The three girls in this band are all prize winning musicians and listeners to this CD will very soon know why that's the case from the very fine Shetland style fiddle playing apparent even from track 1. Along with the bands' guitarist Andrew Tulloch, all these musicians can also turn out extremely good self-penned tunes. I particularly liked Jenna Reid's "Gordon the Golfer" and Gemma Wilson's "Beth's Tune" while Andrew wrote the album's title track "A Thousand Miles Away". Filska are another excellent example of the high standard of musicianship apparent in Scotland's young musicians at this time. A band who can proudly and ably represent our musical culture on the world stage.
the uncluttered timeless playing continues a fine tradition of music from the north from a young band well worth checking out.
Some Typically classy Shetland fiddling from a trio of very talented young women on the strings, sisters Jenna and Bethany Reid and pal Gemma Wilson, with token bloke Andrew Tulloch laying down the rhythm on guitar. Perhaps because of the gender balance, the band has a clear refreshing sound, the tunes played with finesse rather than aggression. The few songs lack memorability, but the uncluttered timeless playing continues a fine tradition of music from the north from a young band well worth checking out. Calum MacLeod…………The Inverness Courier
a highly accomplished and very enjoyable collection of tunes
the shimmer and sweep of the string harmony gives the album its considerable weight and depth
A class act for sure.
This CD is a window into a very special working relationship between the three girls, Jenna Reid, Gemma Wilson and Bethany Reid and Andrew Tulloch. Between them they have shown that they can not only master their instruments, but using a very natural and intuitive talent for writing and arranging can produce very powerful music and thus very powerful emotions in the listener.
This is great stuff.
Rip-Roaring Irish, Scottish and Shetland trad fiddling, stirred in with contemporary tunes and songs, this highly arranged sophistatrad shines a new light on the material. The interlocking piano & guitat accompaniment constantly evolves, changing rhythm & harmony. The piano sometimes adopts a short repeating counter melody, either alone or on top of the fiddle tunes. These phrases are syncopated and, where they are layered above the conventional tunes, the otherwise insignificant passing notes of the traditional melody are brought into the limelight, as they coincide with the emphasised syncopated notes of the piano melody. This recording – their third – could not be accused of sounding the same all the way through. People are dropping in and out all over the place, but so neatly you would hardly notice. There are plenty of guests and even a string quartet on two tracks. The version of the recorded-to-death Humours of Ballyloughlin is like no other, with its harmonies, fluctuating tempo, the way it is built up and then dropped suddenly to a dramatic calm and rendered with all sorts of variations that I have never heard before. This is great stuff.
..a lightness of touch here, a finesse their, a control everywhere that combine to produce an outstanding album.
I suppose it’s only human nature, after all – I mean to say, leave a group of young people together in the long darkness of a Shetland winter and they’ll all be at it if you don’t keep an eye on them! Why, fiddle playing of course – what else could you have thought? It does sometimes seem that there is an innate tendancy towards the fiddle amongst Shetlandic youth and Filska demonstrate just what can happen to this tendancy when it is properly nurtured and allowed to develop. From start to finish, this CD has a smoothness of tone and gives a feeling that the musicians are totally at one with each other and with their music. Not that this means any unecessary restraint, rather a lightness of touch here, a finesse their, a control everywhere that combine to produce an outstanding album. The evolving maturity of the Filska sound is well-evidenced here as well, with arrangements which nod in the direction of other styles and even the inclusion of a string quartet Jenna Reid’s self-penned The West Shores of Quarff. Underpinning the whole album is a firm grasp of the tradition, and a confidence to let the tunes speak for themselves. With a couple of song tracks as well, we have a splendidly rounded and sensitively produced CD which can only enhance the group’s already fne reputation.
Overall a brilliant record.
It's hard to believe that Filska has slipped under the radar of the American public consciousness for so long. The Shetland Islands foursome had already compiled an impressive scrapbook of BBC appearances and prestigious festivals when this record was made, almost a decade after its 1994 inception. But given their youthful ages - Jenna Reid (fiddle/accordion/vocals) is only 23 - it all makes perfect sense. Between the three lasses and the one lad, the blue-ribbon fiddling, chord -outlining piano, gracefully gliding accordion stylings, anfd dead-on-rhythm guitar playing all roll up into breath-steakling arrangements (Coolie;s, Tom's Return) that are lighter than air. A couple of selections find guitarist Andrew Tulloch nimbly flat-picking in parallel with the accordion/fiddle-fueled melody lines. A few others are tender songs (A Thousand Miles Away, Sun Moon and Stars) albeit with a more contemporary pop-ish bent, but, like the instrumentals, they too stand as beautiful creatures. Overall a brilliant record.
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