Man of the Minch - The Tide Is At The Turning 5/5
Scotland is producing some absolutely stunning music just now, in the last few years we’ve had instant classics from Twilight Sad, Arab Strap, Andrew Wasylyk, Carla J Easton and Kathryn Joseph to name just a few and now we must add Man of the MInch to that list.
‘The Tide is At The Turning’ is a rich, full album mixing traditional Scottish folk with dance, indie and pop, it may sound like a crash of several styles but it knits together perfectly and is bolstered by Pedro Cameron’s gorgeous warm voice.
At times the songs are stripped back to the more traditional elements like the soothing ‘The Wall’ (featuring Rachel Sermanni and Finn Anderson) or they go completely electronic like the racing ‘Borderline’ which leans towards grime. At other times it's both such as the opener ‘Mountains’ a swirling folk song that builds and builds until it transforms into a throbbing electronic number.
Pedro keeps a skilled hand on the songwriting so that it always feels natural, never gimmicky. It's a tough sell these days to have traditional Scottish sounds sitting with modern sounds but here it feels completely natural. When you listen to a song like ‘Fallen Man’ you wonder why it's not attempted more often. Maybe there’s just not been anyone as talented as Man of the Minch thus far.
‘The Tide Is At The Turning’ brings so many elements together in one album, the nocturnal majesty of the Blue Nile, the punchy pro-Alba pop of Big Country, the guitar genius of Bert Janch - it's all here and more. Scottish music is going from strength to strength, diverse, creative, pushing boundaries, there’s some magnificent music being produced up here and Man Of The Minch is definitely at the forefront with this album maybe the tide is at the turning for Scotland’s artists indeed.
(With thanks to Will Kettles-Haggerty for his input on this review)
