Traveling Discs - My Secret is My Silence

I am not sure anyone can ever name 'the best album ever' in much the same way its impossible for some to compile a list of thier top five favourite films or songs. Instead I think it is easier and perhaps more romantic to remember a particular record or song based on where it was first heard, or an event the music is tied to, which then evokes memory every time you listen to it again giving the senses the enjoyment of listening as well as recollection. I have done this many times throughout my life and will be sharing a few of my favourites as well as why they are so special to me.

The first is as close to capturing the 'all time favourite' title as i think a record can get. I have always followed Idlewild, I remember studying for my A-Level exams when I was 18 and thier second album, 100 Broken Windows had just been released. I was mesmorized by the thrashy, yet melodic guitars and the band's unique ability to sound 'wooden' or rather natural and earthy, they could not help but remind you of their Scottish roots with every note, whether implied in sound or directed throgh lyric. Fast forward ten years and Idlewild are still going strong so when I heard that singer/writer Roddy Woomble was to release a solo album I was rather excited to say the least.

Roddy isn't really a songwriter in the traditional sense. He doesnt play a guitar or any other instrument, some say he cannot even, he appears somewhat shy on set, a calm man humbled by the acclaim he gets, when seen live a gentle thankyou after each song is said to no one in particular. Roddy is more a poet, he just happens to have an amazing musical sense and some very talanted friends. These friends join him on My Secret is My Silence and we are treated to a record far away from the hard rock and 'charming anger' of the Idlewild norm and are told stories through the traditional scottish/irish folk medium of string and wind, with idlewild guitarist Rod Jones providing subtle hints of power with electric accompnyment in a handful of tracks.

But I'm not here to write a review, go to any number of music based websites and you will be hard pushed to see anything but positive sounds coming out of the critic camp. I am here because this is one of those special records which now playes out memory as well as sound when I push the CD into my stereo. I took a few records to America with me in 2008 when i drove the appalachian trail down to Atlanta to visit a good friend. They were all copies, expected to get scratched en route, burned onto cds with no identity save for a blue marker pen and occasional scribble to represent the artist. I had planned on driving from New York to Maine, to follow the route all the way down over a week, but on approaching Vermont i noticed roadsigns to canada and seeing the chance to get another stamp in my passport, i decided to go for it.

I must have listened to other records on the journey, but, as the sun began to go down and I climbed up and down hazy hills and over old rivers, looking out for miles into green lands and fertile fileds, all I can remember is Roddy's earthy, natural voice matching the landscape so perfectly, and as i sit here now thinking about those scenes and sights, I am certain I can also hear Roddy begin the haunting introduction to 'I came in from the mountain' in the back of my mind.