Alasdair Roberts | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Scottish songwriter Alasdair Roberts career as a recording artist sprang into a critically lauded, cult-praised profession when a demo he made with his group Appendix Out found its way into the hands of intimate nouveau folkie Will Oldham. Oldham identified with Appendix Outs similarly calculated sound enough that he released their first recording, the 7" titled Ice Age/Pissed with You, on his own Palace Records label in 1996. The momentum from this releases affiliation with Oldham sparked not only a series of split 7" releases (with the likes of Songs: Ohia and Policecat), but also led to a recording contract with credible Chicago indie label Drag City. After Appendix Outs third release for the label, released in February 2001, Roberts immediately recorded and released his first solo album, released on Secretly Canadian and titled The Crook of My Arm. While his output with Appendix Out always referenced the influences of folksingers such as Alex Campbell and Shirley Collins, The Crook of My Arm embraced them via sparse readings of 12 traditional numbers with Roberts accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. For his third release of 2001, Roberts teamed up with Oldham and songwriter Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia under the moniker Amalgamated Sons of Rest, and the three contributed and backed up each others songs. In 2002, Roberts returned his attention to Appendix Out for the EP A Warm and Yeasty Corner, a handful of well-chosen covers that appear oddly side by side, including a tribute to British folk cult artist Vashti Bunyan with her tune "Window Over the Bay" and a tip of the hat to the Magnetic Fields by way of "Josephine." Roberts followed this a year later with his second solo release, Farewell Sorrow, which garnered more critical acclaim and showcased the development of his songwriting growing tendrils around the roots of the British and Scottish folk traditions. The stark and beautiful No Earthly Man arrived in 2005, followed by the more band-oriented Amber Gatherers in 2007. Two collections, the full-length Spoils and the EP Wyrd Meme, were released in 2009, while Too Long in This Condition arrived the following year. Roberts and singer, actress, and playwright Mairi Morrison then collaborated on the half-traditional, half-original collection of Gaelic songs Urstan, which was released in early 2012. His second album under the Alasdair Roberts & Friends moniker -- the accomplished, self-penned, full-band set A Wonder Working Stone -- was released in January 2013, and later the same year he collaborated with poet Robin Robertson on Hirta Songs, an exploration of the archipelago of St. Kilda. His eighth proper solo album, a thoughtful, self-titled collection that harked back to his sparse debut, was released in 2015. Arriving two years later, Roberts ninth album, Pangs, found him returning to the electric guitar and working in a power trio format with longtime collaborators Alex Neilson and Stevie Jones. Released in 2018, the ambitious What News was a collaboration with classical keyboardist David McGuinness and experimental electronic artist Amble Skuse. Together the trio tackled arrangements of ancient traditional ballads, using a mix of period and modern instrumentation. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 12 Title: Farewell Sorrow Released: 2003-04-28 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Farewell Sorrow (04:01) 2 Join Our Lusty Chorus (03:50) 3 Carousing (03:54) 4 I Fell in Love (04:48) 5 I Went Hunting (03:10) 6 Down Where the Willow Wands Weep (03:12) 7 When a Mans in Love He Feels No Cold (03:55) 8 Come, My Darling Polly (04:15) 9 The Whole House Is Singing (05:17) 10 I Walked Abroad in an Evil Hour (04:41) 11 I Am a Young Man (03:08) 12 Slowly Growing Old (02:08) |
| Farewell Sorrow : Allmusic album Review : From the mid-90s into the 2000s, the world of indie pop obsessed over the 60s pop production and arrangements pioneered by the Beach Boys and the Beatles, and for a decade it seemed that the culture at large was revisiting the 60s and 70s without much in the way of innovative updates. One can only assume that part of the reason for lack of noticeable advances is that 30 years isnt really enough time to have elapsed for these themes to be revisited from a truly different angle, which is what made Alasdair Roberts take on indie pop so striking. Farewell Sorrow, Roberts second solo departure from his band Appendix Out (which this album features members of), highlights his admiration of traditional Scottish folk music along with his involvement in the realm of indie pop, which served to transcend the 60s revival trend by pointing out the relevance and influence of traditional melodies within the annals of modern pop music. Hes tracing the same steps that brought Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span into the history books as the innovators of the folk-rock movement of the late 60s, but instead Roberts is integrating those rich elements into the sparse world of indie pop subtly, instead of creating a wild juxtaposition of folk and rock in the way the aforementioned groups chose to do. Immediately, Farewell Sorrow shows its accessibility, its eccentricity, and its innovation with the title track, but it is on track two with Roberts invitation to "Bring me the fine ale, the cider, and the wine/Link arms and join our lusty chorus!" that seals the necessity for undivided attention throughout the conclusion of the album. Farewell Sorrow is built on the art of restraint and elastic delicacy provided by Roberts band to bring together the traditional institution of melody and the advance into unmarked territory, and they are wonderfully successful at transforming that steady artistic bridge into a refreshing package. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 12 Title: No Earthly Man Released: 2005-03-22 Tracks: 8 Duration: 50:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Lord Ronald (07:52) 2 Molly Bawn (06:33) 3 The Cruel Mother (06:47) 4 On the Banks of Red Roses (04:12) 5 The Two Brothers (09:13) 6 Admiral Cole (03:05) 7 Sweet William (04:45) 8 A Lyke Wake Dirge (07:33) |
| No Earthly Man : Allmusic album Review : Scottish singer/songwriter Alasdair Roberts has been quietly resurrecting the organic British folk of late-60s and early-70s traditionalists like Planxty and Dick Gaughan since his 1996 debut with the rural-folk combo Appendix Out. Like his American counterpart and frequent collaborator Will Oldham, his songs belong in neither the past nor the present, rather they cling to the listener like the ghosts of a sepia-toned future. On the quietly electrifying No Earthly Man, Roberts takes on eight classic murder ballads from the British Isles with dizzying results. Unlike Oldham, Roberts can actually sing, and its his fluid and affecting tenor that makes each one of these brutal and long-winded tales of love, treachery and death so listenable. This is "old-school" British folk in the vein of Steeleye Spans Parcel of Rogues -- Oldhams warm production relies heavily on a combination of cello, percussion, guitar, fiddle, harp, dulcimer and the occasional synth -- that despite its bloody subject matter manages to engage on multiple emotional levels. For every moody cut, like the fratricide ballad "Two Brothers," theres an "Admiral Cole," a shipwreck tale thats positively lilting. Roberts and Oldham keep things loose and contemporary with off-key harmonicas and random bursts of guitar feedback, but the effect never comes off as anything less then authentic. No Earthly Man mimics the best of the genre as well as it updates it, resulting in an overall sensation of sitting in a darkened theater listening to the aforementioned Planxtys "Well Below the Valley" set against the closing credits of a Wicker Man remake. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 12 Title: Spoils Released: 2009-04-27 Tracks: 8 Duration: 45:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Flyting of Grief and Joy (Eternal Return) (07:06) 2 You Muses Assist (04:31) 3 So Bored Was I (Dark Triad) (05:36) 4 Unyoked Oxen Turn (05:47) 5 The Book of Doves (04:32) 6 Ned Ludds Rant (For a World Rebarbarised) (04:40) 7 Hazel Forks (05:26) 8 Under No Enchantment (But My Own) (08:09) |
| Spoils : Allmusic album Review : Spoils is the work of an identifiably Scottish singer/songwriter. Indeed, his accent is strong enough that, perhaps unfortunately, North American listeners might easily mistake his enunciation of "eternally returning" (in the leadoff track, "The Flyting of Grief and Joy (Eternally Returning)") as "eternally retarded." Theres a strain of traditional folk to be heard in his songwriting,, too, with that song and some others sounding a bit like narrative ballads. But Alasdair Roberts is also a man of the 21st century in how his arrangements and lyrics draw from contemporary folk-rock, though hes not obviously indebted to acid folk or its offshoots. In his pleasing, slightly tremulous lilt, he delivers attractive if not quite stunningly melodic tunes in light indie-folk-rock settings, the usual guitars sprinkled with unpredictable touches like slide guitar, glockenspiel, harmonium, and harpsichord. The songs are both stirring and subtly eccentric; not many songwriters (or traditional balladeers) would declare in the midst of a trad-sounding tale of walking among woods and tombs, "so bored was I, so bored was I." Overall, its like following a wanderer on a vague and frustrated quest through a medieval-ish world, albeit one whose mystery he seems to be reveling in rather than upset by. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 12 Title: The Wyrd Meme Released: 2009-10-20 Tracks: 4 Duration: 22:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 The Hallucinator and the King of the Silver Ship of Time (07:28) 2 The Yarn Unraveller (04:37) 3 The Royal Road at the Worlds End (06:49) 4 Coral and Tar (03:28) |
 | Album: 5 of 12 Title: The Ayrtime.org Digital EP Released: 2010-04-02 Tracks: 4 Duration: 17:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Babylon (or The Bonnie Banks O The Aidrie) (03:58) 2 Little Sir Hugh (05:23) 3 Lord Ronald (05:45) 4 The Calfless Cow (01:54) |
 | Album: 6 of 12 Title: Too Long in This Condition Released: 2010-08-16 Tracks: 11 Duration: 47:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Daemon Lover (04:43) 2 Young Emily (02:24) 3 Long Lankin (05:05) 4 The Two Sisters (05:35) 5 Little Sir Hugh (05:26) 6 Kilmahog Saturday Afternoon (01:28) 7 The Golden Vanity (04:03) 8 The Burning of Auchindoun (03:22) 9 The Lovers Ghost (04:29) 10 What Put the Blood on Your Right Shoulder, Son? (05:43) 11 Barbara Allen (05:29) |
| Too Long in This Condition : Allmusic album Review : Alasdair Roberts’ sixth proper album, an 11-track, upper level course on contemporary and traditional Scottish balladry, begins with a tale that concerns a cheating wife being escorted to Hell by Satan himself on his own ghost ship. "Daemon Lover” may sound like a downer, but Roberts’ sprightly guitar work and amiable delivery make it sound more like a campfire ghost story than a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of adultery. Too Long in This Condition differs little from the singer/songwriter’s previous outings, which is good news for anyone who has followed his rise from Will Oldham-esque, U.K. folk oddity under the moniker Appendix Out to one of most respected, modern practitioners of the English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh folk tradition. His renditions of classics like “Long Lankin,” “Little Sir Hugh,” “The Golden Vanity,” and “Barbara Allen” are just loose enough to retain their authenticity, and well-honed enough to earn the abbreviated guitar tablature (complete with capo locations) that accompanies them in the liner notes. Nic Jones, Archie Fisher, and Dick Gaughan may have blazed his trail, but it’s Roberts who’s leading the way now. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 12 Title: Urstan Released: 2012-03-26 Tracks: 12 Duration: 48:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Mìle Marbhphaisg Air a’ Ghaol (03:39) 2 The Laird o’ the Drum (06:15) 3 Làrach do Thacaidean (02:54) 4 Never Wed an Old Man (02:18) 5 E Ho Leigein (03:39) 6 Fiullaigean (03:27) 7 Hion Dail-a Horo Hì (01:17) 8 The Tri-Coloured House (04:43) 9 Am Faca Sibh Lilidh Tha Mise Ri Lorg? (03:50) 10 Ailein Duinn (06:53) 11 The Whole House Is Singing (05:58) 12 Leanabh an Òir (04:00) |
| Urstan : Allmusic album Review : The story of this albums genesis is as fascinating as the songs found on it. Through Glasgow, Scotlands Centre for Contemporary Arts, Scottish artist and student of traditional U.K. folk music Alasdair Roberts and singer, actress, and playwright Mairi Morrison were brought together to collaborate on an album that would celebrate Gaelic culture and language. The result is a collection of tunes -- some traditional, some written specifically for the album by Roberts and Morrison -- providing a stirring and spirited listening experience, particularly when the pair, backed up by an able ensemble of bass, fiddle, and drums, kicks up some dust on swirling, stomping numbers like "Larach do Thacaidean" and "Hion Dail-a Horo Hi." The album also connects these traditional Gaelic songs with the worldwide folk tradition. "Ailein Duinn" stands as a direct antecedent to the Appalachian lament "O Death" (heard most notably on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack), and "The Laird o the Drum" moves with the woozy joy of a modern pop act. What comes across most effectively is the ease that both Roberts and Morrison have with one another. Their vocals settle in together comfortably. That feeling adds even more bubbling warmth to this already toasty disc. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 12 Title: A Wonder Working Stone Released: 2013-01-22 Tracks: 10 Duration: 1:07:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Merry Wake (06:15) 2 The Year of the Burning (05:43) 3 Fusion of Horizons (05:52) 4 The Wheels of the World / The Conundrum (09:37) 5 The End of Breeding (08:06) 6 Song Composed in December / The Bluebell Polka / Rap Y Clychau Glas (06:24) 7 Brother Seed (05:51) 8 Gave the Green Blessing (05:36) 9 Scandal and Trance / We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City (07:41) 10 The Laverock in the Blackthorn / Oganaich an Oir-Fhuilt Bhuidhe / Neil Gows Lament for His Second Wife (06:22) |
| A Wonder Working Stone : Allmusic album Review : Its been said that the compositions of Glasgow-based folk artist Alasdair Roberts sound as if they were written hundreds of years ago. This is certainly testament to the Will Oldham protégés nigh-on two-decade quest to promote the communal and social aspect of folk music, rather than the confessional and personal approach taken by many acoustic guitar-wielding singer/songwriters who have popularized the genre in recent decades. While Roberts has been acclaimed for successfully tackling whole albums of traditional material with considerable aplomb -- see his sparse but assured 2001 full solo debut, Crook of My Arm; 2005s unflinching collection of murder ballads, No Earthly Man; or the tender and well-researched 2010 set Too Long in This Condition -- never has his music sounded so universal and inclusive than it does on this set of originals. From the invitation to the gunpowder and wine-fueled "The Merry Wake" through to the uncharacteristically jovial, brass-fueled "Scandal and Trance/We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City," Roberts introduces listeners to an array of characters -- "the joker," "the jester," "the banker," "the broker" -- whose key message is "Get over your tiny self/Because all days will end in joy." Its not just these archetypal figures who provide the revelry and camaraderie on A Wonder Working Stone. Listeners also get this in spades from the accomplished cast of musicians who build upon Roberts idiosyncratic open-tuned acoustic guitar work and sway around his dense, lyrical songs, such as the sprawling and philosophical nine-minute "The Wheels of the World/Conundrum." The electric guitar of former Trembling Bells player Ben Reynolds nods to that of Richard Thompson across a number of the tracks here, but what really impresses is the effortlessness with which the instruments meld to realize Roberts vision of collectivism. Also, his way of dealing with weighty themes -- the stubbornness of fading love on "Fusion of Horizons," mortality on "The End of Breeding" -- lends the album a gravitas that prevents it from becoming a mere exercise in celebration. Although Roberts attended lectures and delved into the archives at the School of Scottish Studies to shore up material for previous albums, its fascinating to find that his dogged research has loaded these self-penned pieces with all of the mystery, language, and myth usually found in years-old traditional ballads. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 12 Title: Hirta Songs Released: 2013-11-18 Tracks: 10 Duration: 49:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 A Fall of Sleet (06:48) 2 Farewell to the Fowler (03:47) 3 Laoidh Fhionnlaigh Oig (02:29) 4 The White-Handled Knife (04:26) 5 The Plain of Spells (03:29) 6 Tuireadh nan Hiortach (02:35) 7 Leaving St Kilda (09:43) 8 The Drum Time (05:13) 9 The Well of Youth (03:30) 10 Exodus (07:21) |
| Hirta Songs : Allmusic album Review : This eighth album from the Scottish studies enthusiast and contemporary folk artist Alasdair Roberts is a collaboration with the Perthshire-born poet Robin Robertson. Their inspiration for Hirta Songs is St. Kilda, the tiny and remote archipelago that lies 110 miles west of mainland Scotland. Believed to have been continuously inhabited from the Bronze Age, St.Kilda was abandoned in 1930 when the remaining 36 islanders requested to be removed to the mainland following a post-World War I period which brought fatal bouts of influenza and failing crops. While the majority of the tracks here are live-sounding, acoustic guitar- and fiddle-fueled ensemble takes -- with Roberts singing Robertsons evocative verse -- the album is perfectly paced by the inclusion of a couple of tender and brief harp-led instrumental pieces: "Laoidh Fhionnlaigh Oig" and "Tuireadh nan Hiortach." Sensibly, "Leaving St. Kilda" and "The Well of Youth" -- the two dense, lyrical poems that pre-date the albums sessions by at least six years -- are performed by Robertson as spoken word pieces with gentle acoustic accompaniment from Roberts. The combination of Robertsons detailed geographic references and his imagery of the islands landscape and wildlife, work seamlessly with Roberts Gaelic folk-inspired melodies, so much so that the Roberts-fronted material could fit onto any of his other releases. This is partly due to the familiar faces that accompany him here. Both Tom Crossley and Rafe Fitzpatrick are retained from the sessions for his first album of 2013, the humanistic A Wonder Working Stone, while harpist Corinne Lewis and Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band make guest appearances. Only on the jaunty "The Plain of Spells" does Roberts vocal delivery betray the fact that he is singing someone elses poetry, such is the consistency of vision between the musician and the poet throughout the remainder of the record. As a result, Hirta Songs is as conceptually powerful as such acclaimed, thematically similar releases as British Sea Powers Man of Aran and Richard Skeltons Landings, in the sense that it manages to create a strong and haunting emotional bond between the listener and a place, regardless of whether the listener has set foot there. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 12 Title: Alasdair Roberts Released: 2015-01-27 Tracks: 10 Duration: 40:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Way Unfavoured (03:18) 2 Honour Song (03:24) 3 The Problem of Freedom (03:36) 4 Artless One (04:01) 5 Hurricane Brown (06:31) 6 The Final Diviner (04:33) 7 In Dispraise of Hunger (04:24) 8 The Mossy Shrine (03:31) 9 This Uneven Thing (04:16) 10 Rommful of Relics (03:06) |
| Alasdair Roberts : Allmusic album Review : The music of Alasdair Roberts has such a distinct sound and cadence that it seems to exist on a separate plane, where ancient themes and stories converge with sophisticated, complex musical patterns. His almost mystical take on traditional Scottish fare and dedication to crafting original material in a similar vein have placed him in a category of his own since the release of his 2001 solo debut The Crook of My Arm. The trends he follows are certainly not of this century or possibly even the last one, yet somehow he has found a robust fan base and sturdy home with Chicagos Drag City Records. With the 2015 release of his self-titled eighth album, his style is still unmistakable, though the sprawling group instrumentation that adorned 2013s A Wonder Working Stone has been stripped away to the bare essentials, namely his tremulous high tenor voice and strident fingerpicked guitar. In that way, it rather resembles his debut, but where those early songs were a lovingly chosen set of traditional ballads, these ten originals see Roberts continuing to shamble confidently down the strange path of his own invention. His guitar work is superb, and the warm analog recording nuanced and full of depth. The songs are mostly solo, with Roberts adding occasional organ or percussive flourishes himself on standouts like "Hurricane Brown" and "The Final Diviner." Guest musicians are few, but well-chosen and highly effective. Clarinetist Alex South and tin whistle player Donald Lindsay appear throughout the record in bright dashes of color, as does the Glaswegian folksinging quartet the Crying Lion, which adds additional layers of depth, especially on the masterful "In Dispraise of Hunger," whose dissonant mix of darkness and sunlight is the perfect indicator of the kind of creative power Roberts now wields. For the casual listener, his music may be a bit heady and hard to follow, but for fans willing to be challenged, Roberts has delivered yet another excellent release. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 12 Title: Pangs Released: 2017-02-23 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:25 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Pangs (03:51) 2 No Dawn Song (03:58) 3 An Altar In The Glade (03:40) 4 The Breach (04:51) 5 The Angry Laughing God (05:27) 6 Wormwood And Gall (04:30) 7 The Downward Road (03:24) 8 Scarce Of Fishing (03:06) 9 Vespers Chime (04:22) 10 Song Of The Marvels (06:16) |
| Pangs : Allmusic album Review : Edging fringeward from the acoustic minimalism of his excellent 2015 self-titled LP, Scottish folk auteur Alasdair Roberts and his nimble rhythm section meander through ten new explorations of the fresh and the ancient. Recorded in a converted mill in Northern Ireland by Julie McLarnon, Pangs is quintessential Roberts, melding centuries-old Anglo musicality with his distinctive quasi-mystical sensibilities that consistently distance him so far from the mainstream as to remain timeless. Nine albums into his career, hes pulled off the tough trick of staying anomalous while adhering to what is basically his take on traditional folk music of the British Isles. Take, for example "An Altar in the Glade," an agile two-parter in which the narrator chases a startled deer into a wooded altar then muses darkly on the assortment of creatures (crow, vermin, herring gull) going about their days tasks. Roberts twin acoustic and electric guitars stutter in warm cascades while bassist Stevie Jones and drummer Alex Neilson gamely follow suit, soon transitioning into a lively Renaissance-inspired refrain punctuated by a pair of spirited dog barks. An odd bird with a career to match, Roberts flights of fancy may not resonate with the average listener, but the world hes authored over his nearly two decades of work is a truly unique genre and of it he is the undisputed master. "The Downward Road," replete with burbling synths, skittering drums, fiddle, and group vocals, offers another strange trip, while "The Angry Laughing God" delivers a rousing mash-up of early rock rhythms, bright folk-pop, and rapid Brian Wilson-esque changes. Melodious folk ballad "Scarce of Fishing" is one the albums loveliest, proving that Roberts can still dial in his eccentricities to deliver something more straightforwardly pleasing. Peculiar and ultimately charming, Pangs is another high caliber entry in Roberts dependably creative catalog. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 12 Title: What News Released: 2018-03-23 Tracks: 8 Duration: 49:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 The Dun Broon Bride (05:38) 2 Johnny OThe Brine (06:37) 3 Young Johnstone (06:18) 4 Rosie Anderson (06:25) 5 The Fair Flower of Northumberland (04:40) 6 Clerk Colven (10:19) 7 Babylon (04:12) 8 Long A-Growing (05:43) |