Seán R. McLaughlin & The Wind-Up Crows are a Scottish band, specialising in a form of folk music that has quite a traditional sound. They’ve recently released a new EP titled Ninewells EP, boding great things for their future within the music industry. If you like your Celtic folk, then this is one record you should be checking out!

By Jane Howkins

Ninewells EP kicks off nicely with Cleaned. It’s a bit of a slow burner at first, opening with some nice instrumentation, underpinning the vocals in lovely style. You can clearly hear Seán’s Scottish accent peeking through as he sings, but it adds a palpable sense of genuineness to the piece, making you believe everything he’s singing about here. The backing vocals on the chorus sound like a beautiful choir, adding more layers into this wonderful track.

Feathers opens with a nice strummed acoustic guitar, as well as some more traditional instrumentation. The main melody is rather upbeat and has a catchy hook, yet it never sounds too mainstream, which is a plus for me! The main focal point here is the vocals, soaring in a glorious way over the top of the music. The song picks up the pace towards the end, rising up in a lovely way.

Title track Ninewells is a proper stomp of a song, perfect for dancing along to – I bet it would sound amazing live! There’s a real sense of nostalgia here, both in terms of the lyrical themes and the sound of the music. It’s quite an upbeat sounding track, yet the music never takes over the vocals too much, allowing them to really shine through. Lyrically, it’s one of my favourite songs on the EP.

Unfortunately, there are only three tracks on Ninewells EP, but this factor just leaves you longing for more, way after the final note has been played. Seán R. McLaughlin & The Wind-Up Crows are clearly on their way to greatness!

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