Dàimh get creative for lockdown

Dàimh

Gaelic supergroup Dàimh have been turning heads on social media with the launch of a fun, quarantine-inspired campaign.

The tongue in cheek campaign titled the ‘Daimh Digital BandcampDana’, was created to mark the early release of the band’s new three-track EP, Stopped In Our Tracks, with the band selling a bandana with every digital copy of the new music.

The bandana uses the band’s colours of yellow and black, which also happen to be the colours of the quarantine flag – and the five-piece quickly realised their quirky merchandise was getting a lot of love online.

The act from West Lochaber and Skye have found the bandana is the perfect Covid-19 item of clothing, with so many people snapping up masks at the moment to help keep them safe.

As a result, Dàimh have been sharing their top tips for using the mask on social media, with a nose and mouth covering and a cover up for terrible COVID-19 haircuts listed among its many uses.

Ross Martin said: “We wanted to do something fun around our EP release that injected a bit of humour into what is such a strange time for so many people. The idea was we could help people social distance in style thanks to the Daimh Digital BandcampDana! The yellow and black quarantine colours come from the International Code of Signals and just happened to match up with our own band colours.

“Since launching the campaign, we’ve come up with lots of fun and silly uses for the bandana including wearing it ‘cowboy style’ over your nose and mouth to keep out nasty germs, using it as a dapper cravat or putting it over your head like a pirate off to plunder some toilet roll. And the best thing about it – it comes with three new digital tracks from our Stopped In Our Tracks EP.”

Taking their name from the Scottish Gaelic word for kinship, Dàimh (pronounced dive) is made up of Angus MacKenzie, Murdo Cameron, Gabe McVarish, Ross Martin and Ellen MacDonald.

The group is a long-established favourite at folk festivals in Scotland, Ireland and across Europe, running the full expressive gamut of folk music at its best from pyrotechnic jigs and reels to achingly poignant ballads.

Their new EP marks the start of an ambitious project to record a new piece of music and film an accompanying video on location for every stop on their tour. Sadly, the coronavirus outbreak curtailed the band’s plans, however, they managed to record three tracks before they were ‘stopped in their tracks’.

Ross added: “This exciting project got off to a flying start and we managed to record in Biggar, Washington and Glenfinnan until the Covid-19 situation and the resulting travel restrictions and tour cancellations saw us Stopped In Our Tracks. So, we decided to present three tracks we managed to record as a special EP to say that we are not off the road, just simply pulled into a layby to let something pass. Hopefully the tunes, and the accompanying bandana, raise a few smiles.”

Folking.com will review the EP soon.

Link to order Daimh Digital BandcampDana

Artists’ website: www.daimh.net