Free One

A highly respected duo in their own right, Jenn Butterworth (guitar) and Laura-Beth Salter (mandolin) are joined by three equally redoubtable fiddle players, Fiona MacAskill, Laura Wilkie and Aileen Reid Gobbi. This formidable ensemble has been raising quite a ruckus on the Scottish traditional music scene and, increasingly, beyond. Recorded live in the studio and produced by the five women, this highly anticipated debut album is as vigorous a reflection as you could hope for of the improvised, freewheeling approach they've adopted since they started playing together, just for themselves, in Gobbi's flat in 2017. ‘We don't ever sit and score things, it's always improvised,’ Gobbi has stated. ‘If it's cool we'll stick with it, if it's not then we'll bin it.’ Just about the first tune they wrote and played together was ‘Saltspring Overture’ and, marvellously, you can still feel a dynamic sense of excitement and discovery in the version presented here – a feeling that is palpable throughout this collection.