Damian Helliwell's Metta
Album: Damian Helliwell's Metta
Label: Eigg
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.metta-music.com

Before I kick off the review proper, Damian Helliwell's Metta is a recording project so essentially it's the name of the group of musicians assembled for the recording as well as the recording it's self. For ease of reviewing when I refer to "Metta" I'm pretty much talking about the album.

Taking time out from Gaelic band Daimh, Damian Helliwell headed back to his native Eigg and built himself a straw bale house and studio and from there also got interested in the idea of recording in the ancient Pythagorean tuning which equates to A=432hz apparently. Next he gathered a collection of some of Scotland's finest musicians, Eilidh Shaw, Jenny Hill, Andy Thorburn and Donald Hay and other a two week recording period Metta was born and is due to be launched in early June to coincide with Eigg Independence Day, this year celebrating the 17th anniversary of the island's historic community buy out.

So ends the music and history lesson. Now, if like me, you wouldn't recognise a Pythagorean if it was delivered on the sharp end on an axe, don't be put off. For me the sniff test for any music is the passion in which it's delivered. Does it move me? Can it change and influence my mood and if, like "Metta" the album is instrumental can it reach out talk to me without words? The answer to all of those questions is yes.

"Metta" is an album rich in both sound and texture. The pace of the album is nicely varied and it hangs together well not just as an album, but take each tune or series of tunes away in isolation they stand up in their own right. The tunings may be ancient, but I have to say they stand up very well in not only a modern world, but what also feels like a very modern setting for them. The traditional elements of the music shine through brightly, but so does a contemporary feel, one that gives the album a breezy lift.

Helliwell seems to have been very astute in his collection of kindred spirits because "Metta" feels like an album that is full of self belief and confidence. It's light and has real heart and at the end of the day that's what really matters

Neil King