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Dàimh: Crossing Point This new CD by the West Highland based Dàimh, features the addition of Gaelic singer Calum Alex MacMillan who hails from Lewis. This certainly adds another dimension to the band, as they have been an instrumental quintet until this CD. Calum was also a performer at this year’s Celtic Colours. He was a Gold Medal piper at the age of eighteen and demonstrated his prowess in both disciplines on several occasions. He is a gifted singer and reminds me somewhat of Arthur Cormack with his soft lilting voice. Not forgetting the rest of the band, the other five musicians, representing Cape Breton, California, Ireland and the Western Highlands of Scotland, continue to produce beautiful, well-arranged traditional music. They play the marches and airs with majesty while the dance music, jigs, slip-jigs, strathspeys, reels and polkas, are handled with a drive that makes it difficult to keep your feet still. They’ve also added a couple of Galician muiñeiras and are joined by piper Anxo Lorenzo and bouzouki player Xose Liz de Cea for these tunes. Dàimh are Angus MacKenzie, pipes and whistles; Gabe McVarish, fiddle; Colm O’Rua, banjo and mandola; James Bremner, bodhran; Ross Martin, guitar; and Calum Alex MacMillan, vocals. Crossing Point was recorded and mixed by Calum Malcolm at Castlesound. Iain MacDonald produced and joined the band on flute and whistle. A great sounding CD of traditional music. ................................................................................................................................................................
Dàimh: Crossing Point Dàimh is a Celtic band that’s unafraid to hurl their music at you; the instrumentals here are a gorgeous, big-sounding whirl of bagpipes, bodhran, banjo, fiddle and guitar. Their sound has been beautifully balanced lately, however, by the inspired addition of the commanding, clear Gaelic vocals of Calum Alex MacMillan of Lewis. Once heard, his voice is not easily forgotten, and is at its most exquisitely moving on the love song ‘Nuair a Chi Thu Caileag Bhòidheach.’ He’s one of several male Gaelic vocalists now making a name for themselves in a scene that’s tended to focus attention on its female practitioners. The band members are drawn from Cape Breton, Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and the US. Their music is powerhouse stuff, and their gigs are an overwhelming and exuberant experience. The instrumentals, such as the rocket-fuelled ‘Turbo Shandy,’ are tight, fluid, and need to be played very loud – they make you want to jump and dance, or at least wriggle in your seat. There are strathspeys, polkas and reels, and there’s a lovely touch when acclaimed Galician piper Anxo Lorenzo guests on a superb set of muñeiras in which the sweetly intense sound of the gaita and baroque recorder lend masses of character to the set. What you have here is a wonderfully calibrated collection of beautifully crafted songs and powerful instrumentals – these musicians were born to do this. Dàimh celebrate Celtic traditions with passion and pride, and it shows in this stunning recording. - Debbie Koritsas ................................................................................................................................................................
DÀIMH: CROSSING POINT
**** DÀIMH have always been adept at firing up the energy levels in their live sets, but this album represents a significant step forward on disc. The band now sound tighter and more focused in this six piece line-up, and the addition of the excellent Calum Alex MacMillan as their Gaelic singer has brought a new dimension to their music. Nonetheless, instrumental music remains the primary focus here, with the pipes of Angus Mackenzie and Gabe McVarish's fiddle to the fore, supported in driving fashion by Colm O'Rua on banjo and mandolin, Ross Martin's guitar and James Bremner's bodhran. Producer Iain MacDonald adds flute or high whistle on several of the sets and songs, Galician piper Anxo Lorenzo and bouzouki player Xose Liz de Cea add an authentic touch to a Galician set, and the Clachnabrochan Gaelic Choir provide backing vocals to the Lewis song Eather Dubh a Bradhagair. ................................................................................................................................................................
DAIMH: Crossing Point
**** A second album, and a new singer, outstanding young Gaelic vocalist Calum Alex MacMillan, who has teamed up with the brilliant pan-Celtic brotherhood of pipes, fiddle, frets and bodhran. The Moidart-based band members come originally from Ireland, Cape Breton, California and Scotland, and on this album pals from Iberia join them on gaita bagpipes, lute and recorder. The production is very clean, and my only gripe is I remember them being wilder, if rougher, in Highland halls. Or maybe that was the whisky. ................................................................................................................................................................
Crossing Point
**** The addition of Lewis-born Gaelic singer Calum Alex MacMillan to their well-established instrumental line-up has added a new dimension to the music of Dàimh, a band with roots in the West Highlands, but a personnel that includes an American (fiddler Gabe McVarish), a Canadian (Cape Breton piper Angus MacKenzie) and an Irishman (banjo player Colm O’Rua). Guitarist Ross Martin and bodhran player James Bremner complete the line-up, while producer Iain MacDonald adds flute or high whistle on several of the sets and songs. The band have never lacked energy on stage, but this is a significant step forward on disc. They are tighter and more focused in a repertoire that includes a Galician set, with piper Anxo Lorenzo and bouzouki player Xose Liz de Cea adding their own authentic touch to the music. MacMillan’s singing on the Lewis song ‘Eather Dubh a Bradhagair’ is supported by the Clachnabrochan Gaelic Choir. Kenny Mathieson ................................................................................................................................................................
Crossing Point If only all boy bands sounded like Dàimh! The lads from Dàimh return with a brand new album, “Crossing Point,“ jam-packed with their unique blend of energy, swing and deep understanding of the tradition. Dàimh comprises Angus MacKenzie (Highland pipes, Border pipes), Gabe McVarish (fiddle), Colm O’Rua (banjo and mandola), Ross Martin (guitar) and James Bremner (bodhran). However, this time they have augmented their trademark instrumental line-up with the addition of the supreme vocal talents of Calum Alex MacMillan. It’s certainly a bold step for a band that has developed its formidable reputation as one of Scotland’s leading instrumental outfits, but it’s a step that has more than worked. With “Crossing Point” Dàimh have put together an album that, for me, is perfectly balanced - the tune sets are a vibrant mixture of some of the best traditional melodies in the Highland repertoire alongside a handful of cracking modern compositions, whilst Calum Alex delves into his native Lewis repertoire for the majority of the songs (the exception being the traditional South Uist courting song “Mo Nighean Chruinn Donn”). As with previous Dàimh recordings, the musicians draw on their multi-cultural backgrounds (which includes Scotland’s West Highlands, Ireland, Cape Breton and California) and this is further enhanced by guest Galician musicians Anxo Lorenzo and Xose Liz de Cea. The album is produced by Iain MacDonald (who also puts in an appearance on flute and whistle), and the combination of his sublte yet significant production skills along with the engineering skills of the legendary Calum Malcolm result in a recording of the highest calibre. ................................................................................................................................................................
Daimh
– Crossing Point “...As an early pioneer of putting the pipes into folk bands with his time in the Tannahill Weavers, Gordon Duncan had a direct influence on the Scottish folk scene as we know it today. Now you barely qualify as a Scottish folk band if you don’t have the pipes in one guise or another, at the heart of your band. One such band that does indeed qualify is Dàimh (pronounced da-eve). With the talented Angus MacKenzie giving it laldy on the Border and Highland pipes and Gabe McVarish giving as good as he gets on the fiddle, the band have the energy of a ten megaton nuclear bomb. This is explosive stuff as the band gets seriously into its stride. The tempo rises as Colm O’Rua on banjo joins the pipes and fiddle, and by the time James Bremner (Bodhran) and Ross Martin on Guitar kick in, the band are seriously rocking. Crossing Point is the band’s third album and follows on from their well-received, The Pirates of Puirt CD. For this CD the band have brought noted gaelic singer Calum Alex MacMillan into the fold and included four gaelic songs. Calum has a gentle reassuring voice and the songs add a delicate counterbalance to the energy exploding around them. Look out for Clachnabrochan Gaelic Choir who have perhaps the shortest cameo ever on Eathar Dubh a Bradhagar. Crossing Point sees the band mature into a group that is tighter than an All Black scrum. Players spark off each other as the tunes fly by. The tripartite pipes, banjo and fiddle allow the band to be creative with arrangements and at times they resemble a pipe-led Four Men and a Dog (high compliment indeed), as they push the tempo forward at every turn. Be careful listening to this in the car as you will have lost your licence by the end. All in all, a cracking CD and one that is going to be on the CD player for a long to come.”
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