COMPOSERS: Alasdair Roberts
LABELS: Drag City
WORKS: Spoils
PERFORMER: Roberts (voice, guitar) etc
CATALOGUE NO: DC 392 CD
Scottish roots music is booming and one of its least likely stars is Glasgow-based singer and songwriter Alasdair Roberts. Spoils is his fifth and best solo album to date, a 'syncretic' series of original songs inspired by multiple 'folk tales, fables, myths and religions'.
It's also a cornucopia of archaic instruments such as psaltery, harpsichord and hurdy gurdy, plus, er, electric guitar. They somehow make complete sense shaping his complex, melodic songs, which are rich in tempo changes and inscrutable, oddball narratives.
His eye for the natural world, wobbly, wayward tenor brogue and sheer eccentric brilliance are thoroughly enthralling. Jon Lusk