Thus, Brìghde Chaimbeul introduces her third album, a release which comes after two years of incredible acclaim for its predecessor Carry Them With Us, which won awards from such diverse places as The Guardian (Best Folk Album Of 2023 #7) and The Quietus (Best Albums of 2023 #13). Since that album, she has played stages from Tennessee to Denmark, often far outside the traditional/folk circuit where she first made her name, and often playing for audiences who'd never seen someone play small pipes before. To appear alone on the main stage at 2024's Supersonic Festival in Birmingham and reduce a hungover festival crowd to rapt silence probably isn't what Chaimbeul expected, and nor would she have expected to be hailed as leading a revival of interest in an instrument that was arguably fading into obscurity. Sunwise is more a solo record than Carry Them With Us, which saw her collaborate with acclaimed artist and peripatetic collaborator Colin Stetson. Chaimbeul explains that she'd spent the last two years playing live solo, "so that's where I was naturally going at the time of recording, most of the collaborators came on after I had recorded my parts," the exception being "Sguabag/The Sweeper" where she recorded live with the three other pipers. She explains that she's learned a great deal about how to record her instrument, where "a lot of it is about tone, and the depth and richness of that tone, paying attention to detail -- what mics you're using, and how to get the best sound possible." However, Stetson returns on the rousing, whirling "A Chailleach," which also features Chaimbeul's lovely, sparingly used voice. Sunwise is a remarkable album, a record steeped in folklore and tradition but also embracing minimalism, experimentation and the eternal presence of the drone. Her love for this music, these traditions and shared stories, shines through everything she does: "It's a music and language that has survived so much and for so long -- it's the music of people. It's music of the land. And I think it's extremely relevant to hold on to that and learn from that in current times."
