Releases > Releases September 2024

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JOHN WYNNE & JOHN MCEVOY
The Dancer At The Fair
Gael Linn, 12 Tracks, 43 Minutes
https://lnk.fuga.com/thedanceratthefair
Two seasoned players who have been making music together since the 1990s, John McEvoy (fiddle) and John Wynne (flute) provide the melodic heart here with guest musicians: John Doyle (guitar), Brian McGrath (piano), Mike McCague (bouzouki) and Pádraic Keane (bodhrán) playing a vital part in the album’s success.
The Masters Return / The Dog Among the Bushes / Johnny McGreevys No.1 - what a start, tight melody playing and a sensitive unobtrusive bouzouki backing; this sets us up for the rest of the album. Ask My Father / The Boys of Malin, the first tune is a slide played in the Connacht style, the duo transition this into a modal Boys of Malin. Again my ear picked up the filigree bouzouki counterpoint.
The title track comes in at number 4, it’s a hornpipe: fiddle and flute with piano accompaniment, some typical hornpipe runs on the second measure of the tune, which they pair with Smash the Windows. Then a tune that will sound as if it comes from an alternate tradition is The Battle of Cremona, it’s the air to the Orange song Loyal Orange Lilly Oh. Its origins are far more Jacobite, commemorating the eponymous battle of 1702 in which to quote The Fiddler’s Companion: “the hero of the battle was Count Daniel O’Mahoney, an exiled Stuart supporter originally from County Kerry.”
John Doyle leads out track 9 on guitar in the sets of jigs McPaddin’s Favourite / A Visit to Ireland with McGrath’s piano running gently under the main melody, the ensemble playing here is sensitive and stylish. The album closes with a set of Sligo-style reels Paddy Sean Nancy’s named after an uilleann piper from Doocastle and here combined with the Paddy Reynolds tune the Rakes of Drumlish, and the last tune in the selection is a long way from Sligo, it’s Connie O’Connell’s Fire on Cleanrath and townland in Cork.
We’ve been waiting 17 years for the two Johns to make another duo CD, and like its first track it was worth waiting for the masters’ return.
Seán Laffey

CONOR CALDWELL & RYAN MOLLOY
Oh, Listen to the Band!
Own Label, 11 Tracks, 44 Minutes
https://conorcaldwell.bandcamp.com/
Imagine an Art Deco movie, styled with iconic 1920s designs, such as New York’s Chrysler Building, Lalique glass and Clarice Cliff coffee sets; what Irish music would you choose as a soundtrack? No need to rack your brains, I’d recommend this album from Conor Caldwell and Ryan Molloy.
The track titles might startle a few traditional music aficionados: Yes We Have No Bananas, Colonel Bogey, and the 1928 tune Pawel Walc. The contemporary Irish Catholic church and the fledgling Irish state apparatchiks railed against the corrupting influence of jazz, but musicians and in particular, as Caldwell’s archive research has shown, the Donegal fiddler Johnny Doherty, had no qualms in incorporating the jazz into trad or was it a bit of trad into the jazz?
Caldwell and Molloy trace these crossed-roots back to archive recordings and bring us a sound that seems to come from Nipper’s iconic gramophone. It’s fun from start to finish, JD’s Rags a jaunty piano and staccato fiddle dancing a 1920’s cake walk in shiny shoes and white spats. Con Cassidy’s version of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem becoming a flapper’s frolic. The title track is a composition of Lionel Monckton and Aubrey Hopwood, here it is as louche as an afternoon of idleness with Berty Wooster.
The Irish-American dancehall dimension is deftly demonstrated by a pair of tunes: Michael Coleman’s Bonnie Kate and The Mermaid of Mullaghmore, the latter collected by Ed Reavey in Philadelphia. The album closes with Beautiful Ohio composed by Robert A. King in 1918. Conor Caldwell writes in the sleeve notes: “I fell in love with its beautiful melody from the playing of Frank Cassidy, whom Séamus Ennis thought was the greatest fiddler he had ever heard.”
Sounds from an elegant epoch, music played on acoustic instruments in a style fitting their era, send this album to Hollywood, there has to be a film to fit it.
Seán Laffey

BRENDAN MULHOLLAND
Bartins Bay
Own Label BM005, 13 Tracks, 62 Minutes
www.brendanmulholland.com
The Northern flute style has quite a pedigree - from James McMahon and John Joe Maguire to more recent stars like Frankie Kennedy and Harry Bradley - and Brendan Mulholland from Antrim is a worthy addition to the genre. This is his second solo album, and he has collaborated on a few others. Bartins Bay is a collection of traditional tunes old and new: the title reel is Brendan’s own, but the rest were learnt in the time-honoured way. Compositions by Vincent Broderick, Paddy O’Brien (Offaly), Ed Reavy and Finbarr Dwyer are joined by more recent pieces from Sharon Shannon and Mulholland’s bandmate Brendan Hendry.
Reels and jigs abound, but there are also some surprises. The opening track is based on the air My Lagan Love, as Northern as it gets. There’s a lovely slow version of The Chicago Reel, and a virtuoso take on The Japanese Hornpipe. Mulholland’s tone and musicality is prodigious on slipjigs, polkas and a lovely waltz, playing mostly concert D flute with occasional forays into Eb, Bb and C. He pays tribute to past flute greats with a medley of a hornpipe and three reels, before switching gears for a modern classical piece - a beautiful air by Neil Martin. All are played on solo flute with guitar or fretted strings backing.
The finale of Bartins Bay is back to hard core traditional, Mulholland on flute and Bríd Harper on fiddle for an unaccompanied duet, the grand old reels Fred Finn’s and Pigtown - simply stunning, what a way to end this great album.
Alex Monaghan

HOLLY GERAGHTY
Musical Musings from Mayo
Own label HGPCD01, 10 Tracks, 35 Minutes
www.hollygeraghty.com
Following on from an excellent duo album with Jonathan Roche back in 2009, this Mayo harpist offers us a solo album which combines the delicacy and dynamism of modern Irish harping. Musical Musings from Mayo splits almost evenly into faster and slower tracks: reels and jigs, airs and planxties, plus a pair of hornpipes which fall between these two tempos. Starting with a trio of reels, Holly’s deft fingerwork is evident throughout: neat triplets and rolls on The Ballina Lass precede a dramatic change of key and probably some lever adjustments for the dark brooding Martin Ansboro’s, slipping smoothly into her own composition Martin Donoghue’s to complete the set. All the music here has connections to Mayo, including eight pieces by Holly herself.
The oldtimey Charlotte’s Waltz is the first of four slower Geraghty compositions: it celebrates the birth of her daughter. Two planxties similarly celebrate important family members: Planxty William Kilkenny and Planxty Donnacha Geraghty, fine examples of this old form well suited to the harp. The slow air Doolough Valley completes the quartet: as all tracks here, it’s beautifully played on the harp, and sensitively accompanied. Quicker tunes include two fine ornithological jigs by Joe Carey, an unusual major-key version of The Frieze Breeches, and my favourite The Moleskin Breeches which was also recently recorded by Emer Mayock. It seems Mayo women have a habit of wearing the trousers, or at least a strong interest in them.
Holly Geraghty ends this fine solo debut with two reels, her own catchy number Anthony’s Trip to Florida and her grandfather’s Road to Ballindine, both great tunes which deserve to be widely known.
Alex Monaghan

ELAINE REILLY
Epiphany
Own Label, 14 Tracks, 37 Minutes www.elainereilly.bandcamp.com
Great tenor banjo music from County Longford, with influences from many of Irish music’s greatest players and composers, this debut album from a young virtuoso is a delight from start to finish. Elaine plays in a gently swung, bouncy style, which makes the most of reels, jigs and hornpipes. Everything here is traditional, reminding me of players such as Kieran Hanrahan, Christy Dunne, Mick O’Connor and Angelina Carberry among others. Epiphany occasionally harks back to the 1920s and 1930s, but more often there’s a feel of 1950s or 1960s music: the pure drop, brought right up to date without compromising a note.
Reilly’s Epiphone banjo is joined by Brian McGrath on piano and Brian Mooney on bouzouki, with a set of barndances on tenor guitar and a duet with melodeon maestro Daithí Gormley for added variety. Old favourites such as Madam Bonaparte and The Boys of Ballisodare are joined by less familiar reels Miss Lyons and Lough Mountain. Rare jigs Brackens and The Green Blanket are played with plenty of space for expression, as are The Galway Jig and The New Concert Flute. There’s pace aplenty too, as banjo and piano launch into Grandpa Tommy’s Céilí Band and the final Hughie’s Cap, one of three reels on Epiphany by the late great Ed Reavy.
Short tracks but plenty of them, and never a dull moment: this is Irish banjo at its best, and I can tell you that Elaine Reilly is just as good live as she is on this recording.
Alex Monaghan

JILL DEVLIN
Tales from the Harp
Own Label, 8 Tracks, 29 Minutes
www.jilldevlinharp.com
Jill Devlin’s new album, aptly titled Tales from the Harp, is a mesmeric listening experience, from down tempo to dance music and in-between tunes, a modern celebration of the ancient instrument, in the nimble hands of a fine player.
There is extant evidence of the existence of the harp in Ireland from the eighth century, the music of the Irish aristocracy and those descended from the first Anglo-Norman colonisation of the island and in ancient Irish literature, great tales abound of the harpers and the magical power of their music. When played as deftly as in this album, one can still hear that je ne sais quoi quality, an aural experience, produced by the harp that is maybe not as easily attained with any other instrument.
Jill Devlin’s choice of material is excellent and varied. Her competence, together with the harp’s unique adaptability to master traditional tunes, makes for a very lovely package of contemporary harping. Her version of Caisleán an Óir and The Boys of Ballisodare, masterful playing and ornamentation, elegant with skipping ease. The jigs and reels are very compelling, Monday Boy/Anthony Frawley’s/I Ne’er Shall Wean Her, great rhythm, melodic.
The Lone Slip Jig is delicate, tender, a cascading river of sounds, elegant and intricate playing. Her slow airs are dreamy, quiet, subtle, perhaps nostalgic in mood, a throwback to the earliest harpists. Eleanor Plunkett is two and a half minutes of pure delight, could be played on continuous repeat for contemplation, mind and body soothing, for well-being. That old adage about the spaces between the notes being as vital as the notes themselves applies here.
Like the harpists of old who were the only entertainers who had independent legal status and were expected to play music that evoked tears, (goltraige), to bring joy (gentraige), and to invoke sleep (súantriage), Tales from the Harp does all three and more.
Anne Marie Kennedy

SARAH BUCKLEY
Things We Leave Behind
Own Label, Single, 3 Minutes
www.sarahbuckleymusic.bandcamp.com
Sarah Buckley’s most recent single Things We Leave Behind is your quintessential love song, the heart broken to smithereens, the wondering and pondering about where it all went wrong, a list poem that processes pain with exquisite imagery, powerful lyrics and a beguiling melody.
A successful, contemporary Irish woman, with a proven track record, in the right hands this single will mark her out. She has a standout voice, great tempo and range, emotive wording, courageous, going deep inside to the pain source, spelling out and singing heartbreak. ‘Maybe if I said things differently, you wouldn’t walk away’, hard to imagine regret at such a visceral level; is she asking if there’s ever respite from regret?
Very clever use of repetition with the catchy melody, she also uses end to mid-line rhyme and flow on phrases, a great showcase for her work, underpinned with sparse guitar, the words to the fore. (Her lilting Cork accent is only evident in the slender vowels). There are several killer lines, evocative, lines that linger, ‘maybe if I sang songs sweeter, you’d still hear me’, the gut punch. Dear reader, she couldn’t possibly sing it sweeter.
Anne Marie Kennedy

EOIN GLACKIN
Shine Your Light
Beautiful Word Music Ltd, Single 3 Minutes
www.eoinglackin.com
Eoin Glackin is a young Dubliner with a growing reputation for his command of lyrics. Applauded by luminaries such as Ed Sheeran, there is no doubt that he has a gift for the craft and art of songwriting. Having supported Joan Armatrading, Damien Dempsey and The Darkness, he has the confidence to make his own music in his own style and his own space, and this he does to perfection on Shine Your Light.
His voice is light and airy, a snug fit for commercial radio. Shine Your Light has a country flavour thanks in large part to a pedal steel guitar. The message in the song is simple; we can try doing things on our own, be feisty and independent, but we are not complete as people until we let others into our lives.
Eoin says this in just over 3 minutes, in what might become a pop-folk classic of the summer. With less than a month on Spotify he’d already clocked up 32000 hits, obviously he’s getting the limelight his talent deserves.
Seán Laffey

SINA THEIL
Girl Goin’ Nowhere
Single, 3 Minutes, 57 Seconds
www.sinatheilmusic.com
Written by Ashley McBryde and Jeremy Bussey, Sina Theil’s latest song has hit the top of the Irish iTunes Chart and deservedly so. Never has a song provided a picture of a singer’s life as this does for Theil. It definitely is the ‘soundtrack of my life’ as she says herself.
Telling the story of someone setting off with their guitar but expected to return home having not made it, then announcing that, ‘where they said I’d never be is exactly where I am’. Theil makes this song her own and it’s easy listening, but you will put it on repeat again and again.
Theil took a risk flying into Ireland with only her rucksack and guitar, but she has gone on to make a huge success of her music. Her talent, enthusiasm and singing ability is endless and this song really does represent her journey. As she sings the lyrics, ‘When the lights come up, and I hear the band, and where they say I’d never be is exactly where I am’, you will smile wide.
A beautiful song carrying a delightful melody but with a message to inspire, motivate and oozing passion. Sina Theil is exactly where she deserves to be, top of the Irish iTunes chart, and she’s just finished her debut US tour too.
Gráinne McCool

NARAGONIA
20th Anniversary Concert
Trad Records TRAD033, 13 Tracks, 64 Minutes
www.naragonia.com
One of Belgium’s best known bands, Naragonia celebrate two decades of music here with a few of their friends and a live album recorded in Leuven in December 2023. Guests include Andy Cutting on button box, Gilles Chabenat on hurdy-gurdy, and a double handful of world class musicians on folk and classical instruments. Pascale Rubens and Toon Van Mierlo are the duo at the heart of this long-established group, joined by their talented children, and even with a big band line-up the music is laid back: there are a couple of up tempo dance numbers, but the ten instrumentals and three songs are mostly relaxed, chilled, a mellow mix of contemporary and traditional.
Bagpipe and trumpet, accordion and bass, sax and fiddle provide rich and ever-changing tones backed by piano, guitars, percussion and more. Calimero is a mischievous jazz Hauterbro. Gooik is a swirling Balkan dance. The Scottish Hellebore reminds me of the ancient bourrées of Auvergne, while Too Late to Sleep is more contemporary folk.
Three very different vocalists sing songs of love and loss in French, Flemish and English. All the material here was written by Rubens and Van Mierlo and it draws heavily on central European traditions and on the musical heritage of Flanders. Naragonia don’t lean much towards the Celtic sound, and they certainly don’t favour the wildness of some Flemish bands, but their music is very entertaining and easy on the ears.
Alex Monaghan