Five-star Amy LaVere returns for headline slot

IN his review of Seasick Dave’s gig at the Queen’s Hall in 2008, Evening News reviewer Martin Lennon said that describing Amy LaVere as a support act would be a mistake. ‘Every single aspect of her music and its performance was first class’, he gushed, adding, ‘as a headline act, she’d struggle to get much less than five stars’.

On Wednesday night at Voodoo Rooms, the Memphis-based singer and upright bassist returns as a headliner in her own right, armed with a record composed during a grief-filled 2009: her producer died, her guitarist quit to join indie heroes The Hold Steady and she split up with her long-term boyfriend.

The result is this year’s Stranger Me, an album that LaVere poured her heart and soul into.

“I went into this with more insecurity than I have ever had,” says the singer. “Just even the title, Stranger Me, is me saying I don’t really know who I am in this.”

The upside is that Stranger Me has been praised across the board, earning an especially good review from Spin magazine, who called it ‘the break-up album of the year’.

“It’s been embarrassing how well the record has been received,” says LaVere. “It’s wildly exceeded my expectations, and I’m grateful for it.”

Amy LaVere, Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street, Wednesday, 7.30pm, £8.50, 0131-556 7060

GARY FLOCKHART