Skerryvore have been at the forefront of a movement reigniting a passion for traditional Scottish music in a fresh, contemporary setting, bringing it to new audiences around the world with renowned, award-winning live shows. Having reached new heights with 2023’s ‘Tempus’ - a #1 on the Official Scottish and Folk Album Charts, as well as their Top 40 breakthrough on the Official Albums Chart - they now releases their new album, ‘Beautiful Mistakes’.
photo Credit: Rona McMillan
Their most ambitious and personal work to date, ‘Beautiful Mistakes’ is focused on the idea that perfection is overrated. In our age of social media, we’re sold the notion that this is something we should strive for. But it’s in our nature as humans to make mistakes – to be fallible – and there’s beauty in that. The band also embraced a newfound freedom in their creative approach. Working for the first time with producer Jamie Squire (The 1975’s unofficial fifth member), they latched on to the chemistry in the studio instead of focusing too much on the details, while also delving deep into introspective and vulnerable songwriting.
Vocalist and songwriter Alec Dalglish says, “Making this album has been a much more organic process, where we often started acoustically, quite small, with the idea that the listener should feel like they’re in the room with us. Some of the songs still ended up sounding huge, but I think there’s a maturity there, and we really captured the live element of it all.”
Elsewhere, ‘Beautiful Mistakes’ proves that it will resonate with the band’s ever-growing fanbase. Its themes are at times immensely personal, such as a poignant tribute to Alec’s late beloved father on ‘Singing Up In Heaven’, or ‘Scarinish’, an instrumental named after a village in Tiree, Scotland, on the island that founding members Daniel and Martin Gillespie call home. Others are more universal, the euphoric rush of new love expressed on ‘In Your Eyes’, or the realisation that a relationship is over on ‘Oh My Love’. There are surprises, too, such as the blunt state-of-the-world address of ‘The Game’, the pop-leaning ‘Second Chance’, and a stunning duet (the band’s first) with Tamzene on ‘While I’m Breathing’.
