For our latest session we took the many boys and girls of Team Turnip, gave them some fresh air and sunshine and watched their folky chamber pop blossom in the Edinburgh spring sun.

We picked Advocates Close as our first spot, which jinks down from The Royal Mile and emerges on Cockburn Street. One of the oldest remaining  closes in Edinburgh, it dates from the mid-sixteenth century and takes its name from one Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, the last Advocate Of Scotland in office during the time of the Restoration, Revolution and Union. It’s also got a nice little sunlit platform halfway down that can fit a band that features drums, two violins, a glockenspiel, an omnichord and a mandolin.

We got a (ahem) cracking version of ‘Scramble Eggs’ here, a cheery, jolly-sounding slice of chamber folk that’s actually about the futility of war and the death of a friend – Sir James Stewart of Goodtree might even have approved.

From there we moved from the high walls of Advocates Close to the open spaces of Regent Road. With one of the richest backdrops in all of Edinburgh, featuring views to Arthurs Seat, the new Parliament at Holyrood and the Royal Palace itself, it’s also right next to the Robbie Burns monument and opposite the gargantuan old Royal High School building. Just right for a buzzing, string-laden version of This City Life, with its soaring chorus perfect for the wide open space.

As always, if you’ve got a suggestion for a band or know of an oddball out-of-the-way place that we should be using, get in touch.

Team Turnip – Off The Beaten Facts

1. Russell sings and plays guitar here, and is the creative engine at the heart of Team Turnip
2. A multi-instrumentalist, he even arranges the string parts, using actual written music and everything
3. The rest of the band are like a musical A-Team, gamely rushing to Russell’s aid when required for live duties from their secret lairs across England and Scotland
4. Caro and Emma, the violinists, are also Russell’s sisters
5. If you look at Mal the bass player, in just the right light, he looks exactly like Dave Grohl
6. Mandolinist Drew is daftly talented, yet seems to enjoy using his skills for evil – his mandolin-version of Generator by The Rumble Strips certainly hints at a black heart of pure darkness
7. He also carries a frankly worrying number of tyres around in his car
8. They’re currently recording a new LP, with Russell recently claiming that one track will sound – of all things – dub-step
9. You can catch Team Turnip (in one form or another) playing Glasgow’s 13th Note on 30th May, and Edinburgh’s Iso Lounge (as part of Leith Tape Club) on 25th June
10. You can found out all you need to know at their Myspace