Scottish smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul is a leading purveyor of experimental Celtic music. Her piping has earned her a BBC Young Folk Award and a BBC Horizon Award, and seen her perform for heads of state at the Cop26 climate conference. She’s brought her instrument to a global stage, and has worked with a range of other artists – currently she can be heard on Caroline Polachek’s new single “Blood and Butter”. With her second album ‘Carry Them With Us’, Chaimbeul has taken it beyond folk music, discovering a place where tradition and minimalism meet, offering her the freedom to experiment in sound and create something completely her own. ‘Carry Them With Us’ is an exhilarating weave of rich textural drones, trance atmospheres and instrumental folk traditions. She was joined on this album by acclaimed Canadian sound explorer and saxophonist Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire, Bon Iver), who also co-produced the album.
A native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, Brìghde’s style is rooted in her language and culture, but draws inspiration from a variety of global piping traditions, such as from Eastern Europe, Cape Breton and Ireland. Her debut album ‘The Reeling’ (2019) had an extraordinary response. Produced by Lau’s Aidan O’Rourke, it was named as Folk Album Of The Month by The Guardian, given five star reviews in both fRoots and Songlines, lavished with praise by BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction and listed as one of The Quietus’s Albums Of The Year. ‘The Reeling’ was voted one of the 20 Scottish Albums of the Year by the Say Awards (out of 293 submissions) and secured a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award win for Brìghde.