HEISK – Headstrong: Album Review

By Seuras Og on 21st February 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Frabjous feisty fare from the sextet, as they unleash a second steaming selection of skittering and celebratory sorcery.

Release Date: 26th January 2024

Label: The Bothy Society

Format: CD/digital

Nervous, excitable, agitated, flurried; these are all words that translate as heisk, an Orcadian word. We knew that, finding it an admirable way to describe their consternation of notes, their mwah of melodies, with their debut getting quite the thumbs up here. That’s heisk, this is HEISK!

Two years on, having captured my heart at Skye Live 2022, here they are again. I guess the six piece lineup, which includes two fiddles, squeezebox, and (electro)harp shouts folk or, at least, neo-trad, and there is certainly some of that, but it is the addition of keyboards and drums that add so much, so much more, with cascades of world, dance, and swing all billowing in the mix too. Plus, a first, this time we get songs, albeit via a couple of guests, Ada Francis and the irrepressible Josie Duncan.

Kicking off with The Bold, an anticipatory backbeat leads off a fiddle and accordion melody, with Lauren Macdonald’s drums leaping off effortlessly into a cantering rhythm, the rest of the band locked in behind her. The keyboards, by Catriona Hawksworth, appear to provide the bass registers and dip in and around the flow, before Megan MacDonald takes an early lead with her accordion, with a weaving reel, joined by the paired fiddles of Sally Simpson and, this time, Manx native, Isla Callister, replacing Rosie Munro. Only as it ends does Becca Skeoch’s electroharp make an overt appearance, with the sound, and the theme, of an inclusive bell chime. A good introduction to the sonic palette on show and the infectious enjoyment offered. Eriksson starts all electro-soul, the sort of beginning that fills the floor, weddings or wakes irrespective. Hawksworth’s fingers are flying, as she provides both the skittering riff and the basement ballast, and suddenly the fiddle sweep in from the side. Of course, the drums are perfect, and, when the melody adds in the accordion, it makes for a shifting cross-current of patterns that has as much Chicago about it as Craigellachie. It is rather lovely. My mindset is always finding a bit of prog where I shouldn’t and here is no different, as the track closes.

Peach Beach, clearly(!) somewhere in the Western Isles, adds a touch of tropical, a jaunty calypso feel infiltrating the mood, the electroharp mimicking steel drums, even as the ceilidh section add the top notes. The drums clatter and rattle effectively, adding a sense of glee. Is this not the most joyous drummer in Scotland? Time for something broodier, this provided by Danú, the fiddles taking on the sound of brass as they add a mournful moan. But nothing remains in mourning for long, as MacDonald’s accordion can’t but help to get up and dance. The contrast between the two factions is as clever as it is careful. And actually quite complex. Change the instruments and this could be jazz, or, again, sorry, prog.

A song now, Diamonds, the first coming from Francis, herself no small stakes on the harp, especially clarsach, and it is a minor chord ballad, with bouncy keyboard bass and echoes, really, of Seal, in style, if not vocal tone. This is a good thing, as well as being a good song. A step back in momentum, the swirls of skirl add an intriguing texture. The backing vocal chorale, gradually building, has this well locked into your ear. So effective has this beeen, that you might quite forget where you are, so, as the more trad textures of Tehi-Tegi sweep in, so it is initially a shock. Some cross-cultural keyboard blows all that away, and, moments later you are flying again, foot loose and genre-free, slotting back and forth between the varied geographies, one moment Alba on Ardbeg, the next on the pure celebration of life.

Philomena then dips back to somewhere more thoughtful, echoes and electronica setting a more reflectful mood, the electroharp tip-toeing into somewhere mellower, the fiddles applying a balmy texture above it, a daydream in sunburst psychedelic tartan. This has me scouring the credits for where all these tunes come from, delighted that they are largely written by the individual bandmembers, then put together for the band to rearrange. Indeed, this is also the time to point out the deliberate feminine focus of every part of the album, feminist even, should that word not scare the men of this world. It was a recognition of the then male dominance in Scottish music at the time of their formation, at the turn of the decade, that they came to form. In truth, what with fellow travellers, Kinnaris Quintet, and the plethora of female performers at the top of the Celtic tree, things are changing fast in that particular direction.

This album also involves an ambitious mentoring programme to develop opportunities for underrepresented young women and gender minorities in traditional music, which can only be applauded.

Tutti-Fruity pounds back off onto the dance floor, and it is Duncan adding the pure pop vocal to her own tune, the arrangement again mimicking quite a different instrumentation. (It’s all present and correct if you concentrate.) Duncan is fast becoming quite the go-to for evocative and heartfelt vocals, and song, something the Lewis-ite is finding to her credit as current featured vocalist with Kathryn Tickell. Can half an hour really have gone by already? This album has that curious ability to morph time, lasting both longer and shorter than you expect, and then recall, but it is the strident salvo of the title track that now booms out, the fiddles replicating again a riff that would be brass anywhere else. If any track sought to be my favourite, Headstrong now shuffles that pack in its favour, a dynamically upbeat mix of cascading fiddles and thumping drums, behind which electronics whirr, awaiting the entry of cascades of harp and, wait for it, chunky accordion, itself the accelerant to a hastier lick. This requires a repeating bass thrum to keep it grounded, with rippling effects running akimbo alongside. A stonking and triumphant way to end, a brief coda giving time to smile and remember.

Yup, the girls done good, if I’m allowed to say that. I’m also tempted to suggest they pursue the guest vocals idea, or at least extend it into the live show. Never did Niteworks any bad. Irrespective, this set is recommended! Here, try that title track for size.