This was Karine’s first proper gig in 2 years and for loyal fans and new listeners like myself it wasn’t a disappointment. The pleasure of being on stage once more was obvious and after producing 2 new albums and a baby son in the last year, you can only feel admiration!!

The structure of the gig was unlike any I’d been to before and was brought about due to the support act, Edinburgh singer/songwriter Kim Edgar using the same band of musicians as Karine, giving the evening a continuity and flow which was really nice to see. The two met at the Burnsong Song House in 2006, and contributed to each other’s sets, with Kim’s beautiful piano playing adding much to the evening. I particularly enjoyed the song ‘Red’ which is the opening track on her newly released album ‘butterflies and broken glass’.

Karine and her band followed on with a showcase of many new songs from her album ‘This Earthly Spell’. Haunting, thought-provoking and extremely beautiful, hearing these tracks live was a real treat. It was good to hear of the inspiration behind some of her song writing, which gave my favourite song on the album ‘Rivers Run’ even more poignancy – a sweet and hopeful song to her son as he grows up. ‘Better Things’ is a demonstration of Polwart’s involvement in the anti-nuclear weapons campaign in Scotland and the lyrics mourn the loss of the beautiful, noble creations of man to the deadly and ugly. The song ‘Firethief’ was written for a BBC documentary involving a mother who had lost her son to AIDS - a very moving song.

The only criticism I can muster is that there weren’t more of the traditional songs featured on her other new album ‘Fairest Floo’er’. She performed ‘The Learig’ and ‘Dowie Dens of Yarrow’ with grace and strength, and there was a real contrast of just her and the piano from the entire band on the other songs. I would have loved to hear more.

A wonderful comeback gig from a very talented Scottish song-writer.