Rachel Newton
Album: The Shadow Side
Label: Shee
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.rachelnewtonmusic.com/

I first came across Rachel Newton when I discovered The Shee a few years back, for whom Rachel is principally their harpist and whilst I love The Shee, I was really pleased to see that Rachel Newton, has decided to make her debut album, "The Shadow Side" truly distinctive by not using members of that band on the album.

Instead she elects to record the album as a trio, being joined by Chris Drever, guitars and mandolin and Mattie Foulds, percussion, taking all of the other instrumentation and leads vocal duties herself. The problem with being in a group like the Shee is that sharing of vocal duties with the other members, it's good to be able to have her voice given space enough to draw personality.

The traditional songs are liberally mixed with instrumentals that came direct from Newton, really giving a chance for the harp to shine, it's a real testament to her arrangements, particularly when she's performing sets, how much freedom the instruments get to express themselves, without sounding domineering.

Talking about shining, for me one glittering high point amongst many is the only cover version on the album, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" I'm pretty sure that Hank Williams never envisioned the song being performed quite like this when he wrote it. As I played it the first time you could almost feel the ghost of Hank standing quietly at the back applauding.

As you might expect with a folk album called "The Shadow Side" there are dark feeling elements that permeate their way through the album. Not being a Gaelic speaker, I'm sure I didn't get the best out of "S Toigh Leam Cruinneag Dhonn Nam Bo", but there is a real brooding atmosphere to the song.

This is a finely, arranged, sung and played album. It shows that Rachel Newton is a musician that is more than capable being right at the forefront as well as part of the team. "The Shadow Side" is a highly enjoyable album and one that shows there's plenty of life being breathed into the tradition, highly recommended.

Neil King