Mouth Music returned in 2001 with the "Seafaring Man" album. Originally intended for Paddy Moloney's Wicklow Records, it was eventually released on Martin Swan's own Skiteesh label following the collapse of Wicklow. "Seafaring Man" featured a firm return to Gaelic traditional music and a more acoustic approach (although maintaining African rhythms and electronic dance grooves underneath the traditional instrumentation) It featured Swan on the majority of instruments, with only James Mackintosh and Michaela Rowan returning from the previous Mouth Music lineup. Other contributions were made by Ishbel MacAskill (vocals), Bohinta's Martin Furey (vocals, uillean pipes), Martyn Bennett (shehnai) and Jim Sutherland (bodhran). In an interview with World Beat Planet, Swan paid particular tribute to his "Seafaring Man" vocal collaborators, saying "I think I've now found exactly the sort of voices I'd always been searching for but had despaired of finding."