THE all-female, all-conquering Poozies are back with a new album and a new line-up.
Eilidh Shaw (fiddle, vocals) and original Poozie Mary Macmaster (electro harp, vocals) are joined on Punch by Tia Files on guitar, percussion, vocals and fiddle, and Sarah McFadyen on fiddle, guitar, banjo and vocals in what is perhaps the best Poozies incarnation yet.
There is a rich vein of mischief running through Punch, as befits the larger-than-life personalities of the band, and it is infectious.
Opening title track Punch is a building fiddle tune full of anticipation and a certain sense of foreboding, all neatly guided by Files’s guitar, and which is sure to fill dancefloors. It is a perfect scene setter for what is to follow.
Macmaster’s Gaelic vocal carries Ailean, Ailean – the first of the album’s songs – while McFadyen puts her stamp on the track, this time on banjo.
The enjoyment of the band is clear to feel throughout the album. There is a playfulness and a confidence to Punch that is refreshing – and refreshingly honest.
This sense of fun is nowhere better illustrated than on the darkly comic Soaking In The Bathtub, in which McFadyen’s Orkney burr is used to stunning effect.
“This most recent reincarnation of The Poozies is all about mischief and rebellion, and we think this album illustrates that pretty well,” says Shaw. “We feel we’ve achieved something exciting and new while retaining the original, constant Poozies’ ethos of diversity, originality, devilment and joy.”
Punch is a delight throughout and as an embodiment of these supremely talented musicians’ diverse personalities it is as confident a statement of intent as you’re likely to find anywhere.
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