Drever McCusker Woomble - Before the Ruin

Drever McCusker Woomble - Before the Ruin (Navigator)

The crossing of normally disparate musical boundaries is always to be applauded, although it’s not automatically the green light to genius that reviewers sometimes make out. This collaboration from two generations of folkies – Kris Drever and John McCusker alongside Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble – is well intentioned and pleasant enough but the conventional Scottish traditional songwriting lacks a little inspiration. Generally understated and slightly downbeat, there are a couple of gems lurking, notably the bolshie title track and the sweeping, string-laden ‘Hope to See’, but the underlying feeling is of a slight dilution of the talent on show, rather than an enhancement.