HEATHER MacISAAC
The Moon’s Daughter
CD Review by Alex Monaghan.
Own Label HMCD25
13 tracks, 48 minutes
www.heathermacisaac.com (website live from April 4th, 2025)
Bagpipe.news March 2025.
Canadian piper and multi-instrumentalist Heather MacIsaac presents her first album – all her own compositions. Big and small pipes, whistle and keys, The Moon’s Daughter includes thirty new tunes and two original songs, arranged with a little help from Mary Beth Carty on guitar and Mac Morin on piano.
Nova Scotia born, Heather learnt from John Walsh and Bruce Gandy among others, and competed in Grade 1 with the 78th Highlanders Halifax Citadel Pipe Band. She won a few competitions with the band, and as a solo piper. Now she’s concentrating on her own music, and has assembled tunes written over a decade or more, with a contemporary flair but still very much in the traditional piping idiom. Five tracks here feature the Great Highland Bagpipe, with four on whistles and three smallpipe pieces. One song showcases Heather’s piano playing, and the other mixes piano and smallpipes to great effect. The final piece is a piano and whistle duet, the moving Memories of Valerie MacIsaac for Heather’s late mother. The album title pays tribute to her father, Allan “The Moon” MacIsaac.
Heather’s music is lyrical, appealing, easy on the ear. There are reels and jigs, airs and strathspeys, many with a marked Canadian accent, all with a good beat for dancing and nothing too frantic for the listeners. The only thing missing is a tune in 7/8! It goes without saying that the MacIsaac tone and fingerwork is worthy of a Grade 1 piper. Something we don’t always hear from band players is expression and individual character: Heather has those too, for instance in the lively reel Hannah & Becca’s on pipes and the lyrical jig Big Barn Little Farm which follows it on low whistle. I particularly liked Fresca, an old fashioned reel, and the lovely Ali’s Waltz which is likely to be a session favourite.
There are too many good tunes to pick out, and the songs are also well worth a listen. Perhaps both autobiographical, the lyrics are raw and poignant over imaginative piano accompaniment which suits these songs of pain and loss. In both the songs and music I’m reminded of Nova Scotia’s Hebridean and Gaelic heritage: once again, Canada contributes its distinctive talents to Scottish culture in a modern but respectful way.
