Music Road: now playing: Catriona McKay: Starfish

Catriona McKay

Starfish

Catriona McKay plays the harp. Rooted in Celtic tradition and educated in classical technique on her instrument, she’s also a woman of the twenty first century, an artist who takes all those streams into account in her music. That means that her latest recording, Starfish, isn’t going to be quite like anything you’ve heard before.

It fits, though, it really fits with Scottish and Celtic tradition, both in idea and execution --even though some of that execution includes what McKay calls laptop wizardry from Alistair MacDonald. What really stands out, more than anything about how she gets there, is the power of McKay’s melodic imagination, whether she’s working with her own compositions, playing a traditional set, or interpreting music by flute and whistle player Brian Finnegan. Outstanding tracks include Sand Dollar, Lums o’ Lund, Swan LK243, and the title track, Starfish. It’s all good, though, and it’s one of those albums which works best to play through and let unfold. It’s a journey you’ll want to take more than once. In the liner notes, McKay gives brief insights into her thinking on the tunes. In addition to MacDonald, Donald Grant and Matt Baker are among those who support McKay on the project.

Here is a clip of LK243, a tune which came to McKay as she was sailing on a tall ship around the south tip of Shetland. read the liner notes for more on that.