Virr

Sarah-Jane Summers is a Scottish fiddle and viola player, based in Norway. Many readers will know her as one half of the celebrated duo Widdershins. Summers' diverse talents have seen her performing on festival stages around the world in a wide range of musical contexts.

Avant-garde and experimental sounds are the order of the day on her new solo album, Virr. The compositions were inspired by harsh weather conditions, with tracks such as the beautifully eerie ‘Aisk’, meaning a haze, mist or bank of fog, successfully capturing the essence or atmosphere of their subject. It's a wild and adventurous journey, but, without a traditional fiddle tune in sight, Virr is not always an easy ride. There are one or two moments where I suspect Summers had more fun playing than most people will have listening. Tracks like ‘Katrisper’ and ‘Bost’ (on which it sounds like she's replaced her bow with a pair of rusty scissors) are intentionally difficult to listen to, just as some weather conditions are difficult to endure.