Artist: Iona Fyfe
Release Date: 1st January, 2019
Genre: Trad Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Record Label: Iona Fyfe
Tracks: 6
Website: https://ionafyfe.com
Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
After her excellent debut album release ‘Away From My Window’ in 2018, Scottish Folk Singer of the Year Iona Fyfe follows up perfectly with another wonderful collection of music. Her ‘Dark Turn of Mind’ EP showcases Iona’s pure vocals, arrangements, range and versatility, as she explores some music away from her previous bedrock of traditional Doric and North East Scottish Folk.
The new EP marks an exciting new chapter from one of the UK’s most gifted young contemporary and traditional folk artists. The EP combines North-East songs with a selection of Appalachian and contemporary American folk.
Iona has brought together an excellent collection of musicians on this EP including Rory Matheson (TRIP) on piano, Aidan Moodie (Siobhan Miller, Gnoss) on guitar and backing harmonies, while Graham Rorie (Gnoss) on mandolin adding to the Appalachian feel.
At only 21, Aberdeenshire singer Iona has already gained a fine reputation as one of our finest ballad singers. She was a Radio 2 Young Folk Award semi-finalist in 2015. In 2017 she was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition and in the same year she was nominated for Scots Singer of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. An award that she went on to win in December 2018.
The album opens with the fantastic title track, a cover of Gillian Welch’s popular classic ‘Dark Turn Of Mind’. An absorbing combination of piano and Iona’s vocal fused with a sparkle of mandolin. Jean Ritchie was the source for the very lively and upbeat ‘Swing and Turn’. Iona was inspired to include the song after seeing it performed by Boston singer/fiddler Laura Cortese at the Orkney Folk Festival. Iona’s own arrangement champions the many links between the Scottish and Appalachian folk traditions. Gregory Alan Isakov‘s beautiful ‘If I Go, I’m Goin’ has a wonderful spiritual and heavenly arrangement. Stripped and pure, proving that less is often more.
‘The Golden Vanity’ has been a highlight of Iona’s live shows for some time now. It is a song that has been widely covered. A tale of heroism and betrayal. Often sung as a rousing sea shanty, this is much a softer version. Iona composed her own melody for the tender Ozark Mountain song ‘Let Him Sink’ taken from two versions in the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection. I love the intimacy of the arrangement, as well as the lovely piano and mandolin instrumental bridge. For the popular ‘Little Musgrave’ Iona was inspired by both Jeannie Robertson and Cecil Sharp. Pitch perfect unaccompanied folk singing at it’s finest.
We see a very bright future ahead for this very talented singer-songwriter, as Iona continues to experiment and explore on her rich musical journey.
