'Songwriting is a great way to process grief'

An Isle of Man band's "very personal" second album, recorded entirely in both Manx and English, explores some of the hardest subjects in life.

Biskee Brisht, Manx Gaelic for 'broken biscuit', got together on the island in 2017 for the Arrane Son Mannin (Song for Mann) competition.

The five-piece folk band, who have performed at the International Pan Celtic Festival, had their new album Brebbal Ushtey (Treading Water), funded by Culture Vannin.

Released to celebrate the Blein ny Gaelgey (Year of the Manx Language), lead vocalist and songwriter Ruby Biscoe-Taylor said "we poured ourselves" into the album, adding "lyrically, it's very personal".

Citing the lack of money artists receive from music platforms, the band have decided not to release Brebbal Ushtey (Treading Water) on streaming services.

Biscoe-Taylor, who moved to the island aged four and plays alongisde her younger brother in the band, said the title track of the new album was about the loss of her father.

"Treading Water is about my dad's suicide... when I was a baby and that was something I didn't learn about until I was 20," she said.

In a similar vein, the last track, Oh My Knees, pays tribute to Biscoe-Taylor's grandmother, a prominent member of the Manx music scene who died in 2021.

"I wrote it after she died, thinking of her.

"I called it that because she came to one of our gigs and, as she was walking down the stairs, she said to me 'Oh my knees - you need to write me a song called that.'

"Songwriting is a great way to process grief and being a product of those things is beautiful."

She said producing tracks on the new album had been akin to "keeping a little diary".

The fully bilingual album, sold as a double-sided CD, has been translated by former broadcaster and Manx activist Bob Carswell, who in 2013 was awarded the Reih Bleeaney Vanannan trophy for services to the island's culture.

Biscoe-Taylor said: "He's the main translator for all Manx-language music on the island.

"The way he can keep the meaning and the rhyme [of Manx into English] - he's an absolute master of his craft and agreed to do it completely for the love of it."

For the band, ensuring the album is educated from the island on which it was produced is an important sentiment, helping to stub out the "cultural hangover" left by the English.

"They wiped out Manx language, dance, music and culture - it was illegal to speak it," said Biscoe-Taylor.

"My Nanna was the one who encouraged me to get Manx lessons in school.

"I was the only person in my year group to study Manx, it was almost embarrassing but that's completely shifted now," she said.

When on tour, the band tries to teach the audience a few lines of Manx so they can sing along and take home with them a piece of the island's culture.

Six years on from releasing their first album, which was funded by the Isle of Man's Arts Council, Biscoe-Taylor hopes to play their first major festival in the near future.

Brebbal Ushtey will be officially released later at Laxey Pavillion, followed by a live performance of their songs in both Manx and English.

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