OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 25 November 2012

NO ROOM for a wren in the OneTouch tonight – every seat is full of people who have travelled from far and near to listen to this unassuming woman on stage.

KARINE Polwart is not a mistress of the slick little segue, as she confides while wrestling for the first but not the last time with a microphone stand. But in song after skilfully crafted, beautiful song she makes hundreds of people feel as though they’re sitting round her kitchen table and sharing her life. ‘Sticks and Stones’ is a hymn to home, ‘Tinsel Show’ is a child’s view of Grangemouth and ‘Don’t Worry’ is an intimate glimpse of domesticity, while ‘Salter’s Road’ is a heartstring-tugging celebration of an old neighbour.

Karine Polwart (photograph by Eamonn McGoldrick)

Countless female singer-songwriters have been compared to Joni Mitchell, usually without coming close. Polwart is that rare thing, a true contender. She fuses poetry and melody to paint vivid pictures that embed themselves in your heart, heir to the anonymous ballad-singers of centuries past.

In this subtle alchemy she is aided by her brother Steven, who as well as periodically rescuing her from the microphone stand contributes a steady presence and a solid foundation of guitar and vocals. Her other collaborator is Fair Isle’s Inge Thomson. Thomson is an accordionist and the owner of one of the most haunting voices in the world of traditional music, who also has the ear of a producer for detail and texture. Throughout the evening her light touch with percussion creates magic. One of the highlights of the second half is her solo performance of her cousin Lise Sinclair’s ‘Gest’s Ee’ from the magnificent, underrated CD Ivver Entrancin Wis. Thomson makes it even more eldritch and darker, like a storm cloud threatening on the far horizon.

Most of the evening’s set list is taken from the new CD, Traces, which is one of Polwart’s three (count ’em) nominations in Radio 2 Folk Awards 2013. Characteristically, when she finally thinks to mention this, she makes as heartfelt a plea for two other nominations for Best Album as for her own (Lau’s Race the Loser and Sam Lee’s Ground of Its Own, since you ask).

Nominated for Best Original Song, ‘King of Birds’ is deceptively simple, interweaving the ancient tale of the tiny, wily wren with the eponymous architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, and bringing in the Great Fire of London, the Blitz and the Occupy movement – in three verses, with space to breathe.

The audience stamps, roars and whistles its demand for an encore which, after a brief foray into ‘Space Oddity’ , turns into ‘Follow the Heron’, one last chance to appreciate this rare talent.

© Jennie Macfie, 2012

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• Karine Polwart
• Jennie Macfie