Tradition, community and the rugged ways of the island life: it all soaks into Hold Fast by Colin Macleod, his first album for SO Recordings. From the plangent, spacious Americana of the string laden opener Queen of the Highlands to his heartfelt love letter to home This Old Place, Hold Fast tells the tale of a man returning to the island where he was born after trying to make it in the world. Contrasting parts — Springsteen-style widescreen rock on The Long Road and Sleep, introspective acoustic folk on Made of Stone and 33 (one of two tracks on the album featuring Sheryl Crow) — contribute to a poignant whole. And although it may sound like a story culled from Macleod’s own experience, being a singer songwriter who indeed left his tight-knit island community in search of glory, it is a work of fiction. It just happens to be fiction embedded in truth.

“The stories in this album are a culmination of a mis-spent youth. Although the tales are fictional, there not a million miles from the truth, or from my own story, but hopefully more of a cautionary tale. What goes on in the shadows of an island? what happens when the summer light is replaced by long winters? Beautiful places often have a sorry tale to tell, but also a community to help pick you up if you fall by the roadside. This album is the story of one such journey. ” – Colin Macleod