This is the second album from Back of the Moon, a young quartet who are fast becoming a force on the traditional music scene. There is a nice mix of instruments with fiddle bagpipes piano whistles and guitar. More unsually, all four musicians also have great voices whether solo or in harmony and their choice of songs is spot on. I particularly like Gillian Frame singing 'Maybe I'll be Mairrit! a plaintive little song perfectly suited to her sweet voice. In contrast Findlay Napier has a robust voice perfect for his take on Heilan' Laddie while brother Hamish whose gentle 'Oh Gin I were a Baron's Heir' was a favourite with reviewers on the band's first album scores yet another hit with the glorious "Baron of Brackley".
Media Reviews
Back of the Moon have built strongly on their debut album with this release.
“Back of the Moon have built strongly on their debut album, recorded on the back of fiddler Gillian Frame’s win in the Young Traditional Musician award of 2001, with this release. The new album is split between trad Scots songs and instrumentals. Frame provides vocals on three of the six songs, while the Napier brothers, guitarist Findlay and keyboard player Hamish, share the others. They are not afraid to champion unfashionable songs like “Blackwatch” and “Heilin Laddie”, but give them a more contempory twist in their arrangements. Fourth member Simon McKerrell’s pipes and whistles come to the fore in the powerful instrumental sets”.
Frame's vigorous, full-toned fiddle is now assertively matched both by Simon McKerrell's fiery piping and Hamish Napier's buoyant, Cape Breton-influenced piano, while the songs' three- and four-part harmony arrangements are shaping up as a trademark.
Back Of The Moon's self-titled debut CD was released as part of the prize package earned by fiddler/singer Gillian Frame, 2001's Young Scottish Musician of the Year. The two years since have seen them develop and mature considerably . This growth in confidence and cohesion now carries through on the band's follow-up album, issued nicely in time for their Cambridge Folk Festival appearance later this month. The primary effect is a bigger, fuller sound overall, reflecting both their individual growth and their strengthened ensemble interplay. The six songs and six instrumentals underline Back Of The Moon's allegiance to the traditional rather than the fusion camp, albeit displaying a rhythmic expansiveness and flair that's very much of today. The formerly leading presence of Frame's vigorous, full-toned fiddle in the tunes is now assertively matched both by Simon McKerrell's fiery piping and Hamish Napier's buoyant, Cape Breton-influenced piano, while the songs' three- and four-part harmony arrangements are shaping up as a trademark.
Award-winner Gillian Frame and the lads return with a second album where even an old Scots murder ballad is tackled with cheerful gusto
Award-winner Gillian Frame and the lads return with a second album where even an old Scots murder ballad like "The Baron of Brackley" is tackled with cheerful gusto. Gillian shares vocal duties with brothers Hamish and Findlay Napier, but the band is even stronger instrumentally. Gillian's fiddle and Simon McKerrell's pipes take the lead, but Hamish's piano adds to the texture of the album with some flourishes which are unusual in this Lowland-trad setting, but never out of context...............Calum Macleod
Wow! This is a great second effort by Back of the Moon!
Received this new album yesterday, and have already been through it 3 times! WOW!! This is a great second effort by Back of the Moon! I listen to 10+ new albums a week. I must admit that most of them aren't very impressive and just go in one ear and out the other. "Fortune's Road" got my attention right away though. The tune sets are great and the vocals, male and female, very appealing. (My favorite is Maybe I'll be Married; can't help but sing along with the refrain.) I'll begin airplay next week..............Steve Dieterich (producer /host Celtic Airs, WWUH radio, Suffield CT)
The 2nd CD from this highly regarded Scottish Quartet is an airy delight. 12 tracks full of energy and bounce
The 2nd CD from this highly regarded Scottish Quartet is an airy delight. 12 tracks full of energy and bounce. The instrumentation helps: fiddle, pipes, piano and guitar, none of them overused, and elegant understated vocals, mostly courtesy of fiddler Gillian Frame. The album has plenty of high points, particularly due to piper Simon McKerrell, who maintains admirable control of his instrument, although all the players are good. The material is a mix of traditional tunes and original songs, each, as one might expect, with a story behind it, and all of it fresh sounding. The musicians are young, but have the confidence and assurance of people who have been practicing their instruments since childhood, and it shows. Fortune’s Road is a fortunate work indeed. GW…..Dirty Linen Magazine..Dec. 2003/Jan 2004.
|