Westward the Light

There's a perception of the current crop of young Scottish trad bands that paints them all as playing their own tunes at the expense of the tradition, and playing them in a way that favours pace over form. Westward the Light can't be accused of this. Consisting of two fiddlers (one doubling on viola), a guitarist and a pianist, Westward the Light draw on Irish as well as Scottish tradition, with a leaning towards the latter's piping repertoire, and put a strong emphasis on melody, often unadorned, and atmosphere.

Their playing of the retreat march, ‘Dark Lowers the Night’, is lovely and the Irish carol ‘Don Oíche Úd imBeithil’ has a majestic quality, with a piano intro leading to rich viola phrasing. They can play with abandon, too, as the opening set illustrates with building momentum. As well as cherishing the tradition, they add to it with splendid originals in Joe Peach's reel for his piano teacher, ‘Mary McCarthy's Reel’ (featured here in the set ‘Reels’), and fiddler-violist Sally Simpson's ‘Noughts and Crosses’, with its slightly eerie coda.