Kirsten Adamson - Landing Place (2023)

Kirsten Adamson is the daughter of Scottish rock legend Stuart Adamson (Big Country/ Skids). With her emotionally powerful, stunning second solo album, Landing Place, she proves that the Adamson musical genes are firing strong in a new generation, with a gift for melody and a distinctive voice and delivery which has been compared with classic vocalists like Emmylou, Dolly and Kate Bush.

Since spending summers soaking up the atmosphere in Nashville with her dad, and singing on Big Country’s Driving To Damascus album (1999), Kirsten has been steadily developing her own voice and songwriting, as frontwoman of indie folkers Aberfeldy and country rock band The
Gillyflowers through to Americana duo The Marriage and a debut solo album in 2015. In 2022 her version of her father’s song Peace In Our Time (in aid of Ukrainian children) hit the UK Official Singles Charts top 40.

Landing Place was conceived and composed during the despair of lockdown isolation. With nowhere to go but inwards, it takes listeners on an intimately personal journey with lyrics caught between heartbreak and acceptance. The songs are deeply reflective, often melancholic but also
uplifting, about becoming a mother, losing a father, and coming to terms with life.

It is produced by acclaimed Scottish singer songwriter Dean Owens, recorded with a talented group of musicians including Nashville’s Jen Gunderman (Sheryl Crow) on keys and accordion. Mostly self penned, there are also some co-writes with regular collaborators Jon Mackenzie
(who also plays guitar throughout), Hastings-based folkie Jason McNiff, The Marriage colleague David Burn and Owens.

The album opens with No Other Mother, a heartfelt tribute to her own mother, a former champion Highland dancer and source of strength: “You’re a wonder/A survivor/A fearless soul with the world in your eyes.” The powerful second track is My Father’s Songs (a co-write with Owens).
Intensely personal - “Loaded up with hopes and dreams from Fife to Tennessee” - yet connecting with the universal of reconciling with grief and the sudden loss of a parent in particular. The slide guitar solo is played by Jon Mackenzie, using Stuart’s old Antigua Burst Fender Strat.
Eleven songs, some strongly autobiographical like No Other Mother and My Father’s Songs, some about old loves (Coals And Ashes, Time With You), concerns about the future we are leaving for our children (I Will Sign, They Deserve Better), the sweet storytelling of Stars On The South Coast to the playful waltz Useless At being Alone, and the outright celebration of music, and musical heroes in Up And Down. There is a deceptive lightness of touch throughout, and a maturity in the writing, as the melodies and words work their magic, all underpinned by the crystalline transcendence of Adamson’s voice, controlling her vibrato like a tremolo pedal.