At the Heart of it All

Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw has recently observed that, even when you’ve been at the forefront of contemporary Gaelic music for 30 years, “there’s very little commercial viability in releasing a new album these days, beyond selling it at gigs.” But he concedes that “actually that creates a huge amount of freedom to please yourselves.” We’re encouraged to believe that this new album constitutes something of a return to the Celtic roots of this seminal band and, by implication, a step away from the glossier fusion material that so infuriates their detractors. There’s more than a little truth in that promise. Essentially acoustic and dominated by the ever-exquisite vocals of Karen Matheson, there’s a palpable fire burning at the heart of these songs. There remains an experimental, even jazzy, edge but it doesn’t dominate proceedings. Long-standing members such as the redoubtable Shaw and ubiquitous flautist Michael McGoldrick are heard in lively form, aided and abetted by the likes of Julie Fowlis and Lau’s Kris Drever and Aidan O’Rourke – folk who would surely credit Capercaillie as being a trailblazing role model for their own success in today’s flourishing Scottish music scene.