Mairearad Green & Anna Massie – Farran
Shouty Records – 31 August 2018
With their fourth album Farran, multi-instrumentalists Mairead Green and Anna Massie once again prove that they are one of the most talented musical collaborations in the traditional folk music world.
Building on the deliberate simplicity of their eponymous first album in 2009, the more complex arrangements of Doubling, and their first inclusions of songs in Best Day, in their latest album Farran, Green and Massie show that on their ongoing musical journey they follow no one’s map but their own and that they are the best of travel companions.
Farran is the Scots word for the starboard (right) side of a boat. Historically speaking, one of the most evocative means of emigration has always been by the sea – a mode of travel and a way of life that has inspired the countless traditional songs and tunes that accompanied emigrants as they left Scotland and Ireland for new worlds, sometimes by choice, sometimes not.
Both Green and Massie have their own personal connection with the sea – Green grew up by Achnahaird Bay on the Coigach peninsula and currently lives in Ullapool, while Massie hails from Fortrose by the Moray Firth – so it is no surprise that there is a maritime flavour to Farran, the first hint of which is reflected in its beautiful cover artwork. Wrapped in vintage style pen and ink vintage illustrations of life on a fishing boat by artist Chelsea Frew, you can almost taste the salt and hear the gulls crying when you hold the album in your hand.
The sea is well known for its capricious nature and unpredictable changeability, and similarly, Farran’s musical currents and moods shift sea-like from sparkling, stormy and soothing to jubilant, nostalgic, and heartbreaking.
Farran’s opening track, written by Green’s piping teacher, Norman Gillies, refers to the beautiful Coigach peninsula north of Ullapool in ‘Wester Ross’. With Massie’s skilful backing on guitar and Green’s deft and tuneful piping, Coigach launches the album on a refreshingly sunny note. Think of a boat embarking outwards from the harbour as sunlight sparkles off a slightly choppy sea.
The second track marks another sea-change with the accordion and guitar slowing down the pace as they launch into Wee McGhee, featuring an original tune by Green, and Lizzy In The Low Ground, a bright reel written by well-known master fiddler, Liz Carroll.
The Merton Set take a deep breath with a gentle, lilting rendition of Laura Drummond’s Slip Jig by Massie, before picking up the pace with Louis’ Highland Jigs by Green and Emma And Ali’s Wedding, a joyful confection of accordion, guitar and fiddle.
Following on from the jigs is the album’s only song, Molly May. Written by Canadian singer-songwriter JP (John Paul) Cormier, as sung by Massie, Molly May is a bittersweet love-song that embraces not just the love of life at sea but about also the life-long love of a sea captain for his first vessel (depicted on the cover of the album). All ships are female, and that the eventual careless sinking of the Molly May is for her former captain not just the loss of an inanimate object, but the death of a life-long-loved one, perhaps even a spiritual partner; this sentiment is powerfully conveyed by the touching matter-of-fact tenderness of Massie’s voice.
Shifting moods again, Jamie’s sails for brighter water in a set of self-penned tunes by Green, Massie and Eoin O’ Beaglaoich, followed by Brewery, a set featuring Rachel Newton’s The Eggshell Brewery and Ian Henderson’s Trip To Austin, a gliding rolling wave of accordion and guitar. The stately Willie MacRae’s introduces another lively set of traditional tunes, Thadelo’s Slide, La Rachoudine, and Gillie Dubh, with Massie on fiddle.
The album ends on a haunting note with Mo Chailin – Dileas Donn, a gorgeously nostalgic tune written by Ullapool fisherman, Hector Mackenzie, bringing this far too short an album into a non-the-less emotionally satisfying harbour.
Making a living from the sea has long been associated with austerity – on a boat, everything has its place, and anything not of use soon finds itself jettisoned. On a personal level, sailors form tight-knit crews whose lives can depend on being able to read not just the sea but each other in a way that transcends most people’s understanding of synergy.
Farran is rooted in an elegant sense of ship-shape simplicity, with not a single note out of place and each tune as uncluttered, clean, fresh and invigorating as a salt wind out to sea or the cold spray from a boat’s prow. Add the obvious tight-knit musical telepathy, and relaxed ease of expression that exists between both musicians as they set sail with their eyes firmly fixed on new musical horizons and what you have is a simply wonderful album from two fine and versatile musicians setting their own course with the clearest sense of direction.
Farran is out now and available via https://www.mairearadandanna.com/shop/
For details of their upcoming tour dates visit https://www.mairearadandanna.com/tour/
Hear a track on our Folk Show: Episode 34
Photo Credit: Ricky Frew courtesy of the artist.