Rura
Album: Break It Up
Label: Greentrax
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.ruramusic.com

I don't know what it is…maybe it's the water…Highland Spring naturally (!) that they're drinking in Scotland but the skirl of the pipes is causing many 'folk' audiences in the UK to prick up their ears. It will possibly come as no surprise then that the band Rura are creating something of a buzz with this, their first release on the evergreen Greentrax label.

Opening with the march/reel "Oran nan Mogaisean (Song Of The Moccasins)" they follow in the footsteps of The Tannahill Weavers and The Battlefield Band where, rather than use a full drum kit they opt for David Foley's driving bodhran. Of course this draws your attention to the more organic process of 'acoustic' music and the excellent combination of Steven Blake (pipes/whistle), Jack Smedley (fiddle/vocals), Adam Holmes (vocals/guitar) and James Lindsay on bass.

This is a band that can seriously 'rock' when pumping out Murray Attaway's (Guadalcanal Diary) song "Allegory" or just as easily lull you into a false sense of security with the final track "Lament For Donald Ban" where the plaintive fiddle is supplemented by the inclusion of the pipes in full cry. No messing about, Rura can get down and dirty with the best of them.

Pete Fyfe