Haar

This second album from Scottish ambient folk trio HAV is as ethereal and elusive as the coastal environment it is steeped in. The band’s name is the Scandinavian word for the sea or ocean, and the album title is a Scots word for the sea fret (fog) that cloaks eastern Scotland when cold North Sea air hits land.

Since their debut, the trio has dispersed far from Scotland, and recording sessions for this album took place in Tuscany and an off-grid olive farm in Catalonia. While the languid air of the warm south may have permeated their sound, they remain faithful to the Scottish (and Scandinavian) tradition. Instrumental track ‘Tuscany’, for example, has a haunting fiddle and piano refrain.

HAV are Alex Ross and Jonathan Bidgood, both multi-instrumentalists and general sound geeks, alongside bassist Ian ‘Dodge’ Paterson. They are joined on two tracks by singers Iona Fyfe and Bridie Jackson – both striking voices. The result is a soundscape by turns ambient avant-garde, contemporary classical and traditional folk, with slices of found sound and half-captured conversation. Don’t be put off by the sound-geekery. What could be messy, disjointed and boring is in fact quite spellbinding and rewards repeated listening.