Come

She’s also no slouch when it comes to penning her own tunes, be it nostalgic folk-pop single ‘The Club of Squandered Youth’, or the breezy road-trip worthy ‘Mercury’. For my money, however, her catchiest work lies in ‘Secrets and Lies’, which she summoned up from her first album made a decade ago. The aforementioned ‘Sorrow When the Day is Done’ also points to a songwriter able to sublimate deep feeling into an earworm.

That said, I think the best may still be to come – weird as it might seem to say of someone so clearly at the top of their chosen profession. Yet, if – and I suspect when – Siobhan can capture the sparkle of her sensational take on ‘Cold Blows the Rainy Night’ in something of her own, it’ll be something very special indeed.

A Festival Finale Worthy of a Star

For now, her audiences will simply have to make do with outstanding renditions of Andy M. Stewart’s compulsory joiner-in, ‘I’m A Rover’, or Ed Pickford’s gritty, pulsing ‘Pound a Week Rise’. I’m also quite sure that they’d merrily follow her into an all-night hoolie after a belting take on Rab Noakes’ ‘Open All Night’.

Edinburgh Tradfest might do a fine job of giving stages to new and rising talents, but it’s in bringing superstars like Siobhan Miller and her band to close the festival that it cements its place as a critical event in the city’s cultural calendar.