Rura
Despite The Dark
(Rura Music)
On a first listen, this second album by Scottish folk band Rura sounds like two EPs shuffled together as traditional instrumentals alternate with songs sung by Adam Holmes.
It doesn't take long, however, before it reveals itself as much more organically integrated than that. Like the Kris Drever vocals that break the wordless flow on Lau's albums, Holmes's songs (as good as anything he's done with his other band The Embers or hip hop project Bang Dirty) provide a welcome change of style and rhythm while growing directly from the music: the soft fiddle and flute harmonies on the majestic Weary Days, the bodhran that gives backbone to the rousing Dick Gaughan-style Between The Pines, the fiddle that supports the vocal melody of Cauld Wind Blast before taking solo flight.
Lau are an interesting comparison. Despite a few subtle uses of electronic effects, there's nothing here quite as experimental as that particular trio's work; but while filling a gap for the folk traditionalists who believe Lau go too far, Rura are increasingly inventive within the medium - the fast, repeated pipe-and-fiddle phrases at the end of Dark Reel pull classical Minimalist patterns into folk music with breaktaking effect, a brilliant fusion of the old and the new.
Alan Morrison
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article