Edinburgh Folk Club, Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, 11 February 2009

Mike and Ali Vass

IF THERE is a fountain of youth to be found in Scotland, chances are it’s buried somewhere deep beneath the Pleasance Cabaret Bar. Mike and Ali Vass may be three years older than the twenty-two years Edinburgh Folk Club compere Paddy Bort believed they were; nevertheless, the best song-writing twins to come out of Scotland since (ahem) The Proclaimers bestow a musicianship and stagecraft even a seasoned artist twice their age would be envious of.

Their genetic, telepathic powers extend way beyond finishing each other’s sentences, tunes shifting direction and stopping dead with eerie precision. Even when an occasional ‘fluff’ is made, it’s done together.

When the brother and sister weren’t taking good-natured swipes at each other – Mike bemoaning Ali’s ironing abilities, while Ali, saying what every audience member thinks when a guitarist or fiddler is struggling to tune up, bitterly complained about “men and their bloody gadgets” – they offered up a plentiful supply of simple, melodic tunes that, while not the sort of thing you might find yourself humming on the way home, certainly didn’t irk the eardrums at any point in the evening, either. Making demands of their listeners isn’t the dynamic duo’s intention.

During the first half, songs about “toasties” (apparently John McCusker is a dab hand at paninis as well as fiddle playing, according to Mike), unloading manure on an accountant’s doorstep (‘The Highlander’s Revenge’), and getting dumped by text message were punctuated with more jibes by either sibling. Ali was responsible for the worst joke of the evening: “What do you call a guy with no shins? Tony.” It was the only time anyone in the audience groaned all night.

Now an integral part of the Malinky machinery, Mike’s cohort, Malinky frontman Steve Byrne (who was watching within the audience), threatened to overshadow the twins, playing a few songs on his lonesome at the beginning of the second half. Byrne may have more pedigree than the Vasses, but, after entrancing the audience perhaps a little too much, the ginger warrior did the decent thing and departed the stage before anyone got too comfortable with his presence.

Later on, then, and much more of the same. Jokes, jibes, tunes and songs; we even got a song from the twins’ hometown, and probably the “only folk song ever to come from Nairn,” said Mike. Something about a man eavesdropping on a woman whilst walking along a riverbank; it may be the only folk song to come from Nairn, however, the song’s two main characters sadly weren’t.

Mike and Ali are though, and it’s a shame that this enticing twosome will be taking a lengthy sabbatical, from music, and each other. While Mike heads off round the world with the ever popular Malinky, sister Ali will head south to London town, spending the next few years studying to be a lawyer.

Which is a shame really. For while there is no doubting a career in law will furnish Ali with the kind of financial stability reserved only for a select few in the folk world, it’s this scribe’s hope that she doesn’t turn her back on music altogether. Of course, should Mike fall on hard times (and it’s highly unlikely), as Paddy Bort rightly suggested, he may have competition from Mike for the Embra’ folk club’s compere spot. Eh, Paddy?

© Barry Gordon, 2009

Links

• Mike and Ali Vass MySpace Page

Associated Pages

• Mike and Ali Vass – March 2006 Northings feature

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