Westward The Light announce new album

Westward The Light

Flow Country is the latest album from celebrated trad group Westward The Light, set for release on Friday 31st March 2023. Named after the region of rolling peatland between Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland, the record boasts a dynamic collection of traditional Scottish tunes and offers a fresh take on some time-honoured material.

The quartet are well-renowned for their combined confidence and undeniable skill on fiddle, viola, piano, and guitar, and have built a name for themselves on the traditional music scene with their powerful music which is reflective of their upbringings in the rural and rugged landscapes of Scotland.

This new album is the band’s second since their inception in 2018 when, after collaborating in various contexts for years, Charlie Grey, Sally Simpson, Owen Sinclair and Joseph Peach began actively playing and writing together. Westward the Light went on to release their self-titled debut album in March 2020, entering the Official UK Folk Top 40 and receiving widespread acclaim from peers and critics alike.

Musically, Flow Country is a step up from the band’s previous work, and sees each member refine and develop their individual and shared sound. Recorded together in one room, the body of work has the quintessential soul of a live performance, with the upbeat energy fans of the genre can expect from a trad record. Listeners are taken through a range of tempos, tensions and emotions with each track, however, all under one cohesive style.

The first single from the album, ‘Good Days’, is set for release on Friday 10 March. Written by Sally Simpson, the track builds tension, gradually growing in momentum towards an upbeat and energetic finish, setting out the band’s stall for the album to come.

Other stand out tunes include title track ‘Flow Country’, composed by Joseph Peach, with beautiful melodies both moving and poignant, and ‘C Jig’, a traditional piece of music with changing tempos and moods, perfectly demonstrating the group’s precision and rigour when playing as one unit.

Westward The Light debuted their new material to a sell-out audience at this year’s Celtic Connections and will be taking it to stages across Scotland and the UK in the coming months, with dates in venues from Mull and Stornoway to Comrie and Montrose.

Artists’ website: www.westwardthelight.com

‘Dolina’ – live:


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