ALI LEVACK
Ali Levack
If the name is new to you, a little background detail might be in order. Hailing from Maryburgh, a small village in the northeast of Scotland, Ali Levack has been imbued in Scottish traditional music since he was nine years old, when a family friend started teaching him the pipes. After four years at Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd, (the National Centre of Excellence for Traditional Music) in Plockton, he attended the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Since then his expertise on pipes and whistles has been much sought after and he has contributed to over 50 albums and singles worldwide, including, memorably for this writer, whilst a member of The Tweed Project. More recently, following winning BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award for 2020, he has been the front-man of esteemed indie-trad trio Project SMOK, and, alongside Craig Irving, is one half of GLIN.
Not before time then, some would say, Ali has been concentrating on more personal projects and has released his debut self-titled solo album, and confirms his status as one of the most exhilarating and prestigious instrumentalists in Scotland today.
Comprising entirely original Ali work, the seeds of the finished album were sown during the Covid lockdown with compositions first written as commissions. The opportunity to develop these initial solo creations into a viable live project was presented through Donald Shaw, co-founder of Capercaillie and Artistic Director of Celtic Connections, offering Ali his New Voices commission for Celtic Connections 2024. Move the clock forward and funding from Creative Scotland and The Marigold Trust together with an IndieGogo campaign enabled the recording project to take place.
Devoid of distractions, Ali, along with Rory Metheson and Ross Saunders, relocated to the north east coast of Sutherland for a week and worked collaboratively on writing and arranging the album, with a shared vision of exploring different musical genres and their convergence with traditional music.
The successful achievement of these goals is clearly apparent in the finished product, where traditional styles meld effortlessly with contemporary influences. Witness the energetic, rock-infused ‘Clashnarrow’, the relentless funky-beats of ‘Gudgie Funk’, and ‘Cruising’, a musical genre mash-up extraordinaire.
However, the traditional is well represented too. Take ‘West Coast Superstars’, initially a gently lilting tune which takes off and soars dramatically into pipe mayhem, typical of madness that Ali has used to describe aspects of his music. The only track on the album to feature pipes, this is worth the price of admission alone. The jaunty ‘Elaine and Enya’ also has more of trad focus to start with, but develops and builds to a crescendo, underscored by propulsive percussion.
Pace and variety are enhanced by the likes of ‘Dolina’, a dolorous tune written to commemorate his late grandmother, which betrays a sensitivity, whilst ‘Marrell’ also reflects the softer side of things, the accompanying strings adding to the overall calmness.
The same cannot be said of ‘Kenny Giles of Applecross’, another scorcher of a track replete with scintillating electric guitar, and album closer, ‘NC Reel’, which delivers high-octane music of the best kind. Taken with ‘Clashnarrow’, these have to be three of most exhilarating closing album tracks you are likely to hear.
Ever the trail-blazer, Ali, paradoxically, continues to both steamroll through the boundaries of traditional music whilst paying it full cognisance and respect. This is already a strong contender for debut album of the year.
Ali Levack