Draw the arc of a circle through Glasgow (where Karine Polwart was born), the hamlet of Kilmahog in Stirlingshire (where Alasdair grew up) and Edinburgh (where Corrina and Karine first discovered their common love of vocal harmony), and it finds its centre at Airth on the banks of the River Forth, over Scotland’s most bizarre building, a spectacular 18th century folly carved in the shape of a pineapple. The architect of The Pineapple is anonymous but it stands now, just a spit from Scotland’s only industrial oil refining complex at Grangemouth: a triumph of imagination over logic. Add to this some strange coincidences: Alasdair’s folk musician father, Alan, was in the same school class as Polwart’s father, and Polwart and Hewat were born 36 hours apart and are now next door neighbours in the Midlothian village of Pathhead. Polwart, Roberts and Hewat unravel the common threads that link them geographically, musically and metaphorically, in an imaginative exploration of weirdness, wonderment and hubris.
Praise for Karine:
Nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2009 for Singer of the Year and for Best Album for ‘This Earthly Spell’.
“a pasionate, perceptive songwriter” Uncut
“takes the heart to places few singers even know exist” WORD
Praise for Alasdair:
“It’s a long time since balladry has sounded this vital and primordial” Uncut
“One of Britain’s most singular and original talents” Colin Irwin, fRoots
Praise for Corrina:
“She blends a jazz singer’s flexibility, a blues singer’s economy and a folk singer’s heart into a style that’s both natural and her very own.” The Herald
