Singer's solo offering is warm and upbeat
Pedro Delgado is a former professional cyclist, winner of the 1988 Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989. Though having very little in common with four Scottish musicians forming a band in 1994, he became an inspiration for their name and, thus, The Delgados were born.
From then, and for 11 years, the band was made up of Alun Woodward and Emma Pollock, both on vocals and guitar, plus Paul Savage on drums and Stewart Henderson on bass. The band started their own label, Chemikal Underground, which has since released records by Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap), Mogwai and The Phantom Band.
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Our focus is Pollock, who signed with 4AD following the band's demise, and has released two albums in the interim. It was 2007 before Pollock fans got their first taste of her solo work, with a debut album entitled Watch the Fireworks.
The album was produced by Victor Van Vugt, who has long working relationships with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Beth Orton, as well as having produced music for PJ Harvey, The Fall, Einstürzende Neubauten and Billy Bragg. Van Vugt's resume is hardly finished there, though, with Grammy, Brit and Mercury Prize nominations (and a Mercury win) under his belt too.
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It's no surprise then that album is beautifully assembled; Pollock's voice warm and crisp, the instrumentation simultaneously lush and energetic. The songs are more upbeat than The Delgados, with less of the moody, dark intensity, and a little bit more of a pop sensibility.
The Law of Large Numbers (a title perhaps inspired by her physics degree) followed in 2010. The lyrics are more direct, the melodies more refined, and the songs more accessible.
Though it's been two years since her last solo album, Pollock has not been in hiding. Having met at a Scottish songwriting retreat, Pollock became a member of the Canadian-Scottish supergroup The Burns Unit, with Future Pilot, aka Karine Polwart, and King Creosote, amongst others. The band, which also features rapper MC Soom T, have released an album called Side Show, which was mixed with Paul Savage (Franz Ferdinand) and mastered by Jon Astley (The Who, ABBA).
Pollock also contributed to RM Hubbert's Thirteen Lost & Found (Hubbert will be co-headlining this tour with Pollock) and formed The Fruit Tree Foundation, with members of The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit, Idlewild and more. The Fruit Tree Foundation produced a limited edition album in order to raise awareness of The Mental Health Foundation in Scotland; the CD was only available at two gigs in October of 2010 and has been unavailable since.
Pollock has also been working on new material for a follow-up to The Law of Large Numbers, some of which she'll debut on this rare tour. There'll also be a ultra-limited edition tour EP available, with new and exclusive tracks and collaborations by both Pollock and Hubbert. This is a rare chance to hear Pollock and Hubbert perform their collaborations, and to see Pollock solo and acoustic in such an intimate venue.
Emma Pollock The Louisiana, September 8. See listings for details.
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