Shooglenifty
The Untied Knot
(Shoogle)
Shooglenifty are probably as surprised as anyone that they've arrived at their 25th anniversary. Their whisky-kissed trances and hedonistic reeling didn't seem built to last when they arrived on the folk and wider music scenes but they've survived and thrived by judiciously adding sounds and influences so that, as with this seventh studio album, their music manages the trick of sounding at once familiar and yet fresh. The main new sound here is the voice of Kaela Rowan, who contributes puirt a beul, Indian rhythm syllables and airy vocal improvising to a palette that also accommodates pipes and piano (from guests Ross Ainslie and Dave Milligan respectively) alongside fiddle, mandolin, banjo, electric guitar, bass and drums as the music variously dances, swaggers, marches, evokes some forgotten spaghetti western and hangs in the air like the rather more attractive cousin of Scotch mist. Morocco, Rajasthan, a vocal tribe of unknown origin and Highland village halls all spring to mind as The Untied Knot weaves its enigmatic magic.
Rob Adams
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