Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are very few things as stirring as someone who wears their Celtic heart firmly upon their tartan sleeve. The heartache and pride of a thousand and more years history, the memory of water being distilled and savoured as if the most precious thing on Earth and the sound of a fiddle being weaved gently into the still night air, only to be heard by the faithful like a rallying call to mourn those lost and celebrate life in the mist and midst of Brigadoon. Such is the power of Emily Smith’s latest album Echoes, that Brigadoon is only a memory away.
The heartening feel of someone so close to the music they create is palpable, Echoes sings long after the C.D. player has stopped and the day’s work begins. The tales live long as the grind and sometimes grimness of the day turns the evening slate grey and your only thought is to head back home and relive the memories of freedom once more, to sample the voice of a hundred generations and the songs that filter through the memory like a drop of water through the cracks of the Highlands and Lowlands.
Accompanied by Jamie Mcclennan, Matheu Watson, Signy Jakobdottir and Ross Hamilton as well as some very special guest performers including the gracious playing of Natalie Hass on cello, Emily Smith escorts the listener through the grand parade of magical music illusion and lets them find a spot in which to wallow for a while and take heed at the words and sounds that create the story.
Tracks such as the astounding King Orfeo, the beauty and despair in My Darling Boy, the edgy humour in Twa Sisters and the sublime feel of history unfolding in Hawk and Crow make the album not just required listening but a necessity, a set of songs that carry forth stipulation and stimulation; memories of the tranquillity that surround us if we truly bother to see.
If there is an album to make sure that you come across during 2014, then surely Echoes will be one of those that should be within easy reach as the mist crawls in.
Emily Smith performs at The Atkinson in Southport on March 26th 2014. Tickets are priced at £12 before day of concert and then £14 on the door.
Ian D. Hall