Under One Sky - The Songs EP
It isn’t often that the very cream of the music crop come together in one act – or, if you will, ‘Under One Sky’. Oh, there are artists you love, and who you put together in your fantasy music league, but in reality, they don’t come within a hair’s breadth of each other. Until now.
Acclaimed Scottish fiddler John McCusker has assembled this line-up of which dreams are made for his latest musical excursion.
First unveiled at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2007, Under One Sky has been on tour, but here we are witness to the first recordings of the artists involved ahead of the album’s release next year – and they are something very special indeed.
First of all comes english musician and actor, John Tams. ‘Hush A Bye’ is a gentle, personal song, which Tams’ deep, resonant, traditional folk voice renders utterly hypnotic, while a female vocal rounds out the sound. The instruments here blend in with Tams’ truly melodious vocal and repetition of the lyrics gives it all the sound of a real lullaby. The simplicity of the music throughout befits the nature of the song perfectly. When John’s singing fades out, the music swells and creates a beautiful, lush soundscape.
From Tams’ unique, classic folk sound, it is but a skip and a jump to Julie Fowlis‘ ”S Tusa Thilleas’ and the sound of the Highlands and Islands. The Uist native is renowned for successfully carving out a niche in Gaelic vocal work, and her exquisite voice and disarming music here are breathtaking. ”S Tusa Thilleas’ shrugs off the common rhythms and beats of folk and slinks by in the form of a moment of calm. Literally translated, the title means “it’s you who will come back”, and the song has all the hallmarks of love’s longing lament in any language. … Continue Reading
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