Link to Living Tradition Homepage

REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk

 


 

 

 
GARY INNES - Imminent 

GARY INNES - Imminent 
Private Label GHI02 

With his third solo album, Gary Innes has built on the strong foundation of the well-received second one in 2017 and it is packed full of self-penned tunes and songs. The accordion wizard from Spean Bridge has played on stage with Runrig many times and featured heavily on their Everything You See album, including gracing the cover as one of shinty’s most high-profile players and former Scotland captain. He is also co-founder of Manran and thus is not too short of musical colleagues to join him for the party here.

There is familiar west coast vibe, with accordion driving the music - not dissimilar to Skipinnish and Manran, with three vocal tracks adding colour to the jigs and reels. Karen Matheson sings lead vocals on the track, Swan Song, and overall the band is a tight act. The poignant Dream Fields has vocals from Ross Wilson of Blue Rose Code. It is finely arranged, moving and is reminiscent of Runrig’s swansong, Somewhere. The majority of the tracks are up-beat, complemented by a few gentler moments. There are some outstanding tracks on the album and superb arrangements. Catching this line-up live would be a great night out and the next best thing would be seeing Gary with fiddle playing partner in crime, Ewen Henderson, with Manran.

www.garyinnes.com

John Carnie


 

This review appeared in Issue 129 of The Living Tradition magazine