The Peatbog Faeries are a largely

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in

Dunvegan Dunvegan ( gd, Dùn Bheagain) is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunvegan. In 2011 i ...

on the Isle of Skye,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Their music embodies many styles and influences, including folk, electronica, African pop, rock and jazz, although their main influence is traditional Celtic music. The band's unique sound is created through a mix of programmed effects and traditional Celtic arrangements, played on bagpipes, fiddles, and whistles. The band have twice won "Live Band of the Year" at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards and were nominated for "Live Band of the Year" at the BBC Radio 2 folk awards.

History

The Peatbog Faeries formed in 1991. They recorded and released their debut album '' Mellowosity'' in 1996 on Greentrax Recordings. Two years later they signed to a New York label and recorded their second album, '' Faerie Stories''. Due to problems at the record company the CD was not released for a further two years. For their third album the band set up their own label, Peatbog Records. On the label, they released '' Welcome to Dun Vegas'' in 2003. The album introduced a small amount of vocals. In 2005, they released ''

Croftwork ''Croftwork'' (stylised on the album cover as ''CroftworK'') is the fourth album by Scottish Celtic fusion group Peatbog Faeries, recorded in Roag on the Isle of Skye, and released in 2005 on the band's own Peatbog Records label. It was release ...

'', which saw the first appearance of brass instruments on an album. These have been a regular feature of the band's albums and live performances ever since. The band toured in 2008, recording a series of gigs and subsequently released their first live album, '' Live'', made up of two of these performances. The band's seventh studio album, ''Dust'', was released in August 2011. In 2010, they were inducted into the

Hebridean Celtic Festival The Hebridean Celtic Festival (Scottish Gaelic: Fèis Cheilteach Innse Gall) or HebCelt is an international Scottish music festival, which takes place annually in Stornoway on Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Headliners to date inclu ...

’s hall of fame. The Peatbog Faeries released their latest album “Live @ 25” in 2017 to mark their 25th anniversary.

Music

The band's genre is Celtic fusion. The band's 2001 '' Faerie Stories'' offered a completely different style of Celtic fusion.

Trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minut ...

became the main theme of the album, as well as electronic dance music and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

at times. Because of the electronic elements in the band's sound, their sound was once termed "acid croft". The band's third album, '' Welcome to Dun Vegas'', was a lot less Celtic at times, with bagpipes absent in a few of the songs, and the overall genre was

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

, returning to that of ''Mellowosity''. The band used a new type of Celtic fusion for ''

'', matching reggae, electronic dance music, alternative rock, and brass, with

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s appearing in many of its songs. '' What Men Deserve to Lose'' is similar to ''Croftwork'', with the brass roots returning, but with more

audible towards the end of the album. A review of '' Blackhouse'' said the album draws "inspirations from everywhere. Jazz, funk, reggae and dance rub shoulders with special effects and synths, tradition combines with visions, contemporary rocks along with heritage."

Notes

* ''Faerie Stories'' was originally made for a US record label which the release fell through before they self released the album. *''Welcome to Dun Vegas'' is also known as ''More Faerie Stories'', as the opening page of the booklet titles the album as such. It references the band's previous album. *''Live'' and ''Dust'' were re-released in

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

s. *Peatbog Records re-released ''Faerie Stories'' in a digipak in 2008, with subtle differences in track lengths and cover artwork. *Their only songs to contain vocals are four songs on ''Welcome to Dunvegas'' (twice in distorted manner) and believed chanting in "Sudden Dilemma". Vocals also feature on ''Dust''. More recently the acclaimed album Live@25 features the track "Humours of Ardnamurchan" with guest vocals from Katie Stafford (wife of band member Graeme). *Peatbog Faeries appear on numerous compilation albums, including 1998's ''Heart of Scotland'' and 2005's ''Celtic Crossroads''. 2010's ''Beginner's Guide to Celtic'' featured "The Folk Police", whilst the "Beginner's Guide to Scotland" featured "Teuchstar".

Current line-up

* Peter Morrison – pipes; whistles * Ross Couper – fiddles * Tom Salter – guitars * Norman Wilmore – keyboards * Innes Hutton – bass; percussion * Stu Brown – drums * '' Innes Watson'' - acoustic guitar, fiddle, vocals

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Mellowosity'' (1996) * '' Faerie Stories'' (2000) * '' Welcome to Dun Vegas'' (2003) * ''

'' (2005) * '' What Men Deserve to Lose'' (2007) * ''

Dust Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in ho ...

'' (2011) * '' Blackhouse'' (2015)

Live albums

* '' Live'' (2009) * '' Live @ 25'' (2017)

Compilation albums

* ''

Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion ''Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion'' is a 2013 compilation album of Celtic rock music. The album's tracks were selected by Larry Kirwan: taig, expatriate Irish writer, radio host and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York-base ...

'' (2013)

References

External links

* *
Heraldscotland.com
*
Yeovilexpress.co.uk

{{Authority control Scottish folk music groups Celtic fusion groups