Brìghde Chaimbeul is a piper from the Isle of Skye in Scotland whose proficiency extends to the Great Highland bagpipes and to her main instrument, the Scottish smallpipes. She’s released three full-length albums, including her prior release with saxophonist Colin Stetson and a trio set with fellow piper Ross Ainslie and guitarist Stephen Byrnes. These collaborators reinforce a solid love of the traditional folk root and a desire to stretch the boundaries. Her new album Sunwise releases June 27 on vinyl, compact disc, and digital via tak:til/Glitterbeat. It’s an assured extension of Chaimbeul’s talents, combining original compositions and interpretations of trad material.
Pipers…there’s not exactly an overabundance of them on the scene. More accurately, most pipers, whether they blow into the big bag model or into the revived smallpipes, are studious replicators of long-established material. Skill is essential, but creative risk is mostly absent as these players keep the flame alive.
Of course, there’s a top tier of trad pipers whose impact can be measured in the lives they’ve touched. Rona Lightfoot’s scope of influence enveloped a young Brìghde Chaimbeul. At age 4, having witnessed a performance by Lightfoot, Chaimbeul was profoundly affected, with this impact acknowledged by Lightfoot’s contribution to Chaimbeul’s debut album, The Reeling, which was released in 2019.
The Reeling was well received and was not a strictly trad affair. It was followed by Las with Ross Ainslie and Stephen Byrnes, recorded live in studio in 2022, also to a positive response. But the most striking of Chaimbeul’s releases so far has been her prior effort Carry Them With Us, an extensive collaboration with Canadian saxophonist Colin Stetson that came out in 2023.
Chaimbeul’s latest is far more of a solo record than her last two, though there are two exceptions. Stetson returns for “A’ Chailleach” and there’s also “Sguabag/The Sweeper,” which was recorded live with three other pipers. Sunwise opens with the rich droning of “Dùsgadh/Waking,” its tones hanging exquisitely for nearly four minutes before a perceptible but subtle change occurs. At nearly six minutes, a beautiful melodiousness emerges through the pipes of Chaimbeul.
“A’ Chailleach” is next, the dialogue with Stetson suggesting a cathedral organ primed by Terry Riley. Chaimbeul’s vocals in the back end further elevate an already impressive interaction. After the short “Interlude – kindle the fire,” which sounds like a field recording from a campfire by a beach in the midst of wintertime, there’s “She Went Astray,” another concise piece built upon a repeated pipe motif and multitracked vocals, and then comes “Bog an Lochan,” a short fleet wiggle workout.
This sets the table for “Sguabag/The Sweeper,” a wonderful swirl of breath-generated tones exuding a traditional grandeur imbued with an edge of deftly executed strangeness. It leads into what’s perhaps the deepest trad immersion on the album, “Duan,” which concludes with a spoken word contribution (captured near another campfire) from her father Aonghas Phàdraig Chaimbeul, the piece’s inspiration reaching back to druidical origins.
“The Rain is Wine and the Stones Are Cheese” closes Sunwise as Chaimbeul’s brother Eòsaph’s voice joins hers in a short song that’s executed in the manner of a canntaireachd, a style described as an attempt to vocalize bagpipe music. It’s a finale both gripping and warmly inviting as Chaimbeul solidifies her stature as one of the more consistently interesting instrumentalists on the international scene today.
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