Music / folkemusik

Heal & Harrow


Reviews (4)


The observer

d. 5. Feb. 2022

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Neil Spencer

d. 5. Feb. 2022

"It's an appropriately haunting outing, with Newton's spare, percussive harp complemented by MacColl's fuller violin. The mood is largely sombre but not gloomy; the lives of the individual women in each song given dignity, with spoken word commentaries, in English and Gaelic, whispered into the mix. The effect is spectral (spooky if you like)".


Get ready to rock!

d. 18. Jan. 2022

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Jason Ritchie

d. 18. Jan. 2022

"'Heal & Harrow' is one of those albums that shines a light on a dark period of history, wonderfully told and played by Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl".


Folk radio UK

d. 3. Feb. 2022

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David Pratt

d. 3. Feb. 2022

"Heal & Harrow is a refreshingly original and carefully-crafted album, with musicianship and compositions of the highest quality. The apposite title possibly reflects both the harrowing subject and a restitutive balm, which, whilst illuminating the injustices inflicted on so many innocent women in the past, also highlights the fact that, disturbingly, parallels, such as an ongoing propensity in many quarters for misogynistic attitudes and behaviour, are still prevalent".


Songlines

2022 April

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Tim Cumming

2022 April

"Remembering the victims of the Scottish Witch Trials: At a time when there is a movement afoot to pardon the 4,000 or so women who found themselves at the wrong end of Scotland's witch trials between the 16th and 18th century (...), this pairing of harpist Rachel Newton and fiddler Lauren MacColl is quietly beautiful in its music, and with a clipped anger to its lyrics ... Songs touch on the survival of magical beliefs, too, as well as highlighting the parallels with violence against women today. The apt word for this set has to be "spellbinding"".