“TV soundtrack music” is not a usual pick for BM; however, she will make an exception for this. As heard on the “two guys pissing about in the outdoors” BBC Scotland show, Andrew O’Donnell’s tracks really stood out, and this album from late last year is a sheer joy.
From what BM can gather these are original compositions but have a great Pogues meets Peat and Diesel raggedy feel to them, perfect for those bothy singalongs or to scare the midges away…
The songs are craftily constructed and O’Donnell’s gravely vocals put in mind Michael Marra, if he had sung more about the wilderness than Dundee and its environs. The instrumentation manages to be rousing but eccentric, a case in point being “Sunrise”, where the percussion sounds like someone chopping wood, and the fiddle like some kind of primordial beast. O’Donnell also uses banjo and even synth to great effect on tracks like “Feral Road”.
BM understands that Beluga Lagoon have been gigging but there must surely be a Celtic Connections booking coming their way…
So eat your hearts out you backwoodsmen hipsters, this is the real deal, delivered with humour and panache.