Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Those who inhabit islands must look out to sea and dream of escape, the insular only being a comfort for so long, the need to be close or influence another soul from a distant land one that screams to be heard… “No man is an island”, John Donne wrote wisely with implored sentiment, but surely no man can resist keeping to the island whilst they hone their craft and their tale for the world to hear in person.
To have ambition in the far flung regions, to be surrounded by a tradition that is held by varying cultures from a far distance but having your own unique voice is to be admired and encouraged deeply, and for the souls who inhabit the isles of Shetland, to have a stronghold of musicianship within their island grip is to acknowledge The Homeroad many of them will journey as their sound carries them onwards, influenced by time and tide and the distances between lands and like-minded groups and individuals.
It is in time that The Ross Couper Band unveil their own homeroad, a sound pushed and dominated by the fiddle of the eponymously named group, and in what amounts to a solo recording, but one filled with depth of friends and respected peers and colleagues, The Homeroad is one of blistering performances, untainted dramatic pleasure, and memory of that one important place in the world above all others, home.
Joined by Sam Mabbett, Michael Biggins, Paul Jennings, and in a guest appearance Duncan Lyall, Ross Couper leads with strength and guile as the fiddle leas the listener on a dance where the devil and the deep blue sea cower at the touch, and where a mere human soul can be enlarged by the love unfolding.
Across tracks such as Da Delting Bridal March, Regenvista, Sutherlands, and Stoot’s Improvements, the group lay down an album of mastery, of complexity, and unyielding passion; and it is one to savour, for the feel of timeless intoxication of art is at its most alluring when it has travelled across oceans to meet with your approval.
A conquest of music, The Homeroad calls out with a moving spirit.
Ross Couper Band release The Homeroad on May 3rd.
Ian D. Hall