Rant - The Portage (2019)

Something of a low key Scottish string playing super-group, Rant‘s members, Bethany Reid, Jenna Reid, Lauren MacColl and Anna Massie, are considered four of the finest fiddle players in Scotland and The Portage is their third album after they joined forces to release an eponymous debut in 2013. This album was recorded on the quick, with the sessions in the Mackintosh Queen’s Cross church taking place across just four days in January of this year. In many ways, the creation of this album reminds me somewhat of the latest Leveret one, in that the band members hunkered down for a short period of time to produce something quite spellbinding in its complexity, simplicity and virtuosity. What I also immediately loved about The Portage was reading its modest and minimal track notes, like on opener ‘Crow Road Croft’: ‘One for all the flats Jenna turned into wee highland crofts during her time living in Glasgow’. There is something decidedly unassuming about this band that makes the music itself, rich in musicianship, composition and subtleties, all the more impressive.

The above opener, coupled with another original tune ‘Göran Berg’s’, begins the album with quick high violin notes before an equally chirpy melody line sweeps in across it. ‘Göran’ is a tune of gratitude and this comes across immediately in the joyfulness of the playing; big bold notes across the bow sing out from each fiddle until the mid-point when the tune shifts seamlessly into ‘Crow Road’, where the tempo drops slightly and the slower notes briefly let the barest hint of melancholy into the piece. At this point, the music becomes even more striking, as the four instruments play the melody in unison before one peels off once more to trace the line alone. It is beautifully performed and the statement from the off is clear, as the four musicians drop not a single note that I could hear on a clear recording that would expose any mistakes.

With insightful liner notes, beautifully packaged with a perfectly apt painting from Ruth Brownlee gracing its cover, The Portage is more than wonderful music played by masters of their instrument; it is a recording that seems to have finely judged every aspect of its creation and the result is something truly special. At points haunting, at others carefree and light, this is powerful and evocative music that is invigorating, bewitching and beautiful.