TANNARA – Trig (Braw Sailin’ Records CD001BSR)

TrigHere is yet another fine young band coming out of Scotland with a song on their lips and a tune in their hearts. We think this album is called Trig – that little symbol on the cover, see. Actually it’s written on the spine but I don’t believe anything I read these days and that little tease seems typical of their approach. Rooted in the tradition but not in thrall to it.

At the heart of the band are the traditional instruments you would expect but it’s the other instruments and how they are used that strikes you first. In ‘Two Birds, No Stones’, for example, there is the juxtaposition of  Becca Skeoch’s harp with a grungy electric guitar from Owen Sinclair who also wrote the tune which is paired here with Andy Cutting’s ‘Archie The Flying Beast’. Owen is also the band’s vocalist and they have put together a strange and haunting version of ‘Three Ravens’, not at text I’ve heard before and one in which the doe is replaced by a lady. The other two songs, ‘When First I Came To Caledonia’ and ‘Queen Jane’ are also given imaginative treatments in which Joseph Peach’s piano and Fender Rhodes feature.

Cameron Ross’ fiddle is the mainstay of the instrumental sound and he contributes one tune ‘Deid Fish’ (yes, there is a story there) but it’s the interplay between the instruments that’s crucial – a tribute to the recording skills of Mattie Foulds and the production of Rachel Newton who, I’m sure, ensured that the harp was never swamped even with everything else that’s going on around it.

I never cease to be astonished by the young talent emerging from Scotland – perhaps I should take it for granted by now – but Trig merely confirms that the process is ongoing. And I always find something new to enjoy.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: www.tannaramusic.com

Tannara live in Antwerp – a compilation:


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