Playing her only Scottish headline show this year, Josephine Sillars and her supporting artists Karys and Elizabeth Elektra gave us a night of queer and femme celebration full of creativity, love and friendship in Summerhall’s Old lab venue.
Although it can always be daunting to be the first act on stage, even more so when you are faced with tech issues, melancholic pop singer-songwriter Karys did not let that stop her one bit as she had the audience entranced by her unique blend of Gaelic and her haunting pop sound to create a truly encompassing set. I have always admired an artist’s use of space in music, and I think Karys has mastered it as it helped to create a true feeling of engagement and attentiveness within the room, which lasted all the way through to Sillars final set.
I would describe Karys and Elizabeth Elektra as two sides of the same coin, a perfect pair as they both complemented each other and energised the audience in different ways. Elektra brought a fierce and powerful energy to the room as she domineered the stage. Elektra’s stage presence instantly reminded me of Lana Del Ray and Abigail Morris. Her sound and use of lighting made it impossible for you to want to look at anything else in the room but her and we were even lucky enough to get a listen to her upcoming single ‘Desire’ which is set to be released on September 26th.
As Josephine Sillars and her band came on stage the crowd was full of excitement and energy which Sillars was more than ready to reciprocate. Throughout the entire set, I was truly in awe of Sillars stage presence and crowd interaction, from stories about exes to anecdotes that show that everyone really does love Michael sheen. She created an environment that made it feel intimate, like we were all just friends hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. This was even more solidified when you watch how excited and in tune each member of the band was with each other.
Although Sillars and her band faced tech issues throughout their set due to a rogue bit of bass amp feedback they managed it expertly and didn’t let that stop them from creating an encompassing and intimate atmosphere with the crowd. It even gave us a more unique and personal interaction with Sillars as she performed an acapella cover of ‘Problems with Power’ which truly showed of Sillars powerful voice with the audience bursting with support and encouragement.
Commenting on her gig Sillars stated that “I am really excited to play Summerhall. This is my first proper headline in Edinburgh…Summerhall feels like a really iconic venue so I’m really excited and grateful to Arusa for booking me!”
When asked about how she hopes the audience responds to her new work and what environment and feeling she wants to create for them, Sillars had this to stay:
“I am really hoping audiences have fun with our show. My band line up has changed a bit over the past few years and the line-up we have now is really settled. We have such a fun time on stage that I’m hoping that rubs off on the audience. As we’re also playing new music – first look at songs from my debut album – I’m just super interested to see how the songs go down. I love test driving new material with audiences. My newer music is quite emotive, very Daughter inspired, and it sounds much more mature compared to my earlier sounds. I think because I’ve been releasing music since I was a teenager, I sometimes worry that audiences still see me as I used to be, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how the material goes down!”
As we started to near the end of the show Sillars, and her band gave us a beautiful and harmonically mesmerising cover of ‘Hide and Seek’ by Imogen Heap. I felt transported to a different place during this and I believe the audience was as well, everyone was stood still appreciating how special the moment was as even the band seemed to forget they were on stage. To finish the show, we got to listen to Sillars newest single ‘Trophy’ which was released on September 6th, there was a clear excitement from Sillars to perform it and it is a truly beautiful song as a tribute to a dear friend.
I had an amazing time at this show, from Karys, Elizabeth Elektra, and Josephine Sillars and her band, the evening was bursting with talent. Although there is no set release date yet for Sillars’ debut album I will most certainly be ready for when it finally does drop, but until then I will have ‘Trophy’ playing on repeat.