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"And I hope the empty shells and bones of your stories
Will litter and clutter the shores
And I hope that when I find them
I'll remember how they danced
And the racket they made
When they were alive"

Went to see King Creosote and John Hopkins last night and the first half of the set was a performance of their, ahem, 'song cycle' 'Diamond Mine' which was nominated for the Mercury prize last year. Marvellous stuff, particularly Ken Anderson's beautifully nuanced vocal performance; quite electric, really, bringing all of the detail out in the material. The rest of the gig was cool, too, though a little more ramshackle, and ended with a very fine take on 'Song For The Siren' which seems to be becoming something of an anthem for the Fence Collective bunch; or maybe for Scottish indie/folk, in general - blame Liz Fraser (Still, if you're a small northern country big on islands and coastline it seems like a pretty good choice!)

The picture above is nothing to do with any of this - just wandering about in Nottingham again this lunchtime and it caught my eye...