Tae Sup Wi’ A Fifer is a club night hosted and programmed by Domino Records' recording artist James Yorkston, based at the Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland. During the pandemic it transformed into a series of online shows. Now, with live music back again at last, Tae Sup returns – and takes to the road, as a series of tours of intimate venues around Scotland starring three varied and complementary talents from different global avenues of folk, rock, indie and spoken word, all hosted by James.
Thursday 22 September
Jeffrey Lewis / Josie Long / Kathryn Joseph
Indie-rock songwriter and comic artist Jeffrey Lewis began recording homemade cassettes in New York City in 1998, and signed to Rough Trade Records in 2001. Many albums and comic books later, Jeffrey still lives in NYC and has played many hundreds of gigs all over the world, both solo and with bandmates, habitually assembling different set lists for each night to weave in old songs, new songs, artwork, stories and surprises. His most recent official album is “Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage: Bad Wiring” released on Don Giovanni Records (USA) and Moshi Moshi Records (internationally) in November 2019 (garnering rave reviews), but Jeffrey has also digitally self-released three DIY albums from his apartment since the pandemic started. Jeffrey continues to wring folksy spiel and garage bohemianism from his ramshackle guitar, whether with his band or solo, while sometimes incorporating his often politically subversive visual artwork into live appearances.
Josie Long is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, podcaster, and film-maker. She is a trailblazer of the UK comedy industry, as the first woman to be nominated 3 times for Edinburgh Comedy Award (2010-2012). Her 9 critically acclaimed tours showcase her unique and powerfully original voice and have been performed globally to sell-out shows. Her various podcasts and original radio shows have garnered her a world-wide audience of dedicated listeners and multiple awards. She is an avid film-maker, having written and performed in 2 short films and most recently a full-length feature called Super November. She’s been on all the TV channels, and has 2 comedy specials currently streaming.
"I wanted this record to be a completely different feeling and sound," says Kathryn Joseph, of 'for you who are the wronged', the follow-up to her 2018 'from when i wake the want is'. Unspoked truths take flight in songs that simmer and seethe with quiet anger, as Joseph gives voice to those robbed of their own. This record is a statement of abuse observed; its narrative woven with pain's complexities, futility and stasis. Originally from Inverness, she was a child happiest outside and never afraid of the dark. Though she hadn't written before songwriting and her debut was released years after the songs were finished, her lyrics are steeped in the magical, creepy shadows of her youth - even if she now splits her time between Aberdeen and Glasgow. Though lockdown temporarily stopped her writing, she shook off her sadness by cycling to the sea, and soon, ideas came spilling out.
Friday 17 February 2023
Marjolein Robertson / Philip Selway / Rachel Sermanni
Marjolein Robertson is a storyteller and comedian, as a native Shetlander, she was raised on local folklore. As a child, she spent her days walking in the footsteps of the protagonists and creatures from these tales. Marjolein now performs stories both online and in person. Since lockdown, she regularly tells folktales on the online platform Twitch, where she was awarded Partner status in 2021. She also tells stories in person and has performed at various festivals and events over the years including Edinburgh Tradfest, Connect Festival and on the BBC Stage with her own storytelling hour in the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019.
Philip Selway is a member of Radiohead - as a solo artist, he has released and toured three albums, ‘Familial’,‘Weatherhouse’ and ‘Let Me Go’, the latter being the official soundtrack from the film of the same name. He also scored soundtracks for the independent film ‘Carmilla’ and ‘Sea Longing’, a play for BBC Radio 3. In 2014, he was commissioned by Rambert Dance Company to write the music for the first reinterpretation of choreography by Merce Cunningham, the influential American choreographer. Aside from his muggle drumming duties in Radiohead, he has also featured in the wizarding band ‘The Weird Sisters’ in the film ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’.
Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish based singer/songwriter that makes the mundane moments mystical: shock-positive pregnancy tests in train-station toilets, coffee machine breakages, cold river swims, the regret of not saying ‘I love you', the moon & how it pulls, bare feet on wood floors, the soft glow of a house plant, ‘what even is consciousness?’, strange dreams lingering in quiet mornings... She brims with dreamy indie-folk pop that speak of the struggle and desire to flow, to love, to live, to feel. Sometimes, her songs speak of the rare moments of quiet-still, found in the midst of this struggle & desire. Rachel is a Jellyfish, surrendering to the currents of the big sea.
and James Yorkston
Growing up in the village of Kingsbarns in Fife, James has been releasing a series of much acclaimed albums on Domino Records since 2002 – His debut album ‘Moving Up Country’ was ‘Rough Trade Album of the Year’. James is an integral original member of the much lauded and hugely influential Fence Collective (King Creosote, Pictish Trail, Beta Band etc) and his style shows a mastery of folk traditions, often drawing on traditional songs, which has seen him collaborate with such heritage artists as the Waterson family, Martin Carthy and the late Bert Jansch, whilst producing his own albums alongside contemporary artists such as Four Tet, Rustin Man, David Wrench, KT Tunstall and Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip). He has toured his music all over Europe & North America.