Still Time

Karen Matheson returns after five years to prove she still deserves her place among Scottish Folk Royalty – along, of course, with her husband Donald Shaw. They perform together in the influential and experimental band Capercaillie and have both played a key role in the ever popular Transatlantic Sessions. Matheson has now released five solo albums. Last time round, with Urram, she brought African and Indian settings to Gaelic songs, but now she concentrates on reworking favourites from an impressively varied selection of singer-songwriters, from Robert Burns to James Grant, once with the Glaswegian band Love and Money. Grant plays guitar and dobro and contributes four songs, including the lush ‘Cassiopiea Coming Through’, which sounds more pop than folk, and a fine anti-war song, ‘The Glory Demon’. Shaw, who produced the set, plays piano and accordion, and contributes two songs including the thoughtful title-track.

Other highlights include Si Kahn's powerful 70s lament ‘The Aragon Mill’, a sad and powerful ballad, and ‘Recovery’ by Calum and Rory Macdonald of Runrig fame. One of the two charming and emotional Burns' songs is ‘Ae Fond Kiss’, which Matheson sang at the closing of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and is now given piano and strings backing. This is a very classy comeback.