Salut! Live

Andrew Curry writes: We’ve had quite a few pieces at Salut! Live lately about bands on their last tours, in some form or another, and most of them have been about people who are of an age where you can understand them wanting to slow down a bit—or, in the case of Show of Hands’ Phil Beer, spend more time sailing.

(Niteworks plus guests. Photo: Niteworks)

But in the case of the insufficiently heralded Scots electrofolk band Niteworks, their announcement that they are going to call it a day has been low-key and their final appearances this year are a bit sporadic—a festival appearance in Inverness and then, in November, final gigs in Inverness, London, and Glasgow.

We’re a bit late to this, but they announced late last year that 2024 would be their last year as a band:

“We started this band as teenagers nearly 17 years ago, four school friends looking to make some music and have a bit of fun.

In our wildest dreams we could never have imagined where it would take us and what we would achieve along the way - we’ve had an absolute blast!

“However this has never been a full-time venture for us, and we’ve now reached a point in our lives where we have a few more responsibilities than when we started.”

Niteworks is Ruairidh Graham, Allan MacDonald, Christopher Nicolson, and Innes Strachan. They formed on the Isle of Skye in the late 2000s, and as you might guess from their announcement, they are now in their 30s.

Since then, they’ve built up an enthusiastic following. On Bandcamp, one fan summarised their sound better than I’m likely to:

Seamlessly blends electronica with traditional ballads, voices and instruments. Infectious, beautiful and irresistible music - an absolute joy!

I think they’re one of the few bands to make this mix work successfully. They are as likely to sing in Gaelic as English, and on many of their numbers they work with guest singers—in this case the three members of vocal group Sian.  

Niteworks have released an EP and three well-regarded records since 2011. The name comes from a translation of the Gaelic phrase obair oidhche, which was also the title of their 2011 EP. Of course, they’ve played the festivals that good Scots bands get invited to, such as HebCelt and Celtic Connections. Perhaps more unusually, they’ve provided the soundtrack for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay fireworks not once but twice.

They sometimes get compared to the late Scottish multi-instrumentalist Martyn Bennett (who we wrote about here).  To these ears, some of their numbers have the energy of the early Runrig—had Runrig played synths and not guitars. It’s perhaps not surprising that they have collaborated with the great Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis. 

Their most recent record, A’Grian, released in 2022, also includes a version of the 17th century English folk song John Riley. It’s a “disguised lost lover” ballad, and has been covered by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn and others. Show of Hands, who I mentioned earlier, have recorded it. But Niteworks’s version showcases the energy they bring to the repertoire.

You can buy Niteworks’s music on Bandcamp.

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