Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A tightrope held between two states of mind is not one that is easily traversed, the fall awaits one conscious or the other and the only way to survive the possible inevitable plunge is to look ahead, pay no attention to anything else around you, and live your life as if it were the only one that matters, a letter to the faithful, a telegram to the world which starts, not in let down with the greeting Dear John, but instead with the upbeat and personal salutation of Dear Sienna.

For the Aerialists, Dear Sienna represents the joining of hands, the meeting of such minds that live in the realms of the Progressive and the Traditional, two states of mind that could be argued normally find little in common, but to whom have found a way to coexist thanks to supreme efforts of Adam Iredale-Gray, Elise Boeur and Mairi Chaimbeul and the result is one of delicate balance, each genre conducting a type of Widdershin’s jig with the other, a motion that takes pride in circling the listener with the tussle, of the counter clockwise argument to which they prevail and exemplify.

Formed in 2014, the influence of the Aerialists is not to be sniffed at, nor dismissed and in tracks such as the album title song, Dear Sienna, The Rope Is The World, Jigs, Orchard and Que Forte Diamante, the band move into a place of possibilities and risks, ones that to be embraced and allowed the freedom to be anything they chose. That is the beauty of being a traditional Progressive, the dichotomy allows the letter to compromise, to offer a solution when most people will be too blind to see that there is even a problem; such is the nature of walking the tightrope between two polar opposites, it allows you to see the story from both sides, and to act accordingly.

Across the traditional, including the incredible adaption of the 300-year-old Gaelic song An Gille Dubh Ciar Dubh, Aerialists reach the point of balance with deft defying artistry; beautiful, hypnotic and grand, Dear Sienna is a love letter to both the traditional and the progressive.

Aerialists’ Dear Sienna is out now and available via Fiddlehead Records.

Ian D. Hall