Where the Wind Blows is Elena’s second album, which represents what she has been working on and learning about over the past few years. It’s a collection of traditional Scottish and Gaelic melodies and works written by artists including Sting and Tom Paxton. It was mainly recorded during lockdown in a shed, set up as a recording studio. Some of the musicians featured on it, like the fiddler Seonaid Aitken, also recorded their parts in a setting that was not a recording studio. The collaboration of Angus Lyon, Craig Baxter and Alex Martin really helped lift the music and inspired Elena to keep going. The project was finished despite these difficult circumstances coupled with Elena’s health issues, which were also challenging.

The music is very earthy and closely focused on specific people, places and times. Elena sees her job as a folk artist in the 21st century as carefully balancing the original intention of the source material with making it relatable and relevant for someone listening today in a totally different context.

Born in Sardinia, Elena inherited her father’s love of singing, particularly folk music, from a very early age. “I think when you begin on a path so young, it just becomes an unquestionable part of the fabric of your life and your whole being. Making music is as natural as breathing for me.” Having moved to the UK at the age of 18 Elena fell in love with Scots and Gaelic music, which she went on to learn later. Nothing compares to the authentic power of Scots, Irish and Gaelic folk and the way it transports both performer and their audience into its melodies and narrative. No other music seems to convey so vividly the beauty and hardship of a land and its people.

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