Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Never let it be said that in all parts of the Scottish and Irish main lands and their resident islands that there is not spirit of independence running through its mighty veins and boldly pumping heart. Even if the question upon everybody’s lips is of a different type of individuality, of a changed outlook and striking out on your own like an 20-something year old finally declaring its intention to move into its own apartment, the spirit and culture was always there and remain so everywhere you are willing to take a peek into.
In the rather beautiful playing ability of Kris Drever and Éamonn Coyne that culture is enhanced, furthered and broadened in the Mareel E.P. It grafts away like a master carpenter, carefully selecting the right timber, the right lathe and just the right amount of caressing in smoothing it down to the point where it can be polished and offered as a thing of attractive ownership. The E.P. is very much of the finest quality wood, it has been worked on with passion and labour and the result is of splendour but something of a little more boon to its magnificence, it has the rugged feel of the Shetlands attached to it, the cold wind that blows from the North blasting the music with a vengeance to those in both capitals in a type of way that suggests the thought of “Don’t forget us in your family squabble, we have a say also.”
The songs on offer are consistently of top form, they drive the harmonies and excellent music on offer with the type of allowance that a carpenter would look over and proclaim that Chippendale was a dead art form. From Wintermoon, Isles Tunes through to the sensational Three Jigs-ish and the powerful Oot An In Da Harbour, Mareel is something of a cracker, it holds true to the independent feel but more importantly the spirit of individuality in a proud nation and is a collection of songs in which to place at the heart of the Islands of Scotland uniqueness and distinctive indomitable spirit.
Kris Drever and Éamonn Coyne are performing at Southport’s The Atkinson on September 12th and the wonderful setting of Birmingham’s Kitchen Café in King’s Heath on 16th September.
Ian D. Hall