Article Contributed by McGuckin Entertainment PR
Published on 2026-09-02
Scottish fiddler, vocalist and visual artist Louise Bichan announces Binnorie, her third solo album, arriving October 30, 2026, on Adhyâropa Records. Rooted in the traditional music, folklore and storytelling of her native Orkney Islands, the album brings together songs, fiddle tunes, original compositions and tales inspired by Samhain traditions, trowies, sea serpents, selkies and generations of Scottish storytelling.
Binnorie is Bichan’s third solo offering, following Out of My Own Light (Swanbister Records, 2016) and The Lost Summer (Adhyâropa Records, 2024).
The album grew out of Bichan’s live show All Hallows’ Eve, first conceived for a Halloween tour in October 2025. She is joined by her touring band—mandolinist Ethan Setiawan, guitarist Conor Hearn and cellist Brendan Hearn—as well as a remarkable group of special guests including Aoife O’Donovan, Kris Drever, Rachel Sermanni, Katie McNally, Brian Cromarty and BB Bowness.
“It’s such a pleasure to have some of my favourite musicians lend their creativity to the record,” says Bichan. “This is the second record I've made with my touring band, and it's such a joy to get together and make music.”
Louise will release singles “The Standing Stones” on September 15, “Binnorie-o” on September 29 and “Greenwood Sidie-o” on October 12.
The title track, “Binnorie-o,” features vocals from Aoife O’Donovan, while Rachel Sermanni and fellow Orcadian Kris Drever join Bichan on the Scottish murder ballad “Greenwood Sidie-o.” Brian Cromarty of Saltfishforty and The Chair duets with Bichan on the Orkney tale “The Standing Stones,” with U.S.-based New Zealander BB Bowness of Mile Twelve contributing three-finger banjo.
Bichan returned to her Scottish roots to collect material for Binnorie, bringing together music and folk tales she grew up hearing and playing alongside original compositions and traditional material that was new to her.
“I had a lot of fun pulling together a collection of music and folk tales, some I’ve grown up hearing and playing, some that I’ve written, and some which are new to me,” says Bichan.
Several recordings from the School of Scottish Studies, accessed through the online resource Tobar an Dualchais, are woven throughout the album. Most were collected by fieldworker, archivist and lecturer Alan Bruford.
“Hamars o’ Syradale” opens with a recording of Orcadian Ethel Findlater singing the first verse before the band gradually enters and Bichan takes the lead.
The album closes with Shetland storyteller George Peterson recounting a fiddler’s ill-fated encounter with the trowies, interspersed with Bichan’s narration and archival recordings of fiddle tunes played by Shetlanders Tom Anderson and Fraser Hughson, before the band launches into a lively set of Shetland trowie tunes.
Growing up in the remote but culturally rich Orkney Islands—where creativity thrives and music has long been part of the social fabric—gave Bichan a deep grounding in traditional music and storytelling. Now based in Cornish, Maine, she works across music and visual art, using both mediums to tell stories old and new.
Her music moves between Scottish traditional music, folk, Celtic and Americana, with compositions that explore connections between people, nature, history and the possibilities of the future.
Stuart Munro of The Boston Globe described Bichan’s work as “taking trad material to new places.”
Bichan’s visual art is an integral part of Binnorie. She created the album’s intricate collage artwork and photography, as well as a stop-motion animation for the “Greenwood Sidie-o” video and an elaborate crankie to accompany the tale of “Binnorie-o.”
An historic form of visual storytelling, crankies—sometimes called moving panoramas—use two cranked spools inside a frame to create a moving illustrated narrative. Bichan carved more than 20 lino-cut images and collaborated with visual artist and carpenter Mike Cox to create the crankie frame.
“I studied photography at the Glasgow School of Art, but more recently I’ve been exploring other mediums. Printmaking is something I’ve been particularly drawn to,” says Bichan. “It has been a labour of love to create, and I look forward to including it in my live shows.”
Following the success of the inaugural All Hallows’ Eve tour in 2025, Bichan and her band will return to the road this fall in celebration of Binnorie. Audiences embraced the spirit of the occasion, dressing in costume, bringing carved neeps (turnips) and pumpkins, and joining the band in song.
“We had so much fun working on this music that we decided not only to tour it again, but to record much of the material we presented and release it on this new album,” says Bichan. “We plan to make All Hallows’ Eve an annual event, for this year and for many years hereafter!”
LOUISE BICHAN’S ALL HALLOWS’ EVE 2026 TOUR DATES
October 29 — The Word Barn — Exeter, NH
October 30 — Opera House Arts — Stonington, ME
October 31 — One Longfellow Square — Portland, ME
November 1 — The Burren — Somerville, MA
November 3 — House Show — New York, NY
November 4 — The Cock N’ Bull — Galway, NY
November 5 — Zoetropolis — Lancaster, PA
November 6 — The Hill Center — Washington, DC
November 7 — Music on the Square — Baltimore, MD
November 8 — Mountain City Traditional Arts — Frostburg, MD
Tickets and information: louisebichan.co.uk
