Night Off

Night Off, the debut album from Glasgow-based County Durham folk musician Luc McNally, is a highly accomplished affair. Having built a reputation for himself for guitar accompaniment with the Iona Fyfe Trio and two appearances in the final of the BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician of the Year, McNally delivers a fine first solo venture. Night Offbrings the welcome addition of his fine singing to the set of traditional and self-penned songs, arrangements and instrumentals.

There is much gentle charm and sweetness to this album. With strings, double bass, shruti box, even a moment of barbershop-esque a capella, the arrangements are consistently subtle, considered and evocative. Despite McNally's adept guitar playing, his delicately flat picked lines blend into the mix, constantly at lively service to the pieces, as exemplified on ‘Aye?/Mother's Delight/The Inspection Platform’. As is good to see on a debut, there's a fair amount of experimentation with influences from both sides of the Atlantic being blended together as McNally finds his own voice within the folk tradition. There is both a delving into the past for inspiration as well as an enjoyable contemporary take on those influences. With such deftness of touch on a first outing, McNally is definitely one to look out for in the future.