Went to Walk

The shadow of the pandemic and lockdowns hangs heavy over this third album from the Sligo-based, Austrian-born violinist/singer/yodeller and composer. There are various lyrical ruminations on isolation, possible new perspectives on life, details of the healing properties of forests, the seaside and mountains, and the musical potential of kettles and other household items; there’s even a nine-minute track given over to snippets from her 2020 audio history project interviewing Sligo residents about their own lockdown thoughts. Personally, I rather doubt I’ll ever deliberately be listening to ‘Stop the Clocks’ again but, despite the dauntingly introspective nature of this whole project, there’s a bravery and intrigue here in Schwab’s disdain for conventional borders between genres and musical traditions. And who might not be tempted by a track described as an ‘avant-garde yodel-trad experiment’ (‘Jodlphase’) featuring a guest appearance by the redoubtable Michael McGoldrick?