For her third album release, Glasgow-based harpist and composer Rachel Hair joins forces with her trio for the first time on record. NO MORE WINGS features a selection of sophisticated instrumental arrangements blending Scotland’s rich heritage of vibrant instrumental music with one or two songs beautifully sung here by singer/guitarist Jenn Butterworth including Cyril Tawney’s Grey Funnel Line, Jesse Winchester’s My Songbird as well as her own Island. The trio is completed by East Kilbride’s Euan Burton on double bass, with guest appearances by Fraser Fifield on sax, Signy Jacobsdottir on percussion and Angus Lyon on Rhodes and accordion.
Rachel, from the Highland village of Ullapool, is a highly disciplined exponent of the Scottish harp (or clarsach), a musician who has been playing the instrument from the age of ten, working her way through Scotland’s Fèis movement, under the tutelage of such leading musicians such as Corrina Hewat, Bill Taylor, Wendy Stewart and Alison Kinnaird. The songs and tunes on NO MORE WINGS demonstrates that none of this has gone to waste. A beauty.
Allan Wilkinson, Northern Sky