Battlefield Band’s slogan, ‘Forward with Scotland’s Past’ is an interesting and apt way of summing up the music on their latest album in a journey that has encompassed over three decades. Dookin’ not only covers ‘traditional’ Scottish musical forms but explores and expands upon the ways in which it has both influenced and drawn influences from musical forms across the globe, particularly those sites and regions where the Scottish diaspora has settled and grown. For all this ‘world music’ influence though, Dookin’ sounds remarkably coherent and works as a whole rather than as a mish-mash of polyglot and tenuously linked influences.
The opening duo of instrumentals, ‘Dookin’ For Beetroot / The Head Roaster’ are emblematic of the mix of old and new contained on Dookin’. Composed by Mike Katz, a Californian now resident in Edinburgh, they are lovely, haunting tunes that perform the clever feat of being both melancholy and uplifting, with an intricate yet seemingly effortless interplay operating between the instruments – keyboards, acoustic guitar, fiddle, whistle and pipes – that set the tone for the rest of this adventurous album. ‘I’m Going To Set You Free’ is the first of a number of songs featuring vocals. The words and the tone of the song are redemptive, full of lovely melodies and sung by the rich, expressive voice of Sean White. The instrumentation is very sparse but beautiful, with flourishes of Hammond organ adding a nice touch to the more ‘traditional’ instruments, while the song is buoyed along with a driving, forward moving guitar. ‘Oh I Am A Forlorn Man / Finlay Spreading Manure / The Dark Boy My Darling’ is an instrumental triptych that begins by combining an American and Celtic feel, with a mouth organ joining the pipes. As the piece develops it gains a real sense of momentum, particularly with the introduction of some simple sounding yet intricate bass playing. All in all, this short piece covers a lot of musical ground without ever sounding anything less than magnificent or inspired.
‘My Luv’s Like A Red, Red Rose’ is a rendition of a familiar lyric within an unfamiliar musical setting. In keeping with the rest of Dookin’, it wrong foots you into believing you know firmly where Battlefield Band are coming from and where they are going. Then, before you know what’s going on, the familiar ground gives way leaving you in vaguely unfamiliar terrain. Despite the initial shock it’s a hugely pleasurable feeling, made all the more enjoyable by Alan Reid’s effective, warm delivery. ‘Song For Selangor / Covering Ground’ are melancholy and combine to create a dreamlike atmosphere as the guitar and fiddle play off of and with one another before the other instruments join in to gorgeous effect.
Now I don’t rightly know if Is This Music? is a family publication or not so I won’t attempt to define the term ‘clinking’ and will instead just quote from the liner notes which tell us that it is “slang for the intimate act of warm admiration”. There is certainly much to be admired about ‘Kitty Got A Clinking Coming From The Fair / Overton Park’ with their warm, lilting instrumentation and lovely harmonies.
‘The Ballad Of Accounting’ is awe-inspiring. From the opening lone piano, through the vocals and other instruments, it moves from mournful and regretful through to a questioning anger and barely suppressed sense of rage. Sean White’s lead vocal gives extra gravitas and bite to Ewan MacColl’s words, initially lamenting the way in which
You learn to dream in the morning
Abandon dreams in the afternoon
Wait without hope in the evening.
Then, in the same verse, the lyrics, voice and music become more scathing and critical
Did you stand there in the traces
and let them feed you lies?
Did you trail along behind them
wearing blinkers on your eyes?
Did you kiss the foot that kicked you
and thank them for their scorn?
Did you ask them for forgiveness
for the act of being born?
The arrangements and playing on ‘The Ballad Of Accounting’ are totally breathtaking. I love the way the song seems to grow in strength as the songs narrative unfolds in subtle and inventive ways.
‘Big Leon’s March / The People’s Jig / Ash City / Blackjack Grove’ reflects the varied influences and experiences of such diverse locations as Breton, China, North America and Scotland on Battlefield Band. The bagpipes, an instrument often intrinsically linked in my psyche as implements of aural torture in the wrong hands, come to the fore here but sound exquisite throughout this joyous quintet of old and new compositions. ‘Cillephaedair / Boo Baby’s Lullaby’ travel musically from South Uist to the Appalachian mountains, revisiting the old frontiers in an almost visual way with its evocative tunes combining harmonica, fiddle, accordion, whistle and guitar. The two linked tunes have a curious, offbeat feel with a neat rendering of a sense of new frontiers and wide-open spaces and would work perfectly as part of a film soundtrack.
Alan Reid’s ‘Gathering Storm’ is a very deceptive song, delicate and robust, full of portents of bad times to come, both in the natural and human-created world:
They say that trouble is brewing
Blow, hear the winds blow
We look at each other with questioning eyes
Where do we turn to this morning?
Both the music and Reid’s voice have a timeless, ageless feel to them. ‘Gathering Song’ is both haunting and lovely, an elegant piece of song writing.
‘The Blue Lagoon / Easy Jig’ apparently combine ‘THE most difficult piece ever composed for the bagpipe’ with Mike Katz’s self-composed ‘easiest jig in the world’. I’m in no way qualified to discuss the merits of these statements but both pieces sound complex, full of strange shifts and patterns that never sound forced or jar and are remarkably uplifting compositions. ‘Allan McClean’ is a gently played and sung cautionary tale. Both the playing and vocal are beautifully understated and subtle, adding to the songs beauty as the story of disgrace and exile is recited to great effect. The final track ‘Paddy Moloney’s Welcome To Scotland / Compliments To Buddy McMaster’ are instrumental tributes to two of Battlefield Band’s influences and peers, a lovely linked pair of tunes that attest to the power of music in forming lasting associations and identities.
This is the first time I’ve encountered Battlefield Band and it certainly won’t be the last time. I’ve played this album dozens of times, my initial wariness quickly giving way to sheer pleasure and enjoyment. It may seem incongruous reviewing Battlefield Band here but in my world, there are only two types of music: good music and bad music. And the music contained on Dookin’ is very, very good music indeed.