To drift downriver is to go where the current takes you, winding out towards the river’s mouth, where it meets the sea: to move from a smaller body into a greater one.
Downriver is the new album from vocalist Karen Matheson. As the lead singer of the internationally-renowned Celtic supergroup Capercaillie, Matheson has been the mouthpiece for one of the most organic and thrilling contemporary folk fusions – a textured, multi-layered take on traditional music that is accessible to today’s audiences while still resonant with the music’s ancient overtones. Yet Downriver is something different – simultaneously a departure (from the Capercaillie sound) and a return (to Matheson’s roots). Its title is a fitting one, as Downriver finds Matheson lowering her guard, trusting her instincts and her Gaelic upbringing, and going where the current takes her.
“The original plan for Downriver,” Matheson explains from her home in Glasgow, “was for an all-Gaelic album of songs I’ve known all my life.” Growing up in the small Scottish village of Taynuilt, Karen was exposed to a rich tradition of Gaelic song through her family and at local ceilidhs (music-fueled social gatherings). “The first songs I learned were in Gaelic. My mother spoke it to my grandmother – I guess so that I couldn’t understand what they were saying about me!”
“This album,” Matheson summarizes, “is about reflection. About going back to your roots. As an artist, you eventually come all the way around to where you’ve started. That’s the gift of traditional music – it’s always there for you.”

Karen Matheson:

Grace and Pride

Karan Casey:

The Winds Begin to Sing

June Tabor:

Echo of Hooves