Westward The Light - Westward The Light (2020)

There is something in the air in Scotland. The land is magical, and that magic often translates to the music from there. On their self-titled album, Westward The Light seems to have captured the majesty of the landscape as well as the heritage of the land.

The members of Westward The Light have been collaborating in various contexts for the last few years. Pianist Charlie Grey and fiddler Joseph Peach were finalists for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards back in 2017. Sally Simpson’s fiddle and viola have been heard alongside Catriona Hawksworth and in the all-female band Heisk. While Owen Sinclair’s guitar has graced work by Tannara and Inyal. Bringing that all together, they have found a way to create music that both acknowledges and expands on the tradition.

There’s a sense of sadness to the opening fiddle melody of Dr MacLeod Wears A Dirk. Yet as the song begins to build the fiddle and viola move to the faster melody of traditional Irish tunes and the opening sadness is replaced with a sense of energy and daring that wearing such a dagger implies.

Battles lost fill the piano and fiddle of Retreat March. Soldiers limping and bloodied come to life. As the march continues, amidst the wounds of the battlefield, there is still a sense of honour in the fight before the piano’s mournful solo ends the piece. Picking up the pace, Dolina offers up a sense of spirit in music that roils and boils with the fiddle and viola doubling lines as the intensity builds into the reel.

Piano and guitar set the stage for violin as Noughts and Crosses, a song that builds on the tension of a world of beauty turned upside down by virtually unimaginable cultural shifts and the drama that implies. As the name suggests, Coffee Break, a jig composed by Scottish fiddle player Aonghas Grant Sr., is a magical moment when recharging the batteries with java gives one the power to rekindle the body and brain. Led by the piano, you can feel the caffeine filling the body and providing the strength to carry on with the day.

Fiddle and viola churn on Making Butter, turning cream into something more solid. From the opening banjo-ish notes of Encore, there is a sense of sadness that the performance is ending, yet at the same time, there is also a feeling of the majestic nature of what this band has wrought. Within the course of fifty-four minutes, we have witnessed Westward The Light, four Scottish musicians charting a course to the future based on their knowledge of the past and providing us with a glorious glimpse of their talent.