There's a reason folk music has survived every storm humanity has thrown at it. It carries people through. And on their ninth album, Our Ship Is Ready, CARA do exactly what traditional music has always done — they look the hardest realities of our time squarely in the eye, and still see what's worth holding onto and celebrating. Emigration. Love. Loss. Climate change. These aren't easy subjects, but CARA have experience of navigating choppy waters. With a repertoire spanning their own original compositions and finely crafted arrangements of songs and tunes from the Irish and Scottish traditions, the band weave the old and the new into something that feels both timeless and relevant.

"Singing the songs and playing the music of past generations can help us to engage with the realities of modern life in a different, and sometimes deeper, way." — Gudrun Walther

Produced by Juergen Treyz at artes-Studio in Esslingen, Germany, Our Ship Is Ready also showcases an exceptional cast of collaborators — including award-winning musicians, Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne (Co. Waterford) and concertina player Susan Coleman (Co. Donegal), who bring a very special sense of pulse and colour to the album. CARA — Gudrun Walther (fiddle, accordion, vocals), Juergen Treyz (guitars, mandola, dobro, lap steel, electric bass, harmonium, rhodes, synth, vocals), Simon Pfisterer (uilleann pipes, flute, whistles) and Kim Edgar (piano, vocals) — have spent over two decades earning a reputation as one of Europe's finest folk acts, with two Irish Music Awards, a devoted international following, and critical acclaim.

Our Ship Is Ready is their most considered statement yet. It won't tell you everything will be fine. But it will remind you why it's worth trying.