Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It takes courage to fight against the genre box that people wish to put you in, their own sense of comfort is not for the artist to appease or uphold, the way they proclaim the art in certain terms is not for the performer to maintain, in the end the integrity of the entertainer is to keep themselves in a position in which they get joy out what they create and exhibit, the valour in offering something different or at least producing a separate tune.

It is in this action that some might suggest the artist has taken a Dark Turn of Mind, some would proclaim unease in the way the art goes against the so- called order in which they imagine they control and yet it is not darkness they should be wary of, it is the sense of absolute strength within that mind that should worry the conformists and the people only happy with putting people in already appointed boxes.

It is a box firmly resisted by Aberdeenshire’s Iona Fyfe, a woman who embraces the use of the Doric language within her music, one that has won her acclaim with her strong voice, awards and platitudes quite rightly placed before her, but one that also rightly needs to explore other ways of installing passion in to the audience, one that comes with integrity intact, one that makes use of rallying against expectations.

In the follow up to her debut album, Away From My Window, the six songs that make up her new E.P., Dark Turn of Mind, are proof positive that such actions are demonstrations of a soul that cannot be contained, releasing a set of songs in English will no doubt frustrate some but should you wish to conquer the hearts of those who do you down, first you must sing their song, you must convince them of your will in which you can then tear down theirs.

Across six wonderfully produced songs, Swing and Turn, If I Go, I’m Goin, The Golden Vanity, Let Him Sink, Little Musgrave and the E.P. title track, Ms. Fyfe shows that perceived darkness is at times an illusion, what is actually being spoken of is the shade in which others find a place in which to witness your work in, never realising how bright, how luminous your soul can become. It is a luminosity in which the music of this Aberdeenshire marvel can now take a huge stride onwards with, having battled and won over hearts that might not have seen her if the box had not been resisted.

Beautiful and captivating, Iona Fyfe’s Dark Turn of Mind fits right in.

Iona Fyfe releases Dark Turn of Mind via Carnie Records on January 1^st 2019.

Ian D. Hall