Its been a while since we’ve
had an album from Raintown, but they have been busy both playing, recording –
and living life with two young children!
When we saw them at Country In The Afternoon, they promised us new music
and previewed some of this as part of their set. Their new Album Acoustic Heart is
finally here, with nine new songs alongside reimagined versions of Raintown’s previous songs including Writing on the Wall and Light the Fuse Up.
When asked about the album, Claire McArthur
Bain said
This record takes an inward look at who we are as musicians and the true essence of Raintown. We took inspiration from the Transatlantic Sessions which brings together the best music of Nashville, Ireland and Scotland – three areas whose music has inspired us greatly over the course of our career.
We wanted to peel away the layers with Acoustic Heart, unveiling the heart of each track and song. With Stevie’s rich background in trad music and our own unique perspective on country music and songwriting, we felt we had the appropriate tools to see our musical vision for this album come to life.
Play it Loud, is
a superb opener for the album, excellent instrumentation (with the usual unusual
mix of instruments, especially from Stevie Lawrence!) before Claire starts
singing about not going out – is this autobiographical Claire? Opening the album with such an uptempo joyful
song is a great idea – it’s the emotion we felt when we got the album! The tempo varies, the energy is there, and we
agree with the demand to play it loud!
Day In The Sun has
a wonderful Celtic feel and features Paul on lead vocals, while Claire returns
for the plaintive My Whole World, opening with the emotive line “Wedding
Dress For Sale” and accompanied by simple guitar and wonderful violin from Fiona
Cuthill Red Dress takes the tempo
back up with an almost Honky Tonk feel, incorporating piano and horns on a
track sure to get you tapping your feet if not up and dancing!
My Drum My Beat is
pure Raintown from the combined vocals to the music while Light The Fuse Up
gives us almost a minute and half of instrumental intro ahead of the vocal
showing that Raintown is very much a collective band. In Your Heart shows how much power
Claire can out into what is essentially an acoustic track and Run With The Night
shows how much Raintown can mix styles and genres to create great, fun music.
The stripped back cover of One
Love is simply genius. When they
performed this live, you could see people taking a moment to connect the song
to 90s Boy bands!
These Tears Tonight and
an acoustic rendering of Writing On The Wall take us to the album’s
final track Thankful For It All.
A slow, mellow track with again a superb blend of traditional
instruments accompanying the acoustic guitar, it feels like a perfect way to
end, with an element of reflection in the lyrics and an underlining of the Celtis
influences on all of the music.
The entire album is well put
together, and feels like a live gig in the order of songs, changes of tempo, changes
of lead and the backing musicians who are allowed to come to the fore. The list of instruments used in the recording
is quite impressive, including as it does fiddle, viola, drums, harmonica, accordion, piano, Uilleann pipes, whistles five-string banjo,
cello, dobro, saxophone, trumpet, acoustic guitar and snare drum.
Acoustic Heart really is fusion music at its very
best, and, quite possibly, Raintown at their very best.
You can download and stream the album from Friday 26 April, and catch Raintown live at a number of forthcoming live performances.
For more details find them on Facebook and Instagram
and follow them on Spotify
