Nick Keir
Album: The Edge Of Night
Label: Birnam
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.nick-keir.com/

With his career spanning over 35 years, Nick Keir has starred alongside Sir Christopher Lee and The Tolkien Ensemble at the Grand Rex in Paris after performing at 'Pass The Hat' Folk Club gigs in Linlithgow and Alnwick. 'The Edge of Night' is Keir's fourth solo album and most certainly features some of his most accomplished songwriting to date. Building on his wealth of experience, Nick has produced an album with stunning clarity that stirs emotions as Keir examines love, loss and death, especially in the opening track 'Crooked Smile' which tells of love and then regret within a friendship.

The album was recorded in his hometown of Edinburgh and marks a high point in his career; the album has a harder, darker edge to it than his previous works in the form of richly textured songs, combined with a few covers including Steve Forbert's 'What It Is Is A Dream' and a particularly spectacular version of 'Green Grass', far outshining the original by Tom Waits. There is also an ethereal, spine-tingling rendition of The Proclaimers' 'On Causewayside', further highlighting Keir's skills as a musician as he not only performs these songs but takes them and mixes into them a flair and passion in his own way.

Sophie Babur-Puplett