Aidan Moffat – Where You’re Meant To Be – Album Review by Killian Laher

In 2014, Aidan Moffat made a film documenting traditional Scottish music, rewriting and touring these songs. He has released an accompanying album of recordings of these songs in front of a live audience, with some updated versions and some songs he wrote himself. How you take a whole album of this depends on the degree to which you buy into Mr Moffat’s bawdy persona. The lyrics here are way too filthy to be reproduced in this review. His version of I’m A Rover and Big Kilmarnock Bunnet are comic in their in-your-face vulgarity, updating the former with references to Facebook and Twitter and the latter featuring The Twilight Sad singer James Graham on backing vocals.

Simple piano ballad The City Tonight is sadder than much of the material here, while the album also features that most traditional form, the acapella folk song in the shape of the title track and Ode to O’Brien et al, about a cardinal’s opposition to same-sex marriage. James from Twilight Sad turns up again to harmonise sweetly with Moffat on MacPherson’s Farewell, Jock McGraw and the grand finale The Parting Song, and both are joined by Jenny Reeve on Abduction Lullaby.

As for the music? It’s mostly unadorned music-hall folk and it can get a bit samey after a while but that’s not really the point. Certainly not Moffat’s finest hour, though it’s enjoyable for what it is: a hilarious document of the tour, or at the very least something to scare the grandparents.

Website is here.

Track List:

1. Where You’re Meant To Be
2. I’m A Rover
3. Big Kilmarnock Bunnet
4. The City Tonight
5. Ode To O’Brien et al
6. MacPherson’s Farewell
7. Jock McGraw
8. I’m A Working Man
9. Abduction Lullaby
10. The Parting Song

Where You’re Meant To Be teaser: