Edinburgh's original open mic night

Lindsay West

at OOTB

(Oct 2003)
Using delicate finger work on a nylon strung classical guitar and, for me, reminiscent of Suzanne Vega and Fiona Apple, Lindsay West opened with "The Sweat Shirt Song" regarding a break-up and having to deal with the absence of her lover while still wanting to have feelings for him. "We separated like oil and water/you still have my grey sweat shirt" and "people say time is a healer/but for now I just watch the clock" were stand outs for me. "His Gaze Is A Lullaby" followed. Another love song with a nice upbeat middle eight in which she reveals the perfect man she's described in the opening verses is someone she's yet to meet. I'm not sure if I've got the title right as I heard "His gait is a lullaby and he sends my heart to sleep/his eyes are pools of sky" and I see from the review of her 19 June performance, this song was referred to as "Satisfied". Whatever the title though, as in the first song, Lindsay showed excellent vocal control and utilised her clear voice to the max. For her third song, Lindsay chose one she'd not performed before. Again, I didn't catch a title but that didn't really matter. The song, with lines like "no boys/no love/just endless laziness" and "a solid heart of salt/dried and cured" was quite excellent and left me thinking I just had to hear more.

(Oct 2004)
Next up was Lindsay West with a new song minus the introduction as she wasn' t confident about it yet. This had stream of consciousness lyrics about losing a sweater, which I liked, and the lines 'You can hold me to you, Thrill me, Thrill me, Thrill me!' Her second one had the lyrics 'You can't really judge, I am untouched.' And the third song, with picked accompaniment 'Although I know you're not worthy of my trouble - I cry.' Great stuff!