Various Venues, 8-10 June, 2011, Inverness

NOW in its eleventh year, Scotland’s premier showcase event for emerging artists returned to the Highland Capital. Now firmly established on the wider industry calendar, a robust programme of panels, workshops and live showcases was promised for 2011.

The seminar schedule again brought a host of high calibre panellists to the north of Scotland to discuss a broad range of industry activity, including the current function of A&R, the role of management in the present climate, the increasing influence of bloggers, and a music supervisors panel demystifying the process of opening up synch opportunities. Added to this, a vibrant Fringe session also offered more practical advice covering all aspects of self-releasing your work and an extremely useful panel dedicated to operating locally.

Bwani Junction at goNORTH 2011 (Thomas Bisset)

Following a packed seminar schedule, over fifty acts from throughout the Highlands and Islands, the rest of the UK and a selection of international artists delivered an exhausting series of live showcases across nine city centre venues.

Among the early highlights was Edinburgh based four-piece Homework , with their increasingly impressive blend of neat lyrical hooks and pounding live electronics coming ever closer to finding real cohesion, while Glasgow trio LightGuides fresh blend of smart guitar lines and sparkling melodic moments and Aberdeen’s Indian Red Lopez’s inventive indie soundscapes also brimmed with real promise.

Programmed by Tony Moore from influential London venue The Bedford, the Ramada Encore’s foyer again acted as the dedicated singer-songwriter platform with Fife’s Panda Su proving particularly impressive. Delivering a set predominately drawn from recent EP, I Begin, her beautifully sparse offerings sounded sublime in places, with her engaging lyrical observations holding genuine emotional weight. Also on this stage, Edinburgh’s I Build Collapsible Mountains, Norway’s Moddi and Ireland’s Conor Mason ensured the high standard was maintained throughout.

Homework at goNORTH 2011 (Matt Campbell)

For those seeking an antidote to the musical tranquillity of the Encore, Glasgow based  PAWS were tearing a packed Flames to pieces, careening through a series of instantly fizzing riffs as they delivered  a ferociously impressive set of keyed up power-pop. Elsewhere, Elgin’s Be Like Pablo brought some sanguinity to proceedings with their exceptionally charming harmony drenched offerings, and Edinburgh based Capitals potently illustrated why the buzz surrounding them is growing ever more insistent.

Among the remaining showcasing acts, Maple Leaves, Bwani Junction, The Scottish Enlightenment and Kobi Onyame were all excellent, as was the wonderfully accomplished Pete Roe and Lucy Rose.

With such a high density of talent in such a compact environment, goNORTH brings enormous energy to the city; also, the targeted nature of the showcases and the organisers continued commitment to ensuring the volume of bands with direct Highlands and Islands associations remains strong,  guarantees artists from the north of Scotland an invaluable direct to industry opportunity. Furthermore, with the often hefty registration fees demanded by other industry events, not to mention additional travel and accommodation costs, the fact that all goNORTH activity remains free while sustaining standards bolsters its importance and accessibility.

© Alexander Smith, 2011

Links

• goNORTH 2011