Huam

A sense of care taken is the abiding impression left by this trio of Scottish Highland and Island folk musicians. Returning with their third studio album – the second to be produced by Hudson Records’ Andy Bell – they have created another atmospheric meditation of the natural world and its ability to bring solace and stability in a shifting world.

Salt House are made up of Highland fiddler Lauren MacColl, guitarist Ewan MacPherson and singer, guitarist and harmonium player Jenny Sturgeon. Sturgeon also has a doctorate in seabirds, a fact that feels of a piece with the studied preoccupation with nature and place. Following their last album, Undersong, recorded in a church on the Outer Hebrides, the trio once again recorded on location in rural Argyllshire. The care taken is evident in an album that is a meticulously curated mix of their own material and traditional songs and poems, including a Danish ballad and a Thomas Campbell poem. It can also be heard in music that is symbiotic with the lyrics – ebbing and flowing in response to and as an echo of the emotions evoked in the words. A discordant drone of fiddle as talk turns to a gathering storm at sea or the gentle, lulling repetition of a plucked guitar string to announce the return to the hearthside.