When Scottish Music Network received an invitation to attend the Glasgow show by GUSTAFSSON it piqued our interest enough that we had to go and check them out.
The band is anchored by actor Andrew Gower of Outlander fame and they are here in Glasgow to showcase their latest recordings.
The small venue lends itself to gritty sounds and intimate performances… tonight promises to be the latter.
Kicking off the evening is LIV DAWN; a young solo performer from the Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
She writes and performs her own tunes with impressive aplomb and, despite a painfully small crowd, lights up the venue with her charismatic charm.
The word ‘beautiful’ makes a frequent appearance in her set and her shy positivity was obvious for all to see and hear. She was even confident enough to cover the classic Fleetwood Mac song ‘Dreams’.
The crowd didn’t exactly swell in time for the main set… and that’s a pity because GUSTAFSSON were about to play a more than decent set.
Those who didn’t know GUSTAFSSON could have easily thought the band members were stage crew such was their languid demeanour as they took to the stage.
As the set unfolded their job titles were unmistakable… they were very talented musicians.
Andrew Gower strutted onto the small stage to much fanfare from the still painfully small crowd.
The northern English band looked effortless in their trade; not effortless in a bad way but effortless in a band at the top of their game kinda way.
Andrew had a lazy meandering style to his vocal in a way that would fit well in a jazz club.
His acting background was conducive to the story telling lyrics and sat perfectly with the masterful instrumentation… that being said, there were a couple of power notes that he couldn’t quite reach.
All in all it was a decent night of music. It was disappointing that there weren’t more people there to take in the show and add to the whole vibe in the venue.
Photographs and Review by John Brown Photography
