Almost the first sound you hear is the voice of Steven Blake’s grandfather, James Russell, reflecting on his home in Montrose. Or rather the feeling of home, that sensation sailors used to call the channels, and that idea is really what In Praise Of Home is about. Later, we hear some of the story of David Foley’s grandmother, Sheila Littlejohn, who came to Scotland from Jamaica as a child.
Both Blake and Foley composed tunes inspired by these stories, the former being the opener and title track of what is otherwise a purely instrumental album. It segues effortlessly into the second track, Jack Smedley’s ‘The First Day’ which harks back to the band’s origins as an instrumental quartet, having gained and lost Adam Holmes in the interim. The track, opening with keyboard drones, quickly morphs into the most traditional sounding tune on the record and will be released as a single.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be and the band turn to other sources of inspiration for a while. ‘Malice Member’ was inspired by Jack Badcock and ‘Catriona’s’ by Catriona Price and I refuse to speculate on what might have prompted Foley to write ‘Lust In Translation’. Then comes his ‘Away Back’ with the voice of his grandmother. He took a step back while Blake, Smedley and Adam Brown wrote ‘The Gorilla’, inspired, apparently by a Gorillaz track.
Finally we come to two tracks linked as ‘Horizons Pts 1 and 2’. The first, Steven Blake’s ‘Below The Horizon’ is built around his Rhodes with Jack Smedley’s fiddle picking up a mournful melody. It’s my favourite track. Smedley composed the final ‘Journeys New’ which brings the whole album full circle but was the first track written. It’s built over Adam Brown’s guitar with the fiddle picking up the melody and features producer Euan Burton on Rhodes. Starting gently, it builds quickly to an appropriately exciting finish for a record that sees Rura moving on again.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website: www.rura.co.uk
‘Lust’ – live: