Music
20 Mar 01

Solar Shears

A couple of years ago I saw the Shoogles at the Cambridge Folk Festival - it was without doubt one of the best sets of the entire weekend. Shooglenifty's roots are in Scottish folk music, but their electrified line-up, including a rhythm section, means that there is a more contemporary tone to what they do.

New materials, rhythms, ethnic patterns, and bits of trad tunes all come in for the 'Nifty treatment, but there is a sense of the tradition being added to, rather than diminished, even on the quantily monickered 'Bjvrk's Chauffeur'. The musicianship is at all times from the top drawer, and there is some amazing interplay between the various parties, especially on tracks like 'Delighted', where the fiddle, bass and synth swop lines like there's no tomorrow.

'Maggie Ann' has a vocal that sounds as if it's coming from the bottom of a waterlogged coalpit, with cock and chickens carping away in the background, but it's brilliant.

Solar Shears may not suit everybody, but for this reviewer, it lightened the load on a tough day. Cracking music.