Sand, Silt, Flint

Avant-garde folk doesn’t get much better than this. Fiona Soe Paing’s second solo album provides a brooding soundtrack to the Aberdeenshire landscape she calls home with a choice selection of themes; murders, stories of tragic deaths, curses and forlorn lovers populate the area’s rich ballad history. Sand, Silt, Flint plays effortlessly with material, layering tracks with archival material (‘Bonny Udny’ for example), field recordings (listen to the evocative ‘Fisher’s Lullaby’) and the familiar sounds of traditional instruments. In addition, while five tracks stem from traditional sources (Child, Greig-Duncan, and Carpenter collections), five are originals – reinforcing the vitality of Scots song and Soe Paing’s Scots-Burmese heritage.

It’s an exciting combination, think Burd Ellen or perhaps Angeline Morrison and you have a flavour of what’s at play here. A special feature is the opportunity to engage with the album via geo-located soundwalks in the Echoes mobile app; enabling listeners to experience the music in the locations that inspired it. Sand, Silt, Flint is remarkably effective, and affecting listen. Soe Paing delivers that rarest of treats – a sublimely powerful and lingering experience; her otherworldly vocals providing a haunting and mesmerising homage to the north-east of Scotland.