Welcome To Dun Vegas

The title track of this latest album by the Isle of Skye’s would-be bad boys of trad was recorded, the liner notes tell us, “in a whisky haze at four in the morning after a session in the Dunvegan Hotel. Calum noticed the cooker clock making an interesting rhythm so he recorded it, tampered with it and asked us to come up with a tune.” Well, that figures. Other tracks have equally too-clever-by-half titles: ‘Ironing Maiden’, ‘Gibbering Smit’, ‘Wacko King Hako’ – this last a reference to the Viking king who in 1263 raided the village where the album was made during what the band describes as a party that lasted three months. Additionally, I don’t know whether any genuine inspiration ever came out of mad drinking sessions. The Faeries are more than competent instrumentalists and singers, but they’ve got a bit of musical growing up to do.