Kirkmount,
The Robin
(self-produced, 1997; Dorian, 2001)


Alex, Sam and Simeon (pronounced Simon) Bigney took the name for their band from a small village that once stood in the woods of Nova Scotia. The village is mostly forgotten and nature has reclaimed the area; only the little white church and graveyard remain.

Introduced to Celtic music by their Grandpa Bud, the boys play the same style of Scottish music that could be heard in Kirkmount when the village was in its heyday.

When young Sam was 11, Grandpa Bud sent him and his brothers to the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling Camp north of San Francisco. It is there Sam wrote his first tune and he hasn't stopped. Older brother Alex also writes tunes for the band.

The boys are grown and Alex has a son of his own, but at the time of the recording for The Robin, they were merely teens aged from 13 to 17.

The Robin -- also an original tune written by Alex -- is a collection of 11 tunes and tune sets of tradition and original music. Whether it be a haunting refrain or a fast-paced tune that makes you want to dance, the boys of Kirkmount play with the experience far beyond their years. Alex also has acquired the talent of playing his harp with one hand while playing the bones with the other, or a set of bones in each hand if the need arises. Young Simeon may have chosen the cello -- an admittedly nontraditional Celtic instrument -- but he plays it with the same fire and speed as brother Sam on his fiddle. (Simeon says that he plays the "ceddle.")

The Robin is a lively CD that will please any Celtic music fan and have them begging for more.

[ visit the artist's website ]




Rambles.NET
review by
Sherrill Fulghum

14 July 2007






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