The Burns Unit - Side Show: "This is an impressive, entertaining album, not just because of the unlikely array of musicians involved, but because of the quality of the songs. The band got together at a songwriting retreat in rural Scotland, where folk celebrities Karine Polwart and Kenny Anderson began collaborating with the former Delgados singer Emma Pollock, rapper MC Soom T, Indo-Scottish bassist Future Pilot AKA, instrumentalist Kim Edgar, drummer Mattie Foulds and pianist Michael Johnston. The songs are written by combinations of all eight, with influences from balladry and folk-rock to chanting and even cabaret. So there's an intimate duet between Polwart and Anderson on the accordion-backed Since We've Fallen Out; a thoughtful, gentle murder ballad from Pollock with dramatic electric guitar on Blood, Ice and Ashes; fine harmony on Sorrys; a dash of reggae and rap on What Is Life, and some furious chanting on Send Them Kids to War. Every song is different, but this sounds like the work of a band with its own identity. I hope they stay together."...The Guardian