Waiting for the Storm Jezus Factory Records***

Scottish musicians channelling Bert Jansch and John Renbourn are thinner on the groundthan they use to be, but Mark Mulholland and Craig Ward wax folk-lyrical with style on Waiting for the Storm. Mulholland, who now lives in Haiti, draws deep from the well of his adoptive homeland.

His invitation to Haitian poet Frankétienne to collaborate on the elegaic Les Belles Promesses lures his album onto another wistful, otherworldly plain. Elsewhere, Mulholland’s genteel vocals recall Sonny Condell in his Tír na nÓg days, with infinite guitar lines echoing the lyric long past nightfall.

At a time when songs must sell themselves on a handful of hearings, Waiting for the Storm wears its allegiances lightly, tipping its hat towards slide guitar blues on A Strange Place, with louche confidence the music will speak for itself – and yield hidden riches over countless return visits. markmulholland.net