Light Ida Lum

In the grand tradition of the currently inactive Fiddler's Bid, whose Maurice Henderson features in this group's three-fiddle frontline, Haltadans celebrate the Shetland traditions of exuberant reels and tunes learned from the local little people, the trows. As this debut full-length album, following on from their 2014 EP, also reminds us, Shetlanders' next stop westwards is the US while eastern neighbour Scandinavia adds its keening flavours to the Shetland spirit. Opening with the trowie tune that gives the group its name, this is music full of character, played with great skill and often a sweet sense of harmony. If ‘Old Hoose O' Tarrarit’ has something of the swing of both the legendary Edinburgh band The Easy Club and the jazz influence that Peerie Willie Johnson introduced to the Shetlands from New York and ‘2:33 Ristie Time’ with its composer, mandolinist Jenny Henry, sitting in, likewise looks to the US with its Western waltz feel, then the ‘Polskas’ set is decidedly European, capturing not just a Swedish breeziness but also a suggestion of Vivaldi in the chord progressions.