Archipelago

These are songs from the Scottish islands, from Shetland in the north to Ailsa Craig in the south, sung in a mixture of Gaelic, Scots and Norn. They feature Fiona Mackenzie’s sweet, breathy, reverb-laden voice against a rich, expertly played – even slick – set of instrumental arrangements that draw on a range of guest musicians including singers Barbara Dickson and Morven MacLeod, fiddler Gillian Frame and Mairi Chaimbeul on the clarsach (harp). MacKenzie has won numerous Gaelic awards, but with session musicians including Sandy Jones on programming and keyboardist David Lyson, Archipelago extends into those more synthetic areas of the song tradition that’s reminiscent of Enya or even 1980s Kate Bush and her penchant for mixing Celtic roots music with Fairlight programming.

Laced with atmospheric drones and sprays of string work, the opener from the Isle of Raasay, ‘Cumha Iain Ghairbh’, features wispily overlaid vocals and is evocative of all manner of shifting coastal atmospheres and Atlantean currents. Each of the 11 songs comes with its island of origin attached – St Kilda, Orkney, Arran, Lewis, Skye and more – and the CD booklet looks like high-end tourist literature, with some beautiful photographs and the lyrics accompanied by translations and useful notes on their known origins and history. The programming and keyboards adds too much soft-focus sentimentality to the overall sound, but there’s no escaping the lyrical beauty and rousing nature of many of these tunes, and no denying the sweetness and crystal clarity of Mackenzie’s singing.