Iona Lane

Event Details

Event type: All Ages / Licensed

Swilkie, the new album from Highlands-based songwriter Iona Lane, weaves ecology, conservation, islands and folklore into poetic songs and contemplative melodies. Written during three residencies on the Isle of Eigg, Isle of Mull and Sanday in Orkney, sense of place and landscape are at the core of these songs. From basking sharks to lighthouses, lichen to vanishing islands, curlews to tree planting; the album was recorded in a boathouse on the West Coast of Scotland and the eager listener may even hear the lapping sound of the tide murmuring through the album. Iona’s connection to places by the sea is translated through these songs with evolving vocal melodies, subtle guitar and droning shruti box. “For Iona Lane, community and music are inextricably tied to ecology and landscape, and in Swilkie, she has created an album that celebrates that link and calls for us all to recognise its importance.” - KLOF Mag (2025). Iona plays a Taran Guitar, which she has been playing since 2020 when she was awarded the Taran Guitars Young Players Bursary. 

Torus, the lead single (14/02/25), takes inspiration from the human relationship with basking sharks throughout history. The song starts in the time of folk tales, where sea monsters scare sailors and capsize boats. It’s thought that these creatures might have been misunderstood basking sharks feeding near the surface. The song moves right up into the 1960s when we culled basking sharks off our coasts, to near extinction, for the oil in their livers. In the present day basking sharks are a treasured part of our ecosystem and they are slowly making their way back to our waters. 

“Iona’s expressive singing and insightful writer’s voice are quickly cementing her presence as a key figure in modern folk. She is a fine handler of traditional repertoire and an immensely skilled guitarist, and the gorgeous natural-mythological commentaries she explores in her own songs link ancient and often unheard histories with the world we find ourselves in today.” - Nancy Kerr (2021)

"Iona Lane seems to me already to have a very strong identity and focus as an emergent young artist. I’m impressed by the quality of her songs and her performance, and the way she uses her guitar as a composing tool and accompanying instrument." - Karine Polwart (2020)

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