It is always good when a digital release – “Sand, Silk, Flint” by Fiona Soe Paing was originally released in 2022 – gets to go physical and you can now get a compact disc version of the album.
As for the music? Well, it is a somewhat atmospheric mix of traditional folk tunes from the Aberdeenshire area and original music that has been enhanced with ambient loops that purport, it would seem, to represent all that is mystical in northeast Scotland. An interesting approach, for sure, that might well find some support from those who are curious about such things although I would think that folk music fans – who are often purists in matters of presentation - won’t find these deviations from the expected norms entirely satisfactory.
As is often the case with an album like this, the listener has to make the time to absorb its deeper meaning rather than dismissing it as mere background music so perhaps you would find it worthwhile to give it a go if you have, as someone of a different generation said to me the other day, bandwidth in your schedule.
The album is available from Bandcamp.