Laurenson to headline Edinburgh festival with folk trio FLIT

SHETLAND musician Amy Laurenson will help headline an Edinburgh music festival later this month.

Amy Laurenson (right) is one-third of FLIT, who will headline Edinburgh’s Soundhouse Winter Festival.

Amy Laurenson (right) is one-third of FLIT, who will headline Edinburgh’s Soundhouse Winter Festival.

Contemporary folk trio FLIT, with Laurenson featuring on piano, will close out the Saturday night of Soundhouse Winter Festival in the capital on 28 November.

Hardanger fiddle player Guro Kvifte Nesheim and harmonica and diatonic accordion player Will Pound round out FLIT alongside Laurenson.

The trio were recently added to the line-up following the withdrawal by Jake Cogan due to ill health.

It comes on the back of two homecoming concerts for Laurenson in Shetland earlier this month, at Mareel and Hymhus in Bigton.

Reviewer Pete Bevington described the Mareel concert as “absolute magic” for Shetland News last week.

‘Absolute magic’: Amy Laurenson’s septet impresses at Mareel

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FLIT came together through a shared fascination with the meeting point between tradition and invention, the band said.

Their performances move between driving tunes, atmospheric soundscapes and intimate moments of stillness, creating a dynamic and engaging live experience.

Laurenson said they were “so excited to be joining this year’s Soundhouse Winter Festival line-up”.

“Our repertoire is a dream combo for me of Shetland, Norwegian and English trad alongside our own compositions and we’re so looking forward to bringing this music to Scotland for the very first time.”

The Soundhouse Winter Festival kicks off on Thursday 26 November at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh with a packed programme, performed by some of the finest jazz, trad and indie musicians based in Scotland.

Heidi Talbot, who performed at the 2022 Shetland Folk Festival, is also set to perform across the weekend.

Festival co-producers Douglas Robertson and Jane-Ann Purdy said: “It’s obviously hard when a member of your carefully curated line-up is not able to play, but we are super excited that FLIT have agreed to step into the breach.

“This is a band we have followed closely since its inception as we are massive fans of each of the performers, all world-class players.

“Lovers of Nordic flavoured folk tunes should not miss this gig.”