Loch Awe - Artificial Life From A Digital Sea

There’s something about finding great music before anyone else, having the honour of being one of the firsts at sharing something you love with familiar faces and strangers alike. Then, there’s also the unexpected surprise, when the situation is reversed and it’s the music that finds you, rather than you finding it.

Fine, perhaps the compressed file containing the album didn’t actually walk on its own imaginary legs and comfortably sat on my inbox, tasting a fine whisky while waiting for my usual email hunt, but rather, much less romantically, was simply sent to me by the band itself. But it is, nonetheless, a fine discovery.

Loch Awe are a new band that comes from Edinburgh, a place where I can now comfortably say it is becoming one very special hotspot for music. The trio is formed by one Joy Everett, a Jack McKay Fletcher and only but one Matthew Liam Healy. Folk is their signature dish, which you could argue has the same ingredients than the same dish cooked by any other folk band, however, Loch Awe have exactly the Awe factor when dealing with things in the musical kitchen.

What landed in my inbox was their debut album, titled Artificial Life From A Digital Sea. Now, it is rather important to scribble down somewhere the fact that these three little artists have gone from writing to releasing this album in one single month. It should be considered too little time for producing a 7 track album - or even a mere LP! But apparently, it can be done, because Loch Awe have done something very special with this debut of an album.

The Ocean In Me is the track that sets everything in motion, and it sounds like a boat, floating swiftly on the sea. Loch Awe’s take on folk is gentle and magical, they play with simplicity and make it shine at its best, which also serves as the silver platter for the special vocals of Joy, mellow, gentle and infectous.

A while back I mentioned about a personal quest of mine, to search for a band in Scotland that made music from the heart, a special sound that I can now avoid describing, and simply point to Loch Awe’s direction. Its minimalistic sound, the romantic folkyness, the fantastic Celtic touch. That’s it.

The album sails at an even pace track after track, always delivering a fantastic acoustic experience. There is one track, though, that is simply epic. How it Began is a brilliant, brilliant track. It is incredibly intimate and classy, with the breath-taking effect given by the vocals changing owner, as each member of the trio exchange places in the singing department as the song progresses, I dare anyone not to like and be touched by this track.

Loch Awe are the perfect soundtrack for a cool Autumn, now fast approaching, it will heal the souls of the troubled as they walk through a deserted coastal town, and it’ll make ache the hearts that find themselves reflected in the lyrics.

The best thing of it all? The whole album is free to download from their Bandcamp page. Download it. Now.

Loch Awe - How it Began by Argos Barks

Bandcamp