Brian Cromarty and Douglas Montgomery have cut their teeth together in other bands and they bring huge amounts of talent and energy to this album and have delivered an assured piece of work .Their sound is a confident mixture of traditional, bluegrass, swing and blues. It's great fun from the opening track Karaoke Carol all the way through but, more than that, they have that indefineable something that makes the listener feel the performers are something special.
Brian Cromarty: mandola, guitar, vocal, mandolin (track 8)
The Orcadian duo start off with some typically flash island fiddle from Douglas Montgomery......
......but just when you think this is the pattern for what's to come, guitarist and mandola-man Brian Cromarty weighs in with some serious blues shouting and changes the whole tone. On the bar-room stomp of "Twelve Bar in G" it fits just fine while there are plenty of instrumental Orkney reels and airs for Montgomery to let himself loose on................Calum Mcleod
an impressive instrumental combination....recommended *****
SALTFISHFORTY is a duo from Orkney, featuring Brian Cromarty on vocals and guitar or mandola, and fiddler Douglas Montgomery. Their music is an eclectic hybrid of styles, rooted in traditional folk but also drawing on bluegrass, blues, jazz and Cajun. Cromarty’s rough-hewn singing is only serviceable but the pair make an impressive instrumental combination. Uptempo sets such as Red Diesel Reels, Orkney Reels or Tongadale Stroganoff make the greatest impact, although Montgomery’s fiddle is equally expressive on the evocative Watersound Shore.
An alchemical blend of superb musicianship and empathy, adding up to a fiery new force.
The contrast between the lean, mean duo machine that is Saltfishforty could hardly be greater. Brian Cromarty on vocals, guitar and mandola and fiddler Douglas Montgomery are both long time stalwarts of the resurgent Orkney music scene - some will remember Montgomery from the Smoking Stone Band. They join forces here in an ebullient and seamless merger of folk, blues, swing, bluegrass and rock. Stripped to basics as it initally seems, their sound reveals a fluency across this range of styles, and a dab dual hand at knitting them together, all propelled by a punchy drive. In a selection of gutsy bar-room anthems - interspersed with a couple of wistful love songs - Cromary's free-spirited hoarse-edged singing dovetails with Montgomery's strong-armed grainy-toned fiddle. An alchemical blend of superb musicianship and empathy, adding up to a fiery new force.
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