Wolfstone - This Strange Place

(1998) 10 tracks: The Harlequin / Pipe Major Stevie Saint, This Girl, Let Them Sing, Banks of the Ness, This Strange Place, Stevie's Set: The Wild Monkey Dance / Black Eyed Jam, Till I Sleep, The Arab Set: An Arab in the Court of Kintail / The Redwood Reel, Reluctant Journey, Kazakhstan: A Thief in the Night / The Hills of Kazakhstan.

With two years and thousands of miles of road work behind them, Wolfstone returns with another studio album. Co-produced by lead singer and guitarist Ivan Drever and bassist/percussionist Wayne Mackenzie, This Strange Place represents a departure from previous Wolfstone recordings. Perhaps their most introspective work to date, the album was written and recorded entirely in Inverness, Scotland, home to this prolific Celtic group.

Of the five songs and five instrumental sets included, eight were penned by, or co-written with, Ivan Drever. Whether reflecting on a lost love of the Scottish landscape he is so inspired by, Drever joins the forefront of today's contemporary Celtic songwriters.

Other highlights include piper Stevie Saint's eponymous set, complete with marching snare, and Duncan Chisholm's beautiful fiddle work on Ivan's Banks of the Ness. It would be hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to Wolfstone's Highland home.

Wolfstone are Ivan Drever (guitar, vocals), Wayne MacKenzie (bass, percussion), Andy Simmers (drums), Duncan Chisholm (fiddle) and Stevie Saint (bagpipes).