No 2 Greepe

This is the second album from the Campbells of Greepe – hailed as one of the great singing families in Gaelic music and featuring the broadcaster Mary Ann Kennedy among the family voices. Their first release, Fonn, was accompanied by a 300-page book of 120 songs and this second set draws from the same source, featuring a mix of songs and puirt à beul, a complex mouth music of dance tunes, tongue-twisters and cross rhythms that is one of the most difficult genres in Gaelic song. Swift, silvery part-singing is mixed in with solo performances – Kennedy taking the lead on ‘S Gann Gun Dirich Mi Chaoidh’, Seamas Campbell on ‘Mo Chailin Donn Òg’, while the opening mouth-music piece features all five voices braiding a tune that sounds distant, strange and magical. There's also a surprising bonus track, a beautiful field recording of Ann Michie from 1950.

Recorded live in the studio by Jerry Boys, the album is more esoteric than Fonn, but no less compelling, with guest musicians including Red Hot Chilli Piper Lorne MacDougall and guitarist Finlay Wells. The set lacks a good booklet to provide information about the songs, but there's nothing quite like this music out there.