Skipinnish – Steer By The Stars
Self Released – Out Now
Although previously featured here on Folk Radio UK (including a live review at Barrowlands and their critically acclaimed last album Seventh Wave), until ‘Steer by the Stars’ dropped through my letterbox, I’d never heard of Skipinnish. Starting life as a duo co-founded by piper Andrew Stevenson and accordionist Angus MacPhail, an ex-fisherman from a long line of such, they are, however, riding something of a wave in Scotland and, fronted by singer Norrie MacIver; this year marks their 20th anniversary, celebrated here with this their seventh album.
Approaching in ignorance, I was hooked from the first moments of the opening track, Anchors of the Soul. The track conjures thoughts of the stirring heyday of Runrig with its stirring melody, rousing anthemic chorus, a passage in Gaelic, fulsome backing vocals by Scottish piper and singer Rona Lightfoot, past and present pupils of the Gaelic-medium primary school Bun-sgoil Ghàldhig Loch Abar and Parkhill primary school, and skirling pipes. With its line about “the rise of the Gael”, this could easily become the poster song in a call for a second independence referendum.
The title also links to the band’s fishing roots, and maritime themes and imagery loom large, most prominently in MacPhail’s melancholic Last of the Hunters which opens with “here’s a health to the fisherman who plough the lonely sea”. The song proceeds to recount the island’s fishing industry referencing fleets and harbours that now lie quiet, “the pawns in politicians’ games”, raising a glass and a proudly swelling chorus to honour the “strong intrepid men and heroes of renown” who brought back the catch and continue to keep the industry alive in the face of everything, “the last hunters sailing home.” Alongside the string quartet, the backing vocalists also include Alec Thorburn, a retired fishing boat skipper and the great-uncle of the band’s drummer Rory Thorburn Grindlay.
As standard practice, the album mixes songs and pipe tunes, the latter exemplified by a rousing The Lads of Mull, featuring the trad title and Richard Dyer’s alongside The Sandwich Maker and The Jack Daniels Reel, the five-part The Atholl Set, a stately arrangement of Phil Cunningham’s The Youngest Ancient Mariner featuring Archie McAllister’s fiddle with Alistair Iain Paterson on piano before the Highland Bagpipes make their appearance courtesy of the band’s Andrew Stevenson alongside Seonaidh MacIntyre and Michael Steele; and, finally, the celebratory 20th Anniversary Jigs.
Returning to the vocal numbers, the title track is another lively Scottish folk-rock belter, a love song built around sailing and navigation imagery while Land Below The Waves is a brisk rework of the shantyish track from their fourth album, Atlantic Roar, originally sung by MacIver’s deeper-voiced predecessor, Robert Robertson.
As ever, they sing in both Gaelic and English, the former here represented by, first, the new, circling drums and pipes driven Coire Bhreacan, an atmospheric warning to sailors to beware of the Corryvrecken Mermaid (in actuality a whirlpool on the west coast of Argyll, one of the world’s largest and from which, by way of a trivia note, the young George Orwell was once rescued) that would lead them to their doom. The second, the gentle finger-plucked slow march Thar Sail is a translation of Over The Sea from their previous album, The Seventh Wave, while the third, Puirt Set, is a weaving together of five traditional ‘mouth tunes’, although instruments also feature here.
A striking departure from the maritime themes comes with Wishing Well, a five-minute slow air featuring Malcolm Jones on electric guitar and written by MacPhail to commemorate Barra teenager Eilidh MacLeod who died in the Manchester Arena bombing a song of both the loss as “the blind reapers brought dark to the day” but building to a sway-along Uillean Pipes (courtesy of Jarlath Henderson) led anthem of hope that “the waters will heal.”
The final song and penultimate track is another revisiting, this time a version of parting song Farewell from Western Ocean arranged for piano and fiddle on which, as it builds to a stirring finale, MacIver sings “our meeting will stay with us till the end.” It’s a fitting sentiment that encapsulates the power of both the album and the band. If like me, you’ve not encountered them before, cast the nets and make this your catch of the day.
Visit the Skipinnish website to get their new album and those 20th Anniversary tour dates.