Heather Ferrier: Engine for the Sound

First published in the June-July 2023 edition of Folk London Magazine

Described as “alt folk,” Heather Ferrier pushes the bounds of what the accordion can

be, sometimes a bit trad or classical or jazz, toying with genre as a medium rather than

a framework, and the result is a variety of projects that all feel distinct and fearless.

Engine for the Sound is the latest such project, and, to borrow an internet colloquialism,

it absolutely slaps. Everything from the opening quasi-klaxon to the pipes on the closing title track is creative and fierce and entirely its own.

The EP began life back in 2019, a collection of themes and ideas that felt different than

what Ferrier had been working on as a solo artist. She enlisted the skills of Adam

Stapleford (drums) and Alasdair Paul (guitar) to explore the possibilities, and several

lockdowns and a few years later, the project was finally released in May of 2023. RŪNN

bandmate Callum Younger adds bodhran, and Sam Quintana (double bass), Niles

Kriger (fiddle/viola), and Jordan Aikin (bagpipes/whistle) fill out the sound.

Each of these tracks is a complete story in itself - you can listen to any one of them and

not feel like something is missing - but listening to the EP as a whole, in order, is a

must. The build from Lacuna’s yearning for collaboration and community to the

unbridled joy of performing that is Engine for the Sound is intoxicating and I heartily

recommend giving it a go.

Engine for the Sound is available on Bandcamp:

SOPHIE SCHLEICHER