Fiona Hunter
Album: Fiona Hunter
Label: Rusty Squash Horn
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.fionahunter.co.uk

Until now, Fiona Hunter, is probably best known as the distinctive lead singer of Scots combo, Malinky, a band that has long featured some of Scotland's finest musicians, including Karine Polwart, but that perception may change with the release of Fiona's self-titled debut solo album.

The album has been at least part funded by Arts Fund Scotland and if that leads to albums like this then you can't help but think there should be more funding of that type. Politics aside it has allowed Fiona to bring in some great musicians, including Euan Burton, Matheu Watson and Gillian Frame, to support her own vocals and stunning cello.

Whether it's a chicken egg scenario, you'll not be surprised to discover that "Fiona Hunter" is a predominantly traditional album, but you will be surprised at just how sharp the arrangements are, emotionally and musically capable of cutting you to ribbons and that's before you add the timbre of Fiona's rather special voice.

This is an album that bleeds Scotland, the accent running right through the album, but that's what good traditional music should have an element of. What I find particularly pleasing is that it doesn't seem to want you to know the history, Fiona and the band rightly feel it's their job to bring that out, something that makes "Fiona Hunter" very easy to listen to and like with the natural beauty of the glens, highlands and borders you want to come back and relive the experience.

This may be Fiona's debut solo album, but she's years of experience to draw upon, to ensure she's ended up with an album she can be exceptionally proud of and one that is capable of holding you in its thrall and which ends with a real barroom sing-a-long, what more could you want?

Neil King