Music / folkemusik

Morning tempest


Reviews (2)


Northern Sky

2018

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By

Allan Wilkinson

2018

"This rather splendid and tasteful debut by the award winning Scots/Spanish duo Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente sees a musical partnership that finds little difficulty traversing the wealth of Gaelic and Scots traditions with nine immediately accessible songs ... My attention is immediately drawn to Josie's own beautiful The Great Escape (...), a delicate melody that suits Josie's and guest vocalist Colin Macleod's voices, and is well worth putting on repeat for a play through of several times ... As well as the original material, we are treated to some rather satisfying readings of traditional songs such as the portentous King Orfeo, the galloping He Called for a Candle and the ethereal closer Potato Puirt. It's quite possible, or should I say it's a dead cert, that the Gaelic songs will define Josie's singing career and it's quite easy to see why. There's a certain clarity in her voice on such songs as Thug Mi 'n Oidhche and Uamh An Oir, which resonates long after the songs have finished".


fRoots

2018 Spring

By

By

Paul Matheson

2018 Spring

"The debut album from 2017's BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award winners. Glasgow-based singer Josie Duncan and guitarist Pablo Lafuente hail originally from the Isle of Lewis and Spain. Josie's clear, youthful voice has an ingenious, innocent quality that lends itself well to the (mostly) Scottish traditional songs she performs here ... The standout track (...) is He Fades Away, a powerful love-lament that takes the perspective of the wife of a miner who is dying of asbestosis. The words and melody are deeply moving. I didn't expect anyone would ever match Paul McKenna's version of this song, but Josie and Pablo have recorded a beautiful arrangement of it, with a sweet, tender vocal and a caressingly delicate guitar accompaniment. In a masterly touch, flugelhorn and cello join in midway through the song - like the ghostly echo of a colliery band".