Acoustic Earths’ Travelling Man is the result of three years planning, experimenting and absorbing the Celtic spirit of Turlough O’Carolan’s distinctive Celtic harp compositions.
With a mixture of traditional Carolan tunes that have been rearranged and six completely new compositions, Andy Findon, Peter Walton and James Turner have created an album that is incredibly melodic and laid back.
King of Sorrow, the only vocal track on the album, features wonderful Lorna Want on vocals and Lucy Hare on double bass. Inspired by Brian Keenan’s imagining of Carolan’s life, it is a melancholy tale of a man who, after being blinded as a young man by smallpox, at the age of 21 set off travelling the length and breadth of Ireland composing tunes.
As most of Carolan’s tunes were never published or written down, the Carolan tunes we know today survived in the repertoires of fiddlers, pipers and the last of the old Irish harpers and it is these tunes that Pete Walton has used as the basis for the new arrangements.
Of the six new tunes (again all by the supremely talented Pete Walton), two tracks particularly stand out - the haunting tune The Homecoming and the beautiful Ocarina led Mist Over the Water.
Travelling Man is a wonderful album that goes to show that Celtic music that doesn’t have to be all about jigs and reels but can be reflective and contemplative.
