A young, talented, five piece band based in Glasgow. Their material is largely traditional, but the arrangements are contemporary. Guitar, keyboard, fiddle, whistles and highland bagpipes provide a mix of instrumentals and accompaniment to Ainsley Hamill's superb vocals. The keyboards add much to making the Barluath sound distinctive, with sympathetic rhythms and some clever melodies underlying the lead instruments. And there's nothing like the sound Edward Seaman's pipes for stirring the blood.
As a purely instrumental outfit they'd still be enjoyable, but the cherry on the cake is that remarkable voice. High, sweet and soaring, lilting in Gaelic but showing the potential to be a great blues instrument in the beautiful "My Husband's Got No Courage In Him", Hamill deserves to be far better known than she is.
The band are definitely working on their stage presence, with all five taking a turn at introducing numbers (some with more success than others) and a few jokey lines thrown in. On a few numbers a step dancer came out front, joined once by Ainsley, added some extra entertainment for the audience. But when you've got that voice working for you there's not much else that's needed.
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