Aly Bain, Ale Moller & Bruce Molsky, St Bride’s, Edinburgh - Herald Scotland | Arts & Ents | Music Reviews
Rob Adams, The Herald
****
There’s a touch of Lake Woebegone about Bain, Moller & Molsky. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine some of Garrison Keillor’s lakeside-dwelling descendants of Scandinavian immigrants sharing the tunes that Aly Bain has learned on his trips to Sweden with a neighbour whose own culture and interests include field hollers and dance tunes from closer at hand.
And when Bain and his long-term Swedish musical companion Ale Moller and Bronx-boy-turned-Appalachian-folklore-reservoir Bruce Molsky dig into their shared enthusiasms with a mixture of rustic ruggedness and highly schooled finesse, the sound would surely stir Keillor’s malcontents out of their fatalism.
Bain’s partnership with Moller has long been one of the Shetland fiddle master’s most vigorous settings. There’s a verve, punch and spontaneous creativity to the Swede’s playing of his customised mandola – an instrument with a range that spans mandolin to acoustic bass guitar – that brings out all of Bain’s sweetness of expression but with added briskness and lift. Introducing Molsky on fiddle, banjo and guitar increases both potency and palette.
There’s a verve, punch and spontaneous creativity to the Swede’s playing of his customised mandola - Rob Adams, The Herald
An early Shetland reel set had the kind of drive that could replace diesel power and King Karl’s March, featuring much left-handed tugging and frailing of fiddle strings from both Bain and Molksy, combined Swedish phrasing with bluegrass zip and excitement. Bain’s viola playing on a solemn but lovely Swedish hymn, Moller’s cow horn, whistle and pipe cameos and Molsky’s reaches into West African guitar styles and Finnish polkas and his rich challenging of Appalachian devils and warnings of crop blights all emphasised the depth of repertoire of a highly satisfying enterprise that could have many avenues still to explore.
