Without prior notice one could be forgiven for thinking that Royal Edinburgh Music was a philharmonic orchestra or some kind of bagpipe ensemble. There is little in the enigmatic name that indicates the reality of the artist concealed within. If you look online they are inadequately categorised as any number of genre - alternative, indie, folk etc. That’s a bit like listing a Porsche as ‘car, engine, and transport’. It conspicuously conveys nothing. The same is true of REM (no not them).
In some ways Royal Edinburgh Music is a vehicle but for the voice of Elizabeth Jackson who is the main protagonist of the band and the driving force. That is not to say there isn’t a fine supporting cast of musicians seamlessly holding her in a musical cradle but it is her voice which is the defining characteristic.
She is also the primary architect of the music and lyrics – not so much crafted as carved from her soul and hewn from personal knowledge. This is not just music, it is the life-force and the construct of the human condition distilled into sound. This is music to soak in, like a deep hot bath infused with aromatic essences and lit by candles. This is music in which you immerse your senses and marinade them.
Her voice sometimes sings like an angel and elsewhere is the cry of a penitent in a confessional, beseeching the listener, plaintive, drenched with experience. It washes like a warm wind whispering through leaves, a soundtrack to emotions and evocations, conjuring feelings and images – footprints in fresh snow or a heat haze on tarmac, the broken hearts and spilt milk of the daily grind, the trivia and drama of life laid out. These are songs that turn pain into pleasure.
Elizabeth sings with a bluesy soul sensitivity that could make itself at home with the catalogue of many mainstream songs. One could imagine her doing her own take on ‘Cry me a river’ for example. One could suppose Nick Cave, Tom Waits or Nico liking this. Listening to her is like having honey dripped into your ears. She has that kind of smokey velvet voice that curls around words and lets them slide from her tongue with consummate ease. It’s an effortless delivery, very different in content from someone like Sade but a similarity of seductive quality.
The arrangements and execution are uncomplicated but so appropriate – sufficient and perfect for the voice they support. ‘All you are’ begins with a simple melodic guitar that is augmented by mellow strings and later vocal harmonies that compliment the simplicity without smothering it. This is how to translate emotion to sound without losing the meaning. ‘Without your words’ uses percussion to great effect to endorse and reflect the forlorn essence of the theme, again building upon a delicate guitar introduction. The track gathers pace in restrained intensity and acts as a conduit for the palpable emotions expressed therein. ‘If you understand me’ makes despair sound so pretty and optimistic. A neat trick.
And in the aftermath of listening to Royal Edinburgh Music you are left sensing echoes of what you have just heard. The air still crackles with their static and like things seen from the corner of the eye so too the ears catch fragments that linger and reverberate in the memory. If not royal by appointment there is certainly majesty to their music. And although born of humble origins it deserves to ascend to the throne of whatever genre you choose to describe it by.
Review by Peter Heydon
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