Kris Drever – Mark The Hard Earth (Navigator Records)

Ian Wylie

Like a sign of spring, Kris Drever’s Mark the Hard Earth sees the Scots guitarist bring more sunshine and warmth to his singing and playing – and is far from the hard slog its title might suggest.

The Orcadian takes a second, well-earned break from edgy improv of his day job as guitarist with Radio 2 Folk Group winner Lau, and from collaborations with John McCusker and Roddy Woomble, which produced this correspondent’s favourite album of 2008, Before The Ruin.

Recorded in two sessions in North Berwick and Yorkshire, this album follows a similar recipe to Drever’s 2006 debut, Black Water: top-drawer line-up including fiddler and producer McCusker, American multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien and Irish singer Heidi Talbot, applied to a handful of fresh takes on trad classics, interwoven with material from Sandy Wright (Wild Hurricane, Shining Star) and Boo Hewerdine (Sweet Honey In The Rock).

But final track aside – Freedom Come A’ye, a duet with Karine Polwart which pairs words by poet Hamish Henderson to the tune of a pipe march, Bloody Fields of Flanders – the production and tone this time round are not so spare.

O’Brien and Hewerdine take Drever down American country roads, while Wright’s waltzes are sentimental but rousing singalongs for closing time.

Drever finds room this time for one of his own compositions, the title trick, and one from brother Duncan, Crown of London that has his sibling declare: “The devil’s made plans for the wealthy man. He’ll never get to me.”

Blessed with the voice of someone twice his age and experience, Drever’s Mark the Hard Earth is the sound of a self-assured and maturing talent growing into that voice.

www.krisdrever.com