Aidan O'Rourke – An Tobar

Overlooking Tobermory Bay, the An Tobar Arts Centre was opened in 1997, the main focus for art activity on this Scottish island. The centre organises tuition in traditional instruments such as pipes and fiddles, but also stages musicals, and more contemporary arrangements. This album is the result of a commission made by the centre for Aidan O’Rourke to write pieces reflecting on the island. O’Rourke is a fiddle player from Oban, on the West Coast of Scotland, and has thankfully resisted the urge to look over the bay and compose a collection on songs about Balamory. Instead, he has mixed the traditional with the new, a fusion of fiddle, jazz saxophone and modern methods.

Saxophonist Phil Bancroft does tend to dominate this album, his jazzy style swamping the more traditional music. He plays in harsh, strident bursts, leaving everything else somewhat in the shade. The pieces are also long and often repetitive, revolving around a repeated refrain which leaves opening track “An Tobar” somewhat ponderous (to be frank, it goes on a bit). Better is “Sea”, enlivened by the harp of Catriona McKay, her gentle style adding much depth to the melody (although again to be frank, this also goes on a bit).

The centre piece of the album is “Tobar Nan Eilein”, an arrangement set around a poem read by Gaelic bard Aonghas MacNeacail. The music here is imaginative and bold, but the processed voice effects are heavily overplayed, making the track somewhat bewildering. It’s also not helped that it sounds like he recited the poem into a bucket. The repetitious rendering of the recital leaves you confused, grating on the ear rather than enhancing the effect. “One For Martyn” is softer, but again the saxophone is too dominant, even more so on the closing track “Eas Fors”. It has the effect of making the track sound like a piece for Scottish daytime television. Whilst an interesting experiment, as a listening experience it is not as pleasant as it could be. You cannot fault O’Rourke’s imagination, but as a coherent piece taken out of its context it does fall short.