Troots

There's no band quite like Shooglenifty, with their sense of scope, scale and wildness, and precious few with their technical ability. They can hit a groove so easily it's unfair, and the fiddle and mandolin play off each other with almost empathetic communication. But one thing they've never shied away from (indeed, they revel in it) is a bit of experimentation, and it's largely provided here by Tanya Tagaq Gillis, an Inuk throat singer from Canada, whose voice become an integral part of "Excess Baggage," pushing the band in an entirely new direction, even if it's just for a few small steps. There's plenty of refinement of the sound on this disc, although it's subtle. However, you can hear it on "Walter C Douglas," for instance, where there's a great deal of shading, moving from a broad landscape into delicate close up. You could say that the band has its shtick and just continues to plow its furrow, but that would hardly do them justice. Instead there's a constant sense of creativity going on, a love of always going a little further, but always a bit off the beaten track. They remain one band whose albums always reward repeated plays, and this is no exception. ~ Chris Nickson|