Is it Kate Bush or Björk? No, it's Julie Fowlis

IT IS always amusing to observe London medjavolk working themselves into a tizzy at some fresh musical revelation from our mist-capped provinces. Their latest "discovery" is Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, whose fine second "solo" album, as opposed to her work with the band Dochas, comes out this month.

Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe describes her singing as "enchanting, beguiling, and fascinating as songs by Kate Bush and Björk", while the Telegraph ventures "Fowlis could be the first Scottish Gaelic crossover star in the making". One might argue that Gaelic music doesn't need to cross over; it's doing quite well enough, thank you.

The 28-year-old Fowlis agrees: "You can get very caught up in a debate on labelling and what is Gaelic music and what is folk... I know it's been said so many times before, but so far as I'm concerned there are just two kinds of music, good and bad." Her new album, cuilidh, falls unquestionably into the former category. Launched by Glasgow's Spit and Polish label at hooleys in Glasgow and North Uist, it is a mix of heart-tuggingly beautiful songs and skittish mouth music. Interestingly, in the light of that "crossover" remark, it steers clear of eclecticism, the accompaniments being sympathetic and relatively spare, though muscular when need be.

Furthermore, the songs, such as the winsome lullaby that closes the album, are notably rooted in Fowlis's North Uist calf country. "It's a living tradition," she says. "But it's very much under threat and fragile. I worry for how rich that tradition will be in a generation's time."

Fowlis, whose elfin appearance belies not only a persuasive voice but also the ability to blast out tunes on the great Highland bagpipe with Dochas, has been on a roll since she released her acclaimed debut album, Mar A Tha Mo Chride, in 2005: she was voted Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards and won the Horizons Award at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Ask her about those Björk/Bush comparisons and she laughs: "I suppose for someone who maybe doesn't know any other Gaelic singers, they're just drawing their own comparisons, so it's a very big compliment for me."

Currently embarked on a busy tour (for info, visit www.juliefowlis.com), Fowlis, whose fiancé is Éamon Doorley of the Irish band Danú, also spends much time in Ireland and is conscious of moves to encourage greater links between the two Gaeltachts. One such project is the Gaelic Arts Agency's An Leabhar Mòr, "The Great Book of Gaelic", a compilation of Irish and Scots poetry and artwork in book and exhibition form, with an accompanying CD - Na h-Òrain, "The Songs" - by the likes of Scotland's Margaret Stewart and Donnie Murdo MacLeod, and Ireland's Éilís Kennedy and Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin. As the poet Aonghas MacNeacail remarks in his notes: "This selection demonstrates not only that there are great songs in the Gaelic repertoire, but that there is great poetry in those songs."