Music: Breabach
Since the band's inception in 2005, they have lost one member and gained two, but one thing that hasn't changed is their consistent ability to make music that moves your soul, whether they are performing a lyrical ballad (sometimes in Gaelic) that makes your heart clench or an upbeat, completely instrumental piece that makes you want to get up and dance. The combinations of instrumentation are always interesting, and the way the flutes and pipes (and I do mean bagpipes) blend so well with the guitar, bass, and vocals adds something special to songs that might get lost and buried amidst the folk revivalism of the last five or so years.
Bann, released in March 2012, is an incredibly well crafted album that spans from introductory fiddle-heavy jigs (see: Glasgow of the Big Shops, Mogaisean) to slower, more lullaby-like songs (see: M'eudail, M'eudail). One of the strongest pieces on the album for me is Scotland's Winter - in it, Robertson deftly sets Edwin Muir's poem Scotland 1941 to beautiful harmonies, helped by Henderson, and instrumental, accented particularly by the distinctive bagpipe on a nearly two minute long ending solo by Mackenzie. It would be easy to grow bored and/or annoyed by such a long bagpipe solo, but in Mackenzie's hands (and lungs), it soars.
2013's Urlar is a strong follow up album, motivated by the band's visits to their hometowns; they were prompted by the music cultivated by their communities, and the emotion behind this compilation is potent. Forvie Sands, composed by Lindsay and inspired by the sand dunes of Aberdeenshire, is a standout with its plaintive flute and fiddle duet, as is Orangedale Whistle, inspired by MacCrimmon's cross-cultural upbringing (he was born and raised in Canada and moved with his family to Monifieth, Scotland in 1991). Bha Mise Raoir Air An Airigh, the seventh track on the album, is also a great achievement as a haunting update on a traditional folk song.
If you like Scotland and if you like folk music, and are willing to give bagpipes a shot (which you should be. They don't all sound like the ones at your hometown parades), Breabach is definitely a band you should check out. Though they haven't come out with another album yet, they have been doing a lot of traveling, both on tour and in search of new musical inspiration, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
You can buy both albums on their bandcamp. Happy listening!
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