Eden Court – One Touch Theatre
Inverness
31st May 2015
Imke Henderson – Cello and Vocals
Bev Fraser – Sax, Flute and Vocals
Liza Mulholland – Accordian, Piano and Vocals
Maryann Frew – Guitar and Vocals
Since forming in 2011 all female Indie-Pop band Dorec-A-Belle have been selected by The Sunday Herald as one of Scotland’s top unsigned bands, which saw them open the main stage at Wickerman festival last year, followed by the release of their début album Listen. With four part harmonies and a unusual combination of instruments such as Piano, Guitar, Cello Accordian and Sax (to name a few), they have a unique sound, which seems to have many influences and covers a number of different genres
Described as the Living Room set, the stage had an impressive display of instruments, a sofa, flowers on the piano and gramophone, which gave it a relaxed feel as the band introduced their support Mark & Derek (Marc Clement & Derek Urquhart) who gave a great wee acoustic set on their guitars. Later, just before the interval we got a few solo songs from Robin Abbott who had a amazingly powerful voice.
Dorec-A-Belle who were accompanied by Derek Urquhart(drums) and Robin Abbott (double bass) began with Take Your Time, a gentle ballad with lead vocals from Maryann Frew. While Maryann fronted most of the songs, each of the other members lead on at least one song which showed what talented singers they all were and there were some sublime harmonies throughout.
The concert was two hours, but in no way seemed too long. I completely lost track of time, as the set flowed from slower emotive numbers such as Taken ( I had a lump in my throat) and Shadowland which was beautifully sung by Liza Mullholand, to more upbeat numbers such as a fun cover of Liquid Lunch sung by Imke Henderson.
The variety and different combination of instruments made it a very dynamic experience, Bev Fraser managed to sing and play four different woodwind instruments, no mean feat. With all this equipment on stage it was inevitable there would be the odd technical hiccup, at one point the accordian seemed to have a mind of its own. This didn’t detract from what was a fantastic musical feast. Catch them if you can on the Garden Stage at Belladrum this summer.
Reviewer : Zoe Gwynne
Mumble Music 