Maeve Mackinnon: Strì

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Musically of the moment but rooted in tradition, Strì – “Struggle” – sees Maeve Mackinnon give eloquent voice to traditional Gaelic repertoire couched in inventive arrangements involving such stalwarts as guitarist Ross Martin, fiddler Patsy Reid (multi-tracked into some lush string settings), uilleann piper Jarlath Henderson and producer Duncan Lyall on bass and synths. Apart from briskly propelled puirta-beul, these are songs of heartbreak and yearning – in the case of the Irish

Roísín Dubh, an eloquent yearning for a country’s liberation, hauntingly echoed on uilleann pipes.

Moch an-diugh a rinn mi èirigh

opens with a disquieting buzz of reverse guitar and vocal looping as Mackinnon intones the bitter complaint of a wronged woman. The one song in English, We’re Not

Staying, gives a poignant view of a family fleeing Chile after the Pinochet coup, while O Mo Cheist Am Fear Bàn tells of another broken heart.