Calum Stewart & Lauren MacColl
Album: Wooden Flute and Fiddle
Label: Make Believe
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.laurenmaccoll.co.uk/projects/

The combination of the Fiddle and Flute is something I would associate with the traditional music of Ireland, so when I heard two Scottish musicians were making an album of Scottish music on the Fiddle and Flute, I was sceptical. However, all my pre-conceptions were completely disintegrated when I heard that the two musicians in question were Lauren MacColl, (Fiddle) and Calum Stewart, (flute), accompanied by Andy May, (Harmonium) and Eammon Dorley, (Bouzouki).

The repertoire chosen on this album is generally rare and old Scottish tunes, but there are some tunes from Ireland and Brittany and some tunes penned by MacColl and Stewart themselves. The tunes aren't extremely virtuosic, but this is deliberate, and it is used to their advantage. It contributes to their overall sound, which isn't the stereotypical James Scott Skinner style of long, showy, arpeggiated passages, nor is it just a collection of piping tunes and nor is their sound Flute or Fiddle dominated. They produce a well rounded and wholesome raw tone which is well balanced between the two instruments. It seems as if Lauren MacColl and Calum Stewart are in perfect simpatico with each other.

The accompaniment on this album is absolutely superb! The harmonium and bouzouki, both work extremely successfully. A good example of the harmonium in action is track number one. This set of three reels is accompanied so softly and sympathetically by Andy May that listener is hardly aware that it is there. However, when you do notice it, you realise how much of a difference that sparse pillow of chords makes when the tunes lay to rest on them. Eammon Dorley's bouzouki companionship on a track such as, "Alieens", (track 7) isn't as subtle as May's playing but equally as effective. He stays in the background and weaves webs of harmonic lusciousness underneath the brilliant jig and reel that are in this set.

This album is a brilliant insight in the current state of traditional tune playing in Scotland at the moment and anyone who listens to this album will agree with me that it is very healthy!

Matthew Tighe