Gin and Strathspey

A string band with a possibly unique instrumentation, LYRE LYRE is three of the most in-demand musicians currently operating in Scottish traditional music. Fiddler/violist Patsy Reid was a founder member of the popular band Breabach before going on to freelance with myriad ensembles (and recently whistle virtuoso Brian Finnegan’s Hunger of the Skin ensemble). Cellist Alice Allen is equally at home in folk or classical (and more), and Marit Fält’s adventurous partnership with fiddler Rona Wilkie makes her Nordic mandola the ideal ingredient in a trio where melodies are passed from one to another with ease and anyone can be the rhythm section. Aside from the expected Scottish and Nordic influences, Middle Eastern flavours and suggestions of shape note-sung hymn melodies slip in as pieces such as the addictively marching title-track emerge and develop through variation and improvisation. Each player brings to the group a splendid variety of approach, from gently playful to ruggedly forthright, and an occasional xylophone, vocal chant, whistling string, oud-like cittern or a cello masquerading as a bass match the trio’s superb, livewire playing with imaginative intonation.