Duncan Lyall
Album: Infinite Reflections
Label: Red Deer
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.duncanlyall.com

Duncan Lyall is often seen as the go to bass player for a number of bands and singers, predominantly Scottish folk supergroup, Treacherous Orchestra, but also the likes of Croft No.5, Kate Rusby and John Goldie, a Scots Danny Thompson if you like. "Infinite Reflections" sees him moving front and centre.

As a performer, Lyall, already has appearances on over sixty albums and has done the duties behind the desk on a dozen or so, but not only is "Infinite Reflections" his debut album, but also represents his first foray into composition, the album being entirely instrumental in its construction.

As a man in demand he pretty much had the run of great Scots musician and as well as putting together a great selection of tunes, he's also put together a great ensemble to play them, including Angus Lyon, Patsy Reid, Gillian Frame and Martin O'Neill to name just a few.

"Infinite Reflections" was commissioned as part of the Celtic Connections New Voice series for 2012 and having put all the effort in for the concert, it would have been criminal not to have turned it into the album.

This is contemporary Scottish folk music of the first order, resplendent in a big band sound that includes synths within the construction, as well soaring whistles from the likes of Ali Hutton, to their greatest effect on "Cold Light".

Lyall deliberately went for an instrumental album to allow you to plug in your own narrative over the top and actually after a couple of plays it's something that's quite easy to do as "Infinite Reflections" was conceived as a single entity, rather than as a collection of songs. The good thing is that some of those tunes easily stand by themselves.

Neil King