DAVID HERSHAW & SANDIE FORBES – Here Comes Tomorrow (own label DHSF001)

Here Comes TomorrowHere Comes Tomorrow is the debut album from young Scottish duo David Hershaw and Sandie Forbes. The majority of their material is self-written and on a first blind listening I thought they might be American; there’s a strong country flavour to the first tracks but gradually the Scottishness develops as the record progresses.

The second track, ‘New York City Rain’ is a really nice urban country song with Dylanish touches in the lyrics and it follows ‘We Are Not Children Anymore’ which has a spiritual feel over some finger-breaking playing from Hershaw before Forbes breaks into Tom Anderson’s ‘Pottinger’s Reel’ – I should have spotted the Scottishness then. With ‘Old Wooden Heart’ and ‘Turn It On A Sixpence’ they settle back in home ground. The latter is rapidly becoming my favourite track on the album – it has such a brilliant hook.

‘Footprints On The Tracks’ adds Ross Fairbairn on drums and Lawrie Macmillan on bass and Sandie takes lead vocals as well as violin lead and then we’re back to Americana with the traditional ‘Moonshiner’. Sandie is a classically trained player and I suppose it goes against the grain to play rough southern fiddle but I find the arrangement a little too smooth even though it adds an air of melancholy to the song. ‘Voices On The Medium Wave’ is about the relationship of a man and special car; Americana with a Scottish twist and the feel continues with ‘Badlands’, which are apparently the south side of St. Andrews.

The words of ‘Twaa Hare’s On A Hill’ are by Fife poet William Hershaw and, of course, sounds perfectly traditional. I suspect that William is David’s father but I can’t prove it so no matter. What matters is that this is an excellent debut album putting a new spin on contemporary Scottish acoustic music.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: https://www.davidhershawandsandieforbes.com/

Not the greatest video but it’s the only one we could find.


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