Traditions, new & ancient.
A. G. Cordy | 11/03/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I came to this lovely music via the ever innovative tunatheday.com & then youtube where I saw the vid for track 3 "You've no clue do you". The sound is varied, from a mainstream Britpop style, refreshingly free of studio trickery, to music of frail, vulnerable, acoustic beauty such as the opener "Leslie" and the finale "and the racket they made" which both demonstrate this artist's affinity with the ancient bardic traditions of Scotland. In "Leslie" there is in the persuasive, accordian led sweetness, to me at least, the scent of the great, late lamented, Ivor Cutler. In the latter, there is a whiff of the pebroch. I feel that this reedy and stringy territory suits the high tenor, the personal nature of the material, and the proud use of the local regional accent he bears. Some of the tracks rock, but this album is about the craft of song writing in which it is rich. One of my albums of the year."