CD of the week

JULIE FOWLIS Cuilidh Shoeshine Records ****

Hebridean traditional singer, and winner of a 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Newcomer, Julie Fowlis follows up her 2005 solo debut, Mar a Tha Mo Chridhe, with an even more fine-boned second collection in Cuilidh (meaning sanctuary or retreat).

Fowlis's water-clear voice is the perfect foil for another scattering of Scots-Gaelic folk songs and she's chosen the best of company in John McCusker and Danú's bouzouki player, Eamon Doorley, to colour and shade with the measure of restraint the songs demand. Her decision to bookend Cuilidh with the forensically arranged Hùg air a' Bhonaid Mhòir and the unaccompanied Aoidh, Na Déan Cadal Idir throws into sharp relief her growing sense of her own identity.

Mo Ghruagach Dhonn calls to mind the precise arrangements of Kate Rusby's recordings, and the strength of McCusker's guiding hand at times teeters on the brink of an attempt to clone the work he's done with Rusby. There's a temptation, too, to draw comparison with Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill or Capercaille's Karen Matheson, but such parallels are wasted as Fowlis rollicks her way through a repertoire that's as fresh-faced as it is fleet-footed.

Her mouth music, or Puirt-a-beul Set, 's Toigh Leam Fhín Buntáta 's Ím, delights in the syllabic word play of the piece, rising and falling on the back of the driving arrangements. Fowlis is ploughing a furrow all her own. Small wonder that laurels are landing at her feet with such abandon. www.juliefowlis.com

Download tracks: Mo Dhómhnallan Fhéin, 's Toigh Leam Fhín Buntáta 's Ím