SIOBHAN MILLER Celebrates The Release Of New Album ‘Bloom’ with Sept/Oct Tour

Just over two years ago, celebrated Scottish singer-songwriter Siobhan Miller released her fourth solo studio album All is Not Forgotten, just as COVID lockdown tightened its grip.

Despite all the obstacles, and not being able to tour the release, it was testament to the quality of the album that it gained widespread acclaim and success.
Now the stunning voice of Siobhan returns for her fifth album, Bloom, a release that shakes off the shackles and bursts out of darker times like a flower in the desert. To celebrate it’s release. Siobhan performs the following shows in September and October

September 21 - CentreStage - Kilmarnock
September 23 - Tarland Food and Music Festival - Tarland, Aberdeenshire
September 24 - Tolbooth - Stirling
September 26 - Junction - Cambridge
September 29 - Kings Place - London
October 2 - Howard Assembly Room - Leeds
October 4 - Liverpool Philharmonic – Liverpool

After two years without the fun, energy and community of folk festivals and sessions, Siobhan thought it high time to try to recapture that life-affirming feeling – pulling together some of the Scottish folk scene’s finest musicians.
The sheer joy of reuniting a band after all that time fuels this feel-good album, bringing back together the all-star line-up from her award-winning second album Strata (2017) – including Orcadian singer/guitarist and long-time collaborator Kris Drever (Lau), iconic Scottish songstress Eddi Reader, Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) and guitarist Ian Carr (Kate Rusby Band).

“After Strata’s release I realised how much I enjoyed reworking the songs I love - over the last five years they have become live favourites.” So Siobhan set out to revisit more of the songs she grew up listening to but had never sung or recorded, putting her own stamp on them while staying true to what makes them timeless.

“I wanted to capture the energy of performing with these incredible musicians – the energy that happens when you’re in a room together making music and feeding off each other. I love the storytelling aspect of traditional songs and wanted to perform every song in the studio as if I were in a room full of people. I really feel that joy comes across on Bloom more than on any other album I’ve made.”

Just seven years after launching her solo career, Siobhan finds herself at the forefront of Scottish folk music. With her arresting, effortless voice the multi-talented Midlothian-born performer has won the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards ‘Singer of the Year’ title an unprecedented three times alongside a 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award (Best Traditional Track).

Her albums have shown great scope melding new and old material and sometimes nudging mainstream pop as with 2018 album Mercury.
But the beguiling Bloom is an out-and-out, freewheeling celebration of classic Scottish songs.

Recorded at Gorbals Sound in Glasgow and produced by Siobhan and husband Euan Burton, the aim of the 10-track album was to create exciting, unique settings for these folk song classics.

Other musicians on board were Burton on double, electric and synth bass, Aaron Jones on bouzouki, cittern and acoustic guitar, Tom Gibbs on keys, 2017 Scottish Young Traditional Musician of the Year Charlie Stewart and Jack Smedley (Rura) on fiddles and Andrew Waite on accordion –a mighty line-up.

Opening the album is one of the ultimate Scots love songs Queen of Argyle written by Andy M. Stewart and recorded by him with Silly Wizard – Miller’s soulful, effortless voice sweeps along through the percussive track before the band’s upbeat take on traditional night-visiting song Cold Blows the Rainy Night embroidered by Waite’s dancing accordion.

The pace slows for Star o’ the Bar, penned by Davie Robertson. A folk session favourite, it’s a mellow song Siobhan learnt from her father Brian. “It always reminds me of those nights spent with great company in the back room of a bar all singing together.”

The gears move up for Siobhan’s take on Go, Move Shift by godfather of folk Ewan MacColl – a powerful protest song based on the true story of traveller Mindy Smith, who was ‘moved on’ while giving birth in her caravan by local police.
A stand-out track is undoubtedly the spirited take on the anthemic I’m a Rover which immediately transports Siobhan back to her student days when she would sing in sessions around Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Moving into more sombre story territory Siobhan delivers popular Scottish ballad The Swan Swims which tells of two sisters, with one murdering the other and is followed by The Battle of Waterloo, written by Jim Malcolm.
Poignant and eloquent it tells the story of a Kirriemuir man who is dying on the battlefield of Waterloo – and a father warning his daughter she could end up a widow should she wed a soldier.

Then the album steers firmly into ‘let your hair down’ party mode with the jazzy, all hands on deck rendering of Rab Noakes’ Open All Night – underlined by some great piano work by Tom Gibbs. Says Siobhan: “I love the feeling this song has of being on tour and heading out into the city after the show looking for fun.”
That ‘out on the town’ feeling continues in Ayrshire-born David Francey’s Saturday Night. Siobhan’s search for feel-good songs led her to this carefree number, a perfect antidote to recent isolated times.

The album ends with a gentle, understated take on the anthemic Wild Mountain Thyme – the only song on the album to have Irish heritage, though whether it is a Scottish or Irish song is often a subject for debate. It is thought to have been written by Belfast’s Francis McPeake for his wife but also owes lineage to Robert Tanahill’s “The Braes o’Balquhidder”. Mournful fiddle melds with Miller’s wistful vocals –a sublime and fitting finale to the album.

Siobhan’s fifth studio album proves to be both joyous and cathartic. A prize bloom indeed.

Bloom is released on September 16 on the Songprint Recordings label and distributed by Proper Music.

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