Reviews
Artist:Staran Album: Staran
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 9
Website: https://www.staran.com
It has been a difficult twelve months, adapting to what has become referred to as a new normal. Artists have been forced to find innovative ways to continue rehearsing, recording and performing. Fresh ways to write and share ideas have emerged. Seeds have been sown. Some have germinated and taken root. From these collaborative collisions of creativity have emerged several brand new projects. One of the most fascinating of these is Staran, from Scotland, in which the traditions of folk have been infused with both the richness of Gaelic lyricism and the sparsity of jazz minimalism.
Taking its name from the Gaelic word meaning 'stepping stone', 'path' or 'crossing', Staran is a brand new collaborative project led by John Lowrie. A drummer and pianist, his versatility traverses jazz (he is a jazz tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and encompasses a number of folk genes, including traditional Gaelic song. He is joined by renowned Gaelic vocalist Kim Carnie; Jack Smedley (fiddle); Innes White (guitars and mandolin); and James Lindsay (double bass). Together the five blend their individual talents within an environment where expression and experimentation prosper and thrive.
In the face of fluctuating travel restrictions, recording sessions progressed throughout 2020 at a number of studios within Glasgow and East Lothian. After mixing by Euan Burton at GloWorm Recording, and mastering by Alan Douches at New York's Westwest Side Music, an album of nine tracks emerged, each one harmoniously connected by a flowing logic and encapsulating a transient sense of 'place' and 'moment'.
Kim Carnie's vocals are like a fine single malt - a velvety warmth, touched with just a hint of smokiness, and on the Gaelic language songs on this album she sings with a clarity and purity that seems to transcend any need for translation. 'Dà Làimh sa Phìob' ('Hand on The Pipe'), and 'Horò Gun Togainn Air Hùgan Fhathast' ('Time When I Can Hug You') exude a sense of isolation and ruptured association that is delivered with poignancy and heartfelt emotion. 'Gaol À Chruidh' possesses a primal passion that conveys a sense of nature, and of the rugged rurality of a Scottish landscape.
The textures and moods within Staran's music combine to create a journey without boundaries, rooted in Scottish tradition, yet unafraid to venture into new territories.
Writing duties are shared, but in addition to new compositions and interpretative re-workings of traditional pieces, material is also featured from admired contempories. 'Casino' was written by Finnish accordion player Hannu Kella. Here it is presented as an exuberant reel with guitar and fiddle. James Duncan Mackenzie's 'Back to Glasgow (And Back to Back Again) is overlaid with 'Squirmy's', an effervescent piece by Canadian master fiddler Shane Cook, before concluding with the energetic 'Deichead' ('Decade'), written by Staran's Jack Smedley.
'Einbeck' is a John Lowrie composition that shares its name with a renowned German brewing town. His playing is rich and evocative, yet pares down melodies to bare essentials. Instead of a raucous drinking song 'Einbeck' becomes a lament - a pensive recollection of unrestricted, more carefree, times?
'Balcarres Boys', again by Lowrie, reminds of a story of two brothers from a small town in Saskatchewan, who were killed in action on the Vimy Ridge during World War I. Along with many other Canadian troops who died on this section of the Western Front, their bodies were never recovered. The poignancy incorporated within Lowrie's piece also reminds of those who have succumbed in the last twelve months to a new invisible enemy.
Staran's path, their trail, and their stepping stones lead us ultimately to 'Settle, Honey'. Written by Kim Carnie, and this time with English lyrics, it is a gorgeous love song that proclaims a sense of arrival and a time to look forward. With its reassuringly pastoral tone it hints at the promised return to normality, and the continuation of our own life journey.
'Path, Trail, Stepping Stones' is a stunning debut, a collage of creativity, a multi-textured triumph of technology and ingenuity, and a musical testament to these most difficult of times.
David Auckland
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