Description
Netherbow is the third album from the multi-talented duo of Saltfishforty. Douglas Montgomery on fiddle, viola, mandolin & stomp, and Brian Cromarty on vocals, guitar, mandola & mandolin, with Erik Laughton on percussion. Great trad, self-penned and borrowed tunes.
Netherbow; The Cock O' Byam; The Creelman; The Bride's Lament; The Glassel Jig; Yellow And Blue; The Locks At Athy; A Ring On Her Hand; Danielle And Keith; The Holm Band Tune; Howie MacDonald's; Svecia.
After a recording break of 5 years, Saltfishforty release their third album, Netherbow. It was recorded over two weeks at Stormsound studios in Kirkwall.
The title track is a strathspey by Rousay's Jimmy Craigie. He was the local postie, and many of the great tunes he wrote in the 1950s are being rediscovered today.
The Cock o Byam is a poem found in `An anthology of Orkney Verse'. In it a farmhand is plagued by guilt after killing his pregnant lover. This is the first of four songs on the album, along with The Bride's Lament, an old traditional song; Yellow and Blue, an original and `A ring on her hand' which features new lyrics set to an adaptation of a tune from `The Balfour Collection.'
Svecia was written on a viola comprised of wood from the wreck of the ship of the same name.
Elsewhere on the album, on tracks such as `The Glassel set' and 'Danielle's', the boys are joined by percussionist Erik Laughton, adding a new dimension to an already full sound.
The sound is darker and heavier than Saltfish's earlier albums, yet maintains the energy levels of those recordings.