Reggae-trad fusioneers An Danssa Dub tackle the difficult second album challenge with honours. Well irie!

Release Date : 29th April 2025

Label : Self Released

Format : CD / digital

Welcome Back

The wheels of the world move in mysterious ways, one being how the concept of dub, originally experimentation with the acetate rhythm tracks, so as to give a new baseline for studio extrapolation, has spread. Devised by reggae producers in the late 60’s and early 70’s, it has shown no reason why not to stick with the model. It now filters across into other genres, notably several iterations of rock, jazz and electronic musics.

And, as for baseline, it is maybe more the bassline that has often taken centre stage, together with tools that allow on-stage and live manipulation of the sound. Dub country I haven’t yet seen, betting it exists somewhere, but dub folk certainly has its acolytes. Avid fusioneers, like Afro-Celt Soundsystem, have never been averse to touches of echo and re-verb, switching around the pattern and sequence of instrumentation. And who can forget how Edward II and the Red Hot Polkas invited the Mad Professor to play havoc with their morris-reggae template, all those years ago? Now, with their second full length release, welcome back to An Danssa Dub.

MOTHS TO THE FLAME

We caught these guys and their debut, Air An Turas, a little over two years ago, finding it an enthralling ride. Since then they have gradually been expanding and extending their palette, notably gaining a slot within this year’s Celtic Connections. The most notable feature now apparent is the range and diversity of guests, attracted to their flame, adding credibility to both sides the equation. Thus this second release sees the presence of such leading lights of Scots and Gaelic music as Ross Ainslie, Rachel Newton and Josie Duncan, joining the core band of Tom Spirals, Euan McLaughlin, Ben Burnside, Maxi Lemos and Nicky Kirk. Spirals handles flute and array of synths. McLaughlin provides, mainly, fiddle, with drums, bass and guitar added, respectively, by the remaining trio. No change in line-up then, which augurs well, explaining the rhythmic precision of the enterprise, it beating me how McLaughlin also has time to be part of electro-trad mixologists, Valtos.

This is a concept album…… No, come back, it’s completely safe to listen to in other than a set piece and in order. Although it fits well into a seamless whole, each and individual tracks bear listening to, alone and out of sequence. (To be fair, aren’t all records, or weren’t they, designed to listen to in order? Or am I just old?) Themes and songs sit alongside, a narrative there for the taking. Or not, as you wish, but the faithful will be aware the album tells the tale of a storm, waxing and waning through start to finish, taking in also the eye. You’ll know when you get to it.

Fiddle caught on a gust

Scene-setter, The Storm, opens with some fiddle, caught on a gust, and sweeping inland, Synths shimmer ahead as the groove slowly gathers momentum, via disparate echoed beats, before falling into the familiar lope of reggae. Heavily echoed drums mimic the gathering clouds. This then beckons in the more sinuous Low Down In The Broom, which starts with Rachel Newton wailing wordlessly. As the fiddle whips the band into the same direction, so she starts to sing. The track becomes a chug of fiddle which vies with the background bleep and booster, the bass and drums locked down against the elements. The contrast between her vocal and the backing is both curious and catching, with a hint of Sinead O’Connor, as she incursed into reggae. So far, so good.

AN EXHILARATING BOOST

Tha Mi Air Chall starts off kilter, with some Josie Duncan, last seen with Kathryn Tickell, vocalisations, as Horseman makes preparatory noises for his vocal. Horseman? Aka Winston Williams, he is the real deal. A soundsystem lifer, with decades of experience, both as a drummer and a singer, working with artists of the calibre of Tipper Irie, Barrington Levi, Max Romeo and Gregory Isaacs.

With no nonsense, he lurches straight into the song, his toasting swapping to and fro with Duncan’s Gaelic vocal. Surges of electric guitar and manic fiddle flurry about the mix, with brass, Liam Shortall, trombone and Mateusz Sobieski, sax, joining the flute of Spirals. It is an infectious concoction that has raised the bar, ready for the entry of our man Ainslie. On bagpipes, his play is a further exhilarating boost, as sequencers skitter behind a clatter of percussion. This is the business, and this instrumental, Solasta, is monumental, with occasional interpolation from Horseman to maintain vocal integrity.

Ambitious staccato

Tombaca ambitiously pairs Duncan singing a puirt à beul to the rhythm section, who take their time to find a staccato pivot to drive forward from. That the band augment their scaffolding with the racing bodhran of Callum Convoy, of The Canny Band, shows just what a keen ear they have for the marriage of cultures. And, of course it works. We know from Niteworks that the Gaelic is an equal opportunity language in song. With a repeating synth pattern, with a melody and structure that Jean Michel Jarre may have trialled, it suddenly ups a gear for an effervescent build.

I, Of The Storm, geddit, is, as you might expect, a much calmer and quieter track, with a slow burn, McLaughlin’s fiddle applying languid lines about the singing of, possibly a relation, Lewis McLaughlin. With a clear Scottish accent, this singer is a former associate of Frightened Rabbit’s Andy Monaghan. Described as a “folk edged Paolo Nutini,” that isn’t a bad description. It’s a short track. I could have done with hearing more of him.

CONVENTIONAL TRADITIONAL

Sith returns to Duncan, whose voice is surely now the main voice of the band, noting the posters for the forthcoming tour show her to be included in the band photo, alongside Spirals, McLaughlin, Burnside and Lemos. This is perhaps the most conventionally traditional song presented thus far, courtesy the melody of her voice and the fiddle, if still underpinned with the rhythms of Kingston, Jamaica. A further guest vocalist, Junior Dread, now adds his voice to the throng. Brazilian by birth and raising, real name Carlos Almeida, he is apparently a representative of “conscious reggae music” worldwide.

In direct contrast to the song ahead, Standing Strong is the most obviously reggae song here, reggae lite at that, sounding like late period Bob Marley, once the crossover potential had been fully appreciated. And call me awkward, but, as a Brazilian, need he really go the full Sting in his accent? But, to say something nice, the organ backdrop, from producer of the album, Gaudi, adds a retaliatory focus, as does the fiddle, if, for the first time, feeling a little bolted on.

Full PELT PELL MELL

In Between Beinns is a terrific instrumental that bounds along like a good ‘un, the many and disparate sounds blended with a clear ear to detail, as one might expect from the veteran producer. As the brass blows in, it becomes your favourite track ever, at least during its near 5 minutes, with a finishing flourish that is positively Balkan. Kick Up The Dust has Duncan revisiting her Gaelic, another full pelt tongue twister, pushed/pulled along by the strings and woodwind, some eerie synth chords beginning to group behind the pell mell momentum. It represents further proof how far this band have come.

A MUSICAL STAND OUT

All Things Must Pass is another curious one to guage, given it now passes vocal responsibilities from special guests to the band, Spirals, McLaughlin and Kirk, Gaudi joining in also, for good measure. Despite the tune carrying another hefty sense of the traditional, trying to escape the rigidity imposed otherwise, and also perhaps the best use of brass yet, those vocals are more of the received patois deemed essential for authenticity with the dreads. Is this harsh? I don’t know, but it has the effect of detracting from the overall and otherwise convincing mix and match. It is a shame, as it is musically one of the stand out tracks.

No such dilemma, though, for Duncan, who closes the album with Till Siàn, her haunted tones over the same sort of synthscape that opened this project. Double tracked, this shows her voice off perfectly, thinking she is here a better fit than for some of her previous projects. And that is how it ends.

A Tremendous progression

All in all, this represents a tremendous progression from the last recording, there feeling to be a far greater sense of purpose and a greater cohesiveness. Whilst that may stem from the conceptual nature of the project, I think it actually more to do with getting gigs under their belt and performing, taking away any sense of the clunk between cultures, something that, despite the inherent joy in that first record, did seep into some of the tracks, especially when some white rasta tropes were seemed to be perpetuated. Here there is a perfect, um, storm, of Scottish and Afro-Caribbean derived. So, hats in the air, and huzza! Now to catch ’em live!

Not on the album, a nonetheless mandatory listen should be this magnifient dub plate of Dub Air Chall, remixed live by Paolo Baldini, who also mixed the actual album.

An Danssa Dub online: Website / Facebook / Instagram

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube