This Too is the stunning second album from award-winning Scottish trad group Kinnaris Quintet, due for release on Wednesday 4 May. The highly-anticipated record builds on the group’s signature style of intricate traditional melodies underpinned by driving rhythm.
The Glasgow-based act burst onto the scene in 2017, releasing their debut album Free One to critical acclaim. Since then, Kinnaris Quintet have gone on to be at the forefront of originality in the traditional music scene, including being awarded the 2019 Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Music – the largest financial music prize in Scotland.
The band are renowned for their uplifting, fresh and powerful sound. This Too reflects the quintet’s focus on authenticity and manages to capture the energy and essence of their electric live performance.
Kinnaris Quintet features an all-strings instrumental lineup of fiddles from Laura Wilkie, Aileen Reid and Fiona MacAskill, mandolin from Laura-Beth Salter and guitar from Jenn Butterworth. While the members of Kinnaris Quintet are individually eminent musicians in their own right, their collaboration as a group has pushed their musical creativity to bold new heights.
Kinnaris Quintet fiddler Aileen Reid said: “With this album we really wanted to create real and authentic music that we can play live for fans without relying on production tricks. It was important to us to remain true to our raw, organic sound that people know us for.
“Although it was sometimes challenging to recreate the buzz of playing in front of an audience in a studio setting, we love making music together so much and I think that joy comes across in the recording. Now we’re just excited to get back on the road and finally perform these new arrangements in person.”
The new material is inspired by a raft of people and projects that inspire the quintet and this is perfectly captured in the album’s lively opening track Wonderful. Ushering in the spirited album ahead, Wonderful comprises three stellar tunes with dedications to Aileen’s big brother Christopher and celebrated folk musician and friend John Somerville. The third tune, Wonderwomen, honours women across the trad music scene and applauds the work of the BIT Collective in promoting equality in Scottish traditional music.
Elsewhere, the title track This Too is a hopeful number, which evokes that very sentiment of trusting difficult moments will pass and bright times will come back around.
Kinnaris Quintet recorded the album at GloWorm Studios in summer 2021, after spending the last two years writing and arranging the tracks – a period of time that spanned a pandemic, multiple lockdowns, two new babies within the band, and the challenge of creating music remotely.
Artist website: https://www.kinnarisquintet.com
Single title: Wonderful
Album title: This Too
Release Date: 04/05/2022
Single artist: Kinnaris Quintet
Single duration: 5:30
Record Label:
Catalogue No:
Writers: Kinnaris Quintet
Publishers: MCPS
Explicit?: NO
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