Scottish Folk chanteuse Alyth McCormack is a regular live guest singer with The Chieftains, and this offering reveals a solid performer cogently at ease with an endearing and engaging song selection.
Though trained in classical singing and drama, McCormack fuses her folk roots with formal tutoring to produce an uncluttered vocal delivery over superb production. Modern rhythms co-exist with old world melodies and contemporary compositions, to enhance a tender yet powerful voice. Six of the 13 tracks are performed in her native Scots Gaelic, while the sublime ‘I Wonder What’s Keeping My True Love Tonight’ is the only traditional song sung in English.
McCormack’s voice combines the purity of Joan Baez and the power of Martha Sebestyen, on arrangements that are at times lush but never pompous, enveloping the senses with warmth and splendour.
The Vices Set, a rhythmic ‘puirt a beul’ selection of mouth music, delights with Moving Hearts-ish pulsating arrangement. The title track, co