Lauren MacColl – Landskein
Make Believe Records – Out Now
After reviewing a run of band albums, many of them distinctly lively bands, appreciating an album of largely solo, traditional fiddle pieces required something of a brain reboot. But Landskein is an album that has amply rewarded that effort with its ability to reawaken memories. Memories of tramping across heather moorland or sitting in front of a pub fire sipping a dram, they’d both be times when a hazily remembered tune may try to organise itself in my mind. But there’s nothing hazy or disorganised about the eleven tunes on this album. They’ve been lovingly assembled and arranged by Lauren MacColl with an insight rooted in her connections to the Highland landscape, people and culture. Assembled, arranged and then played with a breath-taking blend of precision and emotion. So, we both feel connections to this music, mine hazy and disorganised, Lauren’s precise and emotive. I’d say that was game, set and match to Lauren and I’ll just be thankful that she’s shared hers with us all.
Everything about Landskein underscores the inspiration that’s been drawn from the landscapes and traditions that Lauren cherishes. The recordings were made in Abriachan Hall, the sort of wooden framed, corrugated sheet clad building that serves as a social centre for communities throughout the Highlands. Set in the hills high above Loch Ness, Abriachan Hall displays remarkable acoustics, faithfully captured on this album thanks to recording engineer Barry Reid, using just a couple of microphones. But these acoustics weren’t the only reason for choosing the location. It’s the place where Lauren remembers first registering the power to enthral of an unaccompanied fiddle, a power that this album demonstrates on track after track. On Landskein, Lauren also plays viola, and uses drones from both a pump organ and electric guitar while piano accompaniment on four tracks is provided by James Ross. And that’s it, the simplest of ensembles, allowing the timeless strength of the music to shine through.
The album opens with Air Mullach Beinn Fhuathais (On Top of Ben Wyvis), a peak not too far from Lauren’s original home on the Black Isle. This is one of three tunes on Landskein that come from the collection of Captain Simon Fraser published in 1816 with the self-explanatory title, The Airs and melodies peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles. Many of the pieces in the Fraser collection were originally songs that he coaxed into fiddle tunes and that’s a habit Lauren has embraced by arranging the melodies from several songs for fiddle and viola and including them here. The sources, though not always the dates, are given for all the tunes, in notes that are available for download. But, as Lauren writes, they are all old. Air Mullach Beinn Fhuathais begins with a drone from the pump organ, a second drone note is added, quickly overlain by the melody. It’s an air that perfectly reflects the slow pirouette you’re likely to make once you reach the summit of a mountain walk, letting the 360° panorama sink in.
The following piece, Put the Gown Upon the Bishop, was originally a song but, here, is transformed into an artfully crafted duet for fiddle and viola. The tune is one that, from time to time, crops up in session sets but Lauren takes it at a steadier pace than many, giving time to appreciate the interplay between the two instruments. The pace is further reduced for the next piece, a full-on lament, Mo Chradhgal Bochd. The song was originally composed in the 17th Century, but the tune was learnt by Lauren from the present-day singing of Skye’s Deirdre Graham. This, and MacGregor of Roro’s Lament that follows, are the first of the four pieces with James Reid’s sensitive piano accompaniment. Sometimes following the tune, sometimes adding chords, but always allowing the fiddle to dominate and giving it space to ornament the melody.
It was a surprise to read that an electric guitar was among the instruments used on the album. A surprise that turned to intrigue when, after several listens, I hadn’t been able to identify it on any track, eventually, I had to ask Lauren. It’s used as a drone on just one tune, A’ Cheapach na Fàsach, fed through a sustain pedal that gives a slight undulation to the drone. I was also intrigued to learn more of a bowing technique Lauren uses extensively on the following tune, ‘lal, lal’, Ars’ a’ Chailleach. There’s a breathy, whispery sound accompanying the notes that could almost have been made by a flute but is actually a harmonic of the note. I guess, for this to have been a revelation, I just haven’t listened to enough quiet fiddle music.
There’s one final intrigue that needs to be addressed, the album’s title, Landskein, and the answer starts with the cover art. Mairearad Green has produced a series of drawings under the title Landskein, two of them adorn the front and back of the album sleeve. They are each an elongate rectangle, composed of a mix of well-defined, interweaving lines and more diffuse shaded bands. Together they give the impression of the ridges and valleys that make up the crest line of a mountain landscape. But why ‘landskein’, where does that word come from? Enter Cambridge academic Robert Macfarlane, the man whose co-authored book, The Lost Words, inspired the Spell Songs album. In an earlier book, Landmarks, he began his quest to catalogue words describing land, nature and weather used across England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He found ‘landskein’ being used on the Outer Hebrides and the definition he gives is “The weaving and braiding of horizon lines often seen most clearly on hazy days in hill country.” As someone who has spent a lot of his life working in mountains, seeing exactly these patterns, discovering a word for them feels as though I’ve joined a community of kindred souls. And that feeling is reinforced each time I listen to the wonderfully atmospheric music of Lauren’s album. I may live hundreds of miles away from the mountain landscapes that Lauren experiences daily, but I now have a very rapid route back to them. However, you won’t have to be enthralled by Scottish mountains to appreciate this wonderfully evocative music. Plug in a landscape of your choice, relax and enjoy.
Landskein is out now and can be order via Bandcamp: https://laurenmaccoll.bandcamp.com/
https://www.laurenmaccoll.co.uk/
Photo Credits:
Main Image: Somhairle MacDonald
Abriachan Hall by Ewan MacPherson