Retro Album of the Week 26 - Scribbled in Chalk

I'm not sure how I discovered Karine Polwart's second studio album Scribbled in chalk. I know that it was bit by bit and well after the release date of 2006. It has been acknowledged as a fine folk album by many. It wears its folk mantle lightly and is not afraid to use orchestra, drum kit, as necessary. It is not an obviously Scots album but the Scotsness creeps in here and there (eg the reference to gallons ie daisies on Follow the heron a favourite track of mine and the Jane Haining link). I like Maybe there's a road and Daisy a lot. Wikipedia says that the album often looks at the darker side of life with tales of sex trafficking (Maybe there's a Road), the holocaust (Baleerie Baloo, which is about the missionary Jane Haining) and the uncertainties of life (Hole in the Heart). But these stories of despair are balanced by others that describe the joy of a slower life (Take Its Own Time), of hope triumphing over cynicism (Where the Smoke Blows) and the wonder of the universe (Terminal Star).