FolkWorld #78 07/2022

CD Reviews

HÒ-RÒ "New Moon"
Own Label, 2022

German CD Review

Article: New Moon Rising

Artist Audio

Artist Video

www.musichoro.com

It's a tried and tested formula - take a rock band line-up, add pipes and accordion and fiddle, layer on Gaelic vocals, what's not to like? Mouth Music did it, Skipinnish did it, even Beinn Lee did it. This latest version is set to be just as successful, and brings a few new elements to the mix. With some line-up changes since album number two, New Moon features fiddler/singer Hannah Macrae from Lochaber alongside Inverness singer/accordionist Calum MacPhail, fellow Invernesian guitarist Sean Cousins, and a strong backline from the isle of Lewis plus Oban piper Ally MacLean. Multiple award-winners Hò-Rò have found a sweetspot between rock and a hard place, a spot where highland tunes and songs can surf on a wave of contemporary music without being swamped, where dancers and singers can enjoy the best of Scottish culture and still feel cool about it.
Misty vocals and electronic effects introduce this album, building a magical atmosphere for the first set of tunes: Hannah's funky reel Spot On and the modern Quebec classic Fleur de Mandragore. Drums, bass and keyboards hit the right notes, quite literally, and hold a steady slow beat through Robin Laing's song Isle of Eigg. Hannah's vocals on Beinn a'Cheathaich strike a gentler tone, more folk than festival, and Tim Edey's tune Little Bird adds a bittersweet sadness on low whistle. The country ballad The Long Black Veil is deftly handled, ramping up to a cracking set of jigs and reels on accordion, keys, fiddle, pipes, and everything including the kitchen sink, culminating in Damien O'Kane's catchy Castlerock Road. A sweet rendition of Karine Polwart's Follow the Heron is swapped between Hannah and Calum, both leading strongly, with sympathetic fiddle harmonies. The fiddle kicks off Cunningham's Hut on Staffin Island for a last tune set, into a MacPhail schottische and a Colin Farrell reel, this time with two kitchen sinks. New Moon ends on another Gaelic song, unrequited love of course, a beautiful melody tugging the heartstrings. Great energy, great music, Hò-Rò have crafted an emotional rollercoaster set on Scotland's stunning west coast - not to be missed.
© Alex Monaghan


Seonaid Aitken Ensemble "Chasing Sakura"
Own Label, 2022

German CD Review

Artist Audio

www.seonaidaitken.com

It's cherry blossom time here right now - our tree exploded this weekend, in a good way. We are watching the blossom open fully, coating every branch before it slowly starts to wilt and eventually blows away in streams of pink and white. Listening to Chasing Sakura with this picture in front of me, I can really appreciate what Seonaid Aitken's music is evoking. Awakening describes the bursting open of blossom amongst eager insects, and the title track follows the tide of emerging blooms across the busy city. Beauty & Wonder pauses to admire nature's miracle, replacing frantic strings and sax with a sweeter, more soothing sound led by Patsy Reid's viola. The ensemble settles down for a picnic on Hanami, an upbeat celebration of spring underpinned by Alice Allen's lively cello. The party atmosphere builds to a joyous conclusion with a full string sound and the return of Helen Kay's tenor sax.
Spring Song is a sultry jazz exploration, plucked strings providing the ground for Kay and Aitken to improvise on sax and vocals, maybe a relaxing evening with the blossom's perfume weighing heavy, maybe a slow start the following morning. Either way, The Walk raises the tempo for a demanding day of work, exercise, hustle and bustle, thirties swing and complex rhythms representing the challenges to be overcome. The wind of change blows through Sakura Snowstorm, and not just on Helen's flute - there are flurries of notes on violins from Seonaid and her fellow fiddler Katrina Lee, birdsong in the background while gusts batter the fragile blossom. Impermanence brings the deep notes of Emma Smith's bass to mark the footsteps of time, the tick-tock and pendulum swings of another year, strands blurring like a fast-forward film as the seasons pass until another spring, another Rebirth. The slowly ascending string lines mimic new shoots reaching for warmth and light, the gradual stirring of soil and sap, and a second sudden flowering of the cherry trees. Chasing Sakura ends with a shortened celebration, a brief reminder of the joy of spring, a promise of another season bursting with life. Folk, jazz, classical, it's all grist to Seonaid Aitken's musical mill in creating this strikingly vivid album.
© Alex Monaghan


Lewis Wood "Footwork"
Grimdon Records, 2022

Artist Audio

www.lewiswoodmusic.co.uk

An intriguing concept, and a great reason to write new tunes - fiddler Lewis Wood (Granny's Attic, Gentile & Wood, The Flying Dishrags) took a notion to investigate the various forms of English stepdancing, from Devon to Durham, writing new music for performers of each style and recording the tunes and steps on this album. It works really well, almost without exception, although it would have been lovely to see the dancers too - perhaps there will be a video version in due course. Partly because of COVID restrictions, it seems the music was recorded first and then the dancers performed to it, which as any dance musician knows is not the ideal way to play for dancing, but it's a tribute to the versatility of these dancers that the steps generally keep excellent time with the tunes.
Lewis Wood researched the different styles beforehand - not always easy as material on the more southerly traditions is scant and patchy - and then wrote suitable pieces. It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with English stepdance that there are a lot of hornpipes here - half the album in fact, in various styles and tempos. The rest is polkas, jigs, and a rather nice pair of clog waltzes with a distinctly Scandinavian character. Most of Mr Wood's compositions slot right into the English or Northern European repertoire - board-tickling or bal folk - from the funky Appreciated Violin to the fenland Pakefield Polka, the blunt Lakeland hornpipe Kick Down the Door or the jaunty Devonian Trip to Middleton. I'm not sure if this title immortalises a visit to Milton Keynes, or if the following Three Men on a Pink Stool is a nod to a Métis classic from Western Canada, but Lewis has fine taste in tune names: my favourite is Soup of the Night which conjures up a Pratchettesque vision of Sergeant Colon supping slumpie from an old tin mug while some unspeakable horror (perhaps Nobby Nobbs) looms out of the Ankh Morpork mist behind him. But I digress. Footwork has the stamp of quality folk music, and expansive notes to boot, a real step forward for these English traditions.
© Alex Monaghan


Roo Geddes & Neil Sutcliffe "Homelands"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.rooandneil.com

Far from your average accordion and fiddle album, Homelands adds several layers of innovation to Scottish music in the shape of new compositions, avant garde compositions, and neoclassical arrangements. Both highly trained musicians, with backgrounds in jazz and classical music as well as Scottish tradition, Roo and Neil produce densely-filled musical canvases and minimalist compositions, tuneful dance music and atonal descriptive pieces, all on just two instruments. Geddes' fiddle is a standard model which has been in his family for five generations - its tone is sweet and rounded, not too bright or brash. Sutcliffe plays a modern piano box with a bass switch between the ceilidh-band Stradella system and the free basses favoured by clasical musicians. Together this pair cover birdsong and bardic poetry, mechanical noises and mood music, as well as a number of their own reels, jigs, airs and improvisations.
Take the final Hartys for instance. Starting with a little swing breakdown, it switches between three and four beats in a Balkan style and then settles into Tin Pan Alley jazz with Neil providing the horn section while Roo's fiddle makes like a clarinet. But that's only the first half: things get slow and sepulchral, organ notes and church mice, before a touch of Vivaldi on the violin brings us back into sunlight and a concluding country air. This is preceded by four other pieces varying from the railway rhythms of Metro Madness to the rugged vistas conjured by Mountains. Five shorter tracks, just under twelve minutes in total, make up the Kelvin suite which follows the eponymous river down from the peaks to the lowlands, winding into the city of Glasgow and finally joining its big sister the Clyde: bubbling, skipping, rushing, winding and growing, until like the man who floated down it on a rubber ring during COVID it flows magnificently into open water in Partick. Ever changing, full of surprises, superbly executed, Homelands is a fiddle feast, a box banquet, a Scottish smörgåsbord of new music.
© Alex Monaghan


Ånon Egeland "II"
Taragot, 2022

Artist Audio

Distinctly Norwegian music from a master fiddler who also plays jaw harp with an intricate melodic technique, this is Ånon Egeland's second solo album as you may have gathered from the title. He has collaborated with other musicians on previous recordings, but here he plays his own music - or at least his own tradition and style. From the southern tip of Norway, Egeland offers us dance music and virtuoso solos, always with a firm beat and the rich resonances of Hardanger fiddle or jaw harp, or standard fiddle at times. Ten different instruments are used on this recording, always in solo mode. Three tracks feature jaw harp, the rest are fiddle - hallings, polkas, waltzes, reels, reinlenders and more.
This recording really made my spine tingle - the interplay of fiddle strings, the insistent beat, the almost alien harmonics of the jaw harp. Every piece is both part of the tradition and an original expression, like a new shoot from an old tree, drawing on deep roots to spread new vibrant life. Lars Feiar takes an ancient form and fills it with fresh energy. Kjersti Stranna could be a contemporary melody from anywhere across Europe, but the solid fiddle harmonies mark it as old Scandinavian music. Egeland puts his own stamp on Ril etter Knut Ramleth, a piece played with double stops throughout and exquisite technique on the melody line. Springpols is quite a well known tune which Egeland interprets with drive and imagination. The three pieces on jaw harp are phenomenal, such control and expression from so simple an instrument - actually three different instruments, showing Ånon Egeland's extraordinary versatility. The ancient notes of Sølvfakse close out an intense and impressive collection.
© Alex Monaghan


Tom Moore & Archie Moss "Spectres"
Slow Worm Records, 2020

Artist Audio

www.tommoorearchiemoss.com

A second record from this English duo, Spectres fell foul of the pandemic in 2020 and was not much talked about during lockdown - partly perhaps because it is a real departure from the pretty traditional material on Laguna or on previous trio CDs from Moore, Moss and Rutter. This collection shows the same intensity of arrangements, the same creative exploration of rhythms and harmonies, without the easy pigeon-holing of pieces as folk dance forms. No reels, no jigs, no polkas or schottisches or waltzes are explicitly identified or obviously transferrable to session playing. Moss and Moore's trademark control and compositional brilliance on viola and accordion are applied in a more abstract way, to build visions rather than dances: the tumbleweed motifs of Gusts cycling through a sparse soundscape, the irregular beats of Pop One falling into a sequence of unconnected passers-by, the repeated phases of Giga like an improvised dance with its changing tempo and structure. Everything is overlaid with electronica, presenting this music through a grimy squared lens to give a very different view of folk music. Pigeon City strips the vision back to a dreamscape, slowed-down and empty save for silent wingbeats under an urban bridge. Green Belt is more bucolic, the Shire seen from a cart perhaps, slow progress through a wide landscape. The jauntier 5/4 of Windmill Hill injects a more familiar folky theme, Old Mole meets Miles Davis, before the final creaking windswept Balbis shuts this album down like a line of rusting reed robots. Spectres is intriguing, unexpected, unique and visceral - I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. What do you think?
© Alex Monaghan


Odia "Prize Fighter"
Jamhut Records, 2022

Artist Audio

www.odia-music.com

One of the things I like about Odia - one of many - is their ability to sit at the intersection of folk, world, rock and classical music and to stitch them together, to weave something new: not just a fusion but a blend, a harmonious creation. The different styles may ebb and flow - more Moghul India on Into the Light for instance, more contemporary Glasgow rock on the title track, a strong Celtic vibe for The Bothaneers - but the hands on the tiller are the same, steering this ship of sound on a steady course. There's electronica and jazz - or at least gypsy fiddle and flamenco. There are gentler moments too, particularly on Phaelon and Meilleurs Jours but also in Papillon and The Priory. Vocals are used sparsely and well, as are traditional themes on flute, fiddle and Irish pipes. It all fits.
A debut album from a group who have never met in person is a new but not unexpected phenomenon. Locking millions of musicians in their homes with nothing but a social media contact list, a fast internet connection and a head full of music has produced some good things from the tragedies and turmoil of 2020. Glasgow drummer and album producer Stuart Spence, French violinist Perrine Missemer, and Malaysian woodwind man Faliq Auri got it together virtually, with the aid of modern technology and the tempered metal voice of Fiona McNeil. Each track combines old and new components into an original composition, mostly with a driving drum dance rhythm four-square behind it, but there's enough variety here to keep the listener interested, and there's an identifiable Odia character marking Prize Fighter as a coherent whole, a fresh face, a creative force to be reckoned with.
© Alex Monaghan


The Wise Monkeys "This Is Our Record"
Anglo Centric, 2022

www.jccarroll.com

Fiddle and mandolin, accordion and drums, South London folk rock with a Louisiana twist - The Wise Monkeys are good fun, a good dance band, so let the good times roll! Granted it's more Croyjun than Cajun, but this album is honest and unpretentious, eclectic and engaging. Vive Le Rock written by box-player JC Carroll tells the story of his fall from suburban pub bands to zydeco busker, while This Is Our Record demonstrates his slow climb back to Creole crooning in Cricklewood. Joli Blonde has seen better days, but I quite like this sleazy Franglais version with the mandolin doubling as a triangle for a Cajun dancehall classic. The old Italian egg-slicer comes into its own on Nashville Blues, a bit of bluegrass layered over the jailhouse rock, and both mandolin (Steve Grocott) and fiddle (Elliet Mackrel) strut their stuff for the 1950s Mardi Gras murder ballad Iko Iko. Nick Cash completes the quartet on drums. I can only assume these are real names.
A philosphical cakewalk, three jigs and Uncle Joe confirming the connection between Ireland and the West Indies, and an elegy for Lea Valley bring us to a tasty slide guitar version of the bluegrass bloodbath In the Pines, one of Bill Monroe and delta blues legend Lead Belly's most miserable songs. The mood doesn't really lighten for the tale of Sam Hall, condemned chimney sweep and violent burglar, or the subtly titled Gallows Pole telling one of several heart-warming Wild West tales of relatives hurrying to watch the hanging of their nearest and dearest. It's oddly satisfying to hear this material sung in the accents of Michael Caine, and I'm guessing our yankee cousins would love it! The Wise Monkeys wrap up with another American favourite, Westphalia Waltz, apparently named for the city in Missouri rather than the popular VW camper van conversion. Either way, JC Carroll and friends put a pleasing Pennsylvania Dutch sheen on this country standard with German accordion, Italian mandolin, and Appalachian fiddle over guitar, bass and drums - a graceful and delicate finale to a whole bag of fun on This Is Our Record.
© Alex Monaghan


Åsmund Reistad "89% Folkemusikk"
Own Label, 2021

www.reistadfolk.wordpress.com

World famous in the Norwegian folk community, guitarist Åsmund Reistad has taken his time in producing a solo album - thirty years approximately - although he has featured as accompanist and soloist in many bands and recordings. 89% Folkemusikk is just that - guitar, bass and mandola weaving shiny new gold around well-polished folk themes, fixing treasures from the Norwegian tradition in fresh settings. Dance rhythms for pols and gangar, down and dirty dreadnought guitar lines, dreamy new-age musings on Drømmefangeren, the modern mayhem of Birk and the smoothly crooked calm of Oslogryta combine in comfortable yet creative forms. Plunder adds a touch of humour with an attractive folky melody which is not typically Nordic but not entirely alien either. The Louisiana blues of Luringen leans toward country, until Rykkinnbussen brings us back to backwoods polkas. The final Andungen captures the charm, innocence and raw experience of rural life, ending a collection which presents Åsmund Reistad as a rounded performer. The music on 89% Folkemusikk may ruffle a few feathers in the folk world, but it is certainly no ugly duckling.
© Alex Monaghan


Benedicte Maurseth "Hárr"
Hubro, 2022

Artist Audio

www.maurseth.net

A blend of traditional and contemporary music with natural and man-made ambient recordings, this album paints a sound picture of a time and a place, a culture and a context. Hárr is eco-trad if you will, both describing and contributing to rural life in southwestern Norway. Hardanger fiddler and composer Benedicte Maurseth has written and collaborated with other Norwegian musicians to produce a dramatic and evocative collection. At times it isn't clear where the music ends and the natural sounds begin: the reindeer bells on Reinsdyrbjøller, the cries of carrion birds on Hreinn, are inextricably mixed with acoustic and electronic music. Traditional fiddle motifs are strong on Heilo, Eidfyrder, the rhythmic dance-based title track, and the final Snø over Sysendalen. Elsewhere, field recordings of running water, of buzzing insects, and of conversations between herders and hunters are dominant over a musical backdrop. Maurseth's fiddle blends with bass and percussion, sax and harmonica, vibraphone and langeleik or Norwegian mountain dulcimer. A beautiful and satisfying release, Hárr has a spirituality and intensity which reminds me of other remote places: the Saami herding songs, the temple music of Tibet, the rhythmic resonances of gamelan and marimba. Close your eyes and breathe deeply of these extraordinary sounds.
© Alex Monaghan


Casey Murray & Molly Tucker "After the Sky Weeps"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.caseyandmolly.com

I first saw these two young Boston musicians in a Club Passim fundraiser concert during lockdown, and even among larger groups and more experienced performers they stood out - assured, engaging, and super creative. This debut recording, part funded by Club Passim, confirms all that and more. Spanning Old Time, New England and Old Country styles from Scotland, Ireland and England, as well as introducing ten of their own tunes, After the Sky Weeps has Tucker on fiddle and Murray on cello, guitar and banjo, together with a bit of backing from the redoubtable Jenna Moynihan (fiddle and harmonium) and Yann Falquet (guitar).
There is an element of Fraser & Haas or Cassel & Block in this music - the jointly-written opener Wilbur's March and Molly's joyful Cottonwoods could certainly come from those stables - but the Old Time force is also strong with this pair. First Parking Ticket seems an unlikely name for an Appalachian banjo tune, and its segue into the 1651 Playford hit Newcastle is even more of a surprise, yet Casey and Molly make light work of the combination. Turtle in the Grass, a peculiarly North American phenomenon, kicks off a lively pair of modern New England reels followed by a grand old Shetland fiddle tune. Eugenia's Waltz by Bob McQuillen, a prolific composer of contra dance tunes, starts a slower section with the deep cello resonances of Casey's Caribou Party morphing gradually into a fiddle and banjo promenade, and the lazy summer mood of Cottonwoods keeping the tempo low.
The swing and drawl of Old Time fiddle persist into Sweat Machine and Tomato Trails, upbeat and jazzy with a crisp finish. Still Together breaks out of Americana rhythms with a gentle jig, a nod to Ireland before settling back to the unhurried stroll of Sweet Lights. The title track is another Murray masterpiece, measured yet positive, with layers of strings and harmonium. Murmurations ends a run of eight originals with a country vibe, so much so that I expected someone to burst into song: the melody is catchy, familiar, warm and comfortable, slipping nicely into the final Road to Glountane for a full-on Irish fiddle reel finale with a couple of stateside quirks. The whole experience is outstanding, especially for such fresh faces: Casey and Molly deserve your attention, and this album should take them far beyond Boston.
© Alex Monaghan


Dermot Byrne & Yvonne Casey "As We Feel It"
Own Label, 2021

www.dermotandyvonnemusic.com

Clare and Donegal, two great traditions combined, unusually by a Donegal box-player and a Clare fiddler rather than the other way round. Both players have made names for themselves individually, and they combine their talents in an intimate performance of music full of heart and soul. All the tunes here are composed by one or other, a double handful each, some fitting straight into the Irish repertoire and some surprises too. Cití's Dance is a classic Donegal waltz, while The Yellow Gem skips octaves in a striking display of virtuosity. Dermot's reels Tribute to Finbarr and Joe and The Milbrae Rose are instantly familiar, absorbed and absorbing. Yvonne's lovely Tracin' Jig slips easily into her classical-tinged solo reel The Sparkling Well which reminds me equally of Pachelbel and McGlinchey.
A rake of jigs on solo box and box-fiddle duet lead to PK's March, almost oldtime by Byrne, and his grand highland Freewheelin' with its Scots accents. The final two tracks are again surprisingly familiar - The Road to Bunglas leads exactly where you'd expect both musically and geographically, while the final Casey air Cnoc na Rí goes straight to the heart, a moving end to a fine recording. There's nothing here but box and fiddle, and nothing more needed. The music on As We Feel It would stand proudly alongside any other duo album, and will doubtless feature on several recordings in future. There are imperfections, but not many - and we all have those in any case. Few of us can boast the creativity, the passion, the contribution to Irish music which this album embodies.
© Alex Monaghan


Edén Östersjö "Wind, Water, Strings, Bow"
Taragot Sounds, 2022

Artist Audio

www.matseden.se

An improvisation on a Swedish lakeside in August, this album by eclectic guitarist Stefan Östersjö and fiddler Mats Edén combines natural sounds, naturally-driven sounds, and deliberate musical sounds in a shifting and unpredictable sequence. Stefan's guitar strings are extended to provide a web for the wind to blow through, like an Aeolian harp, making music governed by the whims of the Zephyrs. Mats plays fiddle and Hardanger fiddle, with strings again affected by the rush of air and the environmental resonances. Both musicians add to these eco-sounds with their own skills, fingers and bow contributing fragments of melody and other noises, but never an identifiable tune. Behind it all are the sounds of wind and water, the unique voice of a place in time, all recorded and reproduced to create an hour of remarkable listening. Mostly very gentle, with moments of higher energy, this CD works as background but can also grab the attention, mimicking birdsong or animal noises, even conjuring the sounds of a city in this tranquil setting. Intriguing and evocative, ever changing and regenerating, this acoustic experiment by Edén and Östersjö has produced very interesting results.
© Alex Monaghan


Fraya Thomsen "Release"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.frayathomsen.com

A mixture of harp pieces, heartfelt outpourings and homespun philosophy, Release is well named. Celebrating the end of lockdown, expressing the frustrations and the learnings from a challenging time, this album works on many levels: as a collection of new compositions, as a performance full of energy and emotion, and as a cathartic cry in the wilderness for anyone who wants to join in!
Yes, we are all individuals - but we are all connected. People are people.
Yes, we have all been lied to, and that's not changing any time soon. Be careful what you vote for!
If you're feeling powerless, that may be because the world is run for profit and not for people. Think about that, and maybe try to change it. In the meantime, enjoy the music - funky brass and box on the swaggering Bob Burt's, liquid harp and vocals combining For the Water Protectors, a silvery strathspey for Marie Louise Napier and a bouncy reel for Patsy Seddon. The title track is a complex rhythmic jig, powerful solo harp dominating this piece. There's more - flute, accordion, cello, bass and drums enhancing the harp and vocals. If you enjoy this varied Release, you might also try the EP Phrenetikos - or the music of The Duplets, Fraya Thomsen's duo with Gillian Fleetwood.
© Alex Monaghan


Jagd, Bugge, Beck "Jagdselskabet"
GO Danish Folk, 2022

www.kristianbugge.com

Fiddlers Steen Jagd Andersen and Kristian Bugge are joined by pianist Malene Daniels Beck in this innovative trio. All three are well known in Denmark and beyond, individually and in bands such as Ballast, Instinct, and Habadekuk. Here they use their phenomenal knowledge of Danish dance music to enhance and extend the tradition - playing dozens of new compositions by Steen, an unusual thing in Denmark, with arrangements that are great fun and highly entertaining for dancers and listeners alike. Polkas and schottisches, waltzes and quadrilles, hopsas and bridal marches - Jagdselskabet has all the makings of a Danish dance party.
No. 1 is a fairly traditional polka, Afrikaneren throws exotic rhythms into an attractive waltz, and Salonskottisch gets frisky with its missed beats and muscular bowing. A stately engelsk, a frantic hopsa, the hornpipe-like Tamm Skottish and the delicate hymnal Elegi are beautifully played on twin fiddles with flexible piano accompaniment filling out both harmonies and rhythm. Ulla Berg Kvadrille with its stately almost classical phrasing contrasts perfectly with the raucous wild notes of Den Gale Hane, fiddles screaming their excitement aloud. Malene opens Trek in Jerry Lee Lewis mode, setting the scene for a fiddle tune that reminds me of a Cape Breton square dance. Valbypolka is one of a few pieces with a hint of ragtime. And then there's Mr Peanut, the big finish, crammed with emotion and gorgeous rich tones. So much to enjoy here, Jagdselskabet is a rare gem of Danish folk.
© Alex Monaghan


Rain of Animals "Nali's World"
Own Label, 2021

Artist Audio

www.rainofanimals.com

This duo turned my world upside down - but they are Australian so perhaps that's not so surprising. Nevertheless, I was blown away by the skill, the creativity, and the variety on Nali's World. Its core is kinda oldtime, but the first few tracks range from Baroque to backwoods, swing to Sergei Prokofiev. If herring started falling from the sky I wouldn't be any more surprised. The country anthem Sandy's Waltz sits comfortably between examples of fiddle, guitar and mandolin mastery which would please purists in jazz and bluegrass circles. Comparisons with Dirk Powell, Peter Ostroushko, Hawktail or Trolska Polska don't seem out of place as straight string-band pieces such as Chipotle Jam morph into the Western weirdness of From Hense Forth and Maria. A touch of Blarney creeps into the jig Pinecone Point, without losing the feel of Americana. Lil Demon is a simply wonderful cross between oldtime and oldworld polka, one I have to learn. The finale Feathertop is delicate and beautiful, sweeping fiddle and subtle mandolin over a solid guitar rhythm, building to one of those railroad reels where you expect to hear a train whistle or a squeal of brakes, then pulling slowly into the station, the end of an exciting and fulfilling musical journey. Try Rain of Animals - you'll love them - and spread the word!
© Alex Monaghan


Startijenn "Talm Ur Galon"
Paker Prod, 2021

Artist Video

www.startijenn.bzh

From Brittany with love - and energy of course, and flair, and great imagination - Talm Ur Galon means something like "Heartbeat", pumping the lifeblood of Breton music, and conveying a wide range of emotions. With a front line of Breton and Irish pipes, bombarde and button accordion, and a powerful rhythm section of guitar, bass and drums, Startijenn play three songs and seven instrumentals here. Beginning with the title track, a psychedelic folk-rock rant against opression and living death, the tension starts high and is maintained through jazzy reels, chilling airs and dramatic vocal tracks. Youenn Roue's singing is more a cross between chant and shout, rap and rage, as he laments the decay of Brittany's towns and villages, or pleads with his people to dance, to celebrate their language and culture. (The songs are in Breton, but luckily for me the sleevenotes give the words in both Breton and French.) It's hard to resist the temptation to dance to the the driving jig set Backpaker, or to the swirling waltz Typhaine. Other tracks are a little more laid back - Dor an Ifern or Lady L - allowing time to appreciate the interplay of cane and steel reeds, the delicate fingering on chanters and chromatic buttons, and even the occasional bass guitar solo. The rhythm section starts what is effectively the last track, a swaggering reel featuring bombarde and biniou kozh alongside the button box of Tangi Le Gall-Carré (who has a very nice solo album out by the way), building to a big rock-band conclusion. After a pause of one minute, there is a shortened reprise of Skilfou an Noz, repeating the call to dance, to exercise the unique heritage of Brittany in words and music, to keep the Breton cultural heart beating. So say we all.
© Alex Monaghan


Jocelyn Pettit "Wind Rose"
Own label, 2022

German CD Review

Artist Video

www.jocelynpettit.com

From the Pacific coast of Canada, fiddler and singer Jocelyn Pettit celebrates her Celtic, North American and Malaysian heritage with this third solo album. After a few years in Glasgow exploring Scottish fiddle and step-dancing styles, Jocelyn draws on a transatlantic pallet of players and material as well as bringing many of her own compositions to this highly varied and entertaining CD. The opening track is a contemporary fiddle reel which could come from Beauly or British Columbia - or even Baddeck at a push - but is actually a Pettit original combining many influences, and adding the skills of Adam Dobres, Erik Musseau, Boris Favre and Lauri Lyster for a full band sound. Migrations merges a wedding tune by Orkney fiddler Jeana Leslie with another of Jocelyn's own, and extends the band with Pettit family members on piano and bodhrán.
Ready for the Storm is the first of three songs, two in English and one in French, tunefully delivered and tastily arranged by Ms Pettit. Her voice is strong and clear, perhaps without the roughness for this Dougie Maclean song, but very well suited to Kate McGarrigle's French Canadian Cheminant à la Ville and Loreena McKennitt's Never-Ending Road. The wry After the Storm is next up, benefiting from the Glasgow backing crew of Chris Gray, Ali Hutton and Martin O'Neill, and the Scottish thread continues with great takes on big tunes by Dan R, Bobby MacLeod and Phil Cunningham for the Kitchen Ceilidh medley. Cellist Ellen Gira joins the party for the dark Celtic-Balkan Silk and Spice and the glowing Royal Gala Waltz, written not for the jewel of the Scottish Borders but for the Okanagan Valley in the south east corner of British Columbia. Ireland gets a nod on Winding Roots with an Ed Reavy reel folowed by one of Jocelyn's own with a Quebec flavour, and the Celts are to the fore again in the Charles Grant classic air Mrs Jamieson's Favourite followed by Dan R's strathspey Lime Hill and a pair of driving traditional reels. Wind Rose ends on two fine new jigs, emphasising the poise and precision of this accomplished young fiddler: an impressive climax to a captivating album. Incidentally, the cover artwork by Audrey Thizy is also very pretty.
© Alex Monaghan


Kyle Warren "Relentless"
Greentrax Recordings, 2022

Artist Video

www.kylewarrenbagpipes.com

It's been a while since this young Scottish piper released his debut album Wanted, and the time he spent in Australia was purely coincidental - but Kyle has been busy. As well as winning a few world championships with Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Belfast, and leading the Ozzie champions Hawthorn Pipe Band, Kyle has been at the heart of bagrock babes the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and has also been composing a lot of his own music, much of which appears on this second solo CD.
Relentless is thoroughly modern piping - the highland pipes are combined with pretty much everything you can poke a drone at, there are intros and outros, there's a piece in 7/8 of course, and a poem, and a bunch of electronic samples - but on this album it all works, and I don't think even the traditionalists will have a problem with most of the material here. Technically and musically Kyle Warren's playing is world class, with a backing band to match.
There's a reflective section which divides this CD into two halves, a pair of tracks with little or no piping, gentle guitar pieces by Stevie Lawrence and Stuart Irvine, and there's the beautiful air Rjukan with piano from Craig Muirhead - oh and that poem - but most of this recording is piping-led, high energy music by Warren, reels and jigs, thumping good tunes. Let your hair down, pull your kilt up, and swing your sporran to Relentless!
© Alex Monaghan


Calum Iain MacCorqudale "About Time"
Own Label, 2022

An album of dance music from the north west of Scotland, About Time is authentic local ceilidh culture from accordionist and fiddler Calum Iain MacCorqudale, with his daughter Alison on electronic pipes, Runrig's Malcolm Jones and Alex MacDonald on back-up accordions, and drums from Hamish Mackenzie and Paul MacLean. Calum Iain's music is one of the high points of North Uist, whether for listening or for dancing: this collection presents jigs, reels, hornpipes, schottisches, and a wide range of pipe marches, plus of course the enchanting Gaelic waltzes and slow airs for which the Outer Hebrides are justly famous. Another very interesting feature of this CD is the two tracks of tunes explicitly for step-dancing: as the cognoscenti will be aware, step-dancing in the islands died out around the end of the 19th century but it was fortuitously taken to Nova Scotia by the exiled and emigrant islanders in the 1700s and 1800s: towards the end of the 20th century, a few Scottish and Cape Breton musicians successfully re-introduced this tradition to Uist and it has since become a very popular traditional dance form throughout Scotland.
The music played for step-dancing here is very much in the Cape Breton style, strathspeys and reels, the one morphing into the other. Classics such as Devil in the Kitchen and Mrs MacLeod of Raasay are supplemented by the distinctive Cape Breton mouth music piece Ciamar a' Nì Mi 'n Dannsa Dìreach. Other tracks which stand out for me are Calum Iain's two waltzes, Lottie's Tune and Dougie's Waltz, very much in the Hebridean style, plus two sets of jigs starting with the piping favourites Donella Beaton and Wee Todd, and hornpipes including Pipe Major Donald MacLeod's fine tribute to Duncan Johnstone and his iconic Crossing the Minch known in Cape Breton as MacNab's. A COVID silver lining perhaps, as Calum Iain MacCorqudale makes his recording debut aged 72 - in these days of digital media and portable recording studios, it is indeed About Time that more of Scotland's outstanding local musicians are recorded while they are still playing at this level. Thankfully we can all now enjoy Calum Iain's music, crisp and lively, a great testament to the strength of traditional music in the remoter parts of Gaeldom.
© Alex Monaghan


The Olllam "Elllegy"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.theolllam.com

Neo Acoustic Celtic Post Rock might not be where you think your head is at, but give this album a chance - it will surprise you. The triple LLL rating is more than justified: this trio treads a path beyond what most of us are used to, starting where Lúnasa and Deiseal and At First Light left off, and heading down a road where few have led but many will follow. Elllegy is their second album, after quite a hiatus and numerous other projects. Piper, whistler and guitarist Tyler Duncan, piper and whistler John McSherry, and percussionist Michael Shimmin are all in great demand with other line-ups, but when they sit together as a threesome they create a musical vortex which seems to summon powers from beyond the perception of mere mortals. I'm not saying The Olllam commands magical or demonic powers: but if I happened to have such powers, this is the sort of music I'd want to create.
Irish pipes and whistles certainly conjure a mood of pan-Celtic tradition, but this is overlaid and interspersed with other musical textures. The addition of electric bass and Rhodes piano in particular brings elements of jazz and soul, recalling James Brown and even the movie The Commitments. Synthesiser effects introduce the 5/4 Celtic funk of Lllow the Sun, two stereo-separated low whistles playing as one. An Exillle’s Dream applies the same principle to a 3/4 march, catchy and compelling, followed by the driving beat of the modern reel Stream of Silllver, an irresistible invitation to dance, topped off by electric guitar and keyboards, underpinned by bass and drums. The Burialll Stone adds a sombre tone, warlike drums behind the weeping lamention of the uilleann pipes and a funereal organ melody. Pipes and whistles combine on With Pure Crystalll Teeth to produce a sound more akin to a Galician fiesta, joyous with a strong dance beat.
Each of these pieces is long - seven minutes or more - layered in complex arrangements: the soundscape is lush and ever-changing. After a brief interlude, the two final tracks share a more relaxed groove, still with that strong beat at times, but more languid. The Arrows that Murder Sllleep sounds like night in the big city, reminding me of Lucy's Reels by McGoldrick. A Grey Eye Lllooks Back is more reflective, rippling guitar over a subtle keyboard line, slow jig rhythm on whistle and pipes strolling thoughtfully to the end of the road, picking up energy, and then one final glance over the shoulder. The whole album oozes excitement, dark intensity, tension released gradually but still building as the music swells and subsides but never quite ends, never quite ends. Elllegy will stay with you long after its time is up.
© Alex Monaghan


Rory Matheson & Graham Rorie "We Have Won the Land"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.grahamrorie.com

A rousing march, a gentle jig, an old Gaelic song, a pair of punchy modern reels, an ominous strathspey and a driving slipjig make up the first half of this mostly original album. A delicate fiddle air, another old Gaelic melody, a celebratory dance, a relaxed stravaiging tune, and a final strathspey and reel medley complete a very attractive collection of music. We have Won the Land can be enjoyed on that level, or you can dig into the backstory: the first Scottish community land buyout of recent times, by the Assynt Crofters Association in 1993. Their success has inspired successful community projects from Eriskay to Edinburgh, Cairngaan to Comrie, and driven land reform in Scotland over the past thirty years.
Keyboard wizard Rory Matheson comes from the North Lochinver area where this historic victory occurred, and his family was closely involved. The track names here - The Whitbread Case, The First Bid, The Second Bid, The Winning Bid - tell the tale of a legal battle to establish Scottish land rights whose repercussions are still working their way through the social and political establishment. Orcadian fiddle and mandolin virtuoso Graham Rorie hails from another of the many areas of Scotland where feudal land ownership is still the norm, making improvements to living conditions difficult to achieve. Together, Matheson and Rorie have been inspired to create over a dozen pieces of music, and to ask the key question for crofters across Scotland: Who Possesses This Land?
With assistance from their bandmates Craig Baxter and Tiernan Courell on bodhran and flutes, Kristan Harvey on fiddle, Anna Massie on guitar, Fraser Stone on percussion, Charlie Stewart on bass and James Graham fronting the two vocal numbers, Graham and Rory have produced a very contemporary and yet firmly rooted recording, presenting a consistent sound which conveys this story with clarity and feeling. A dramatic event, and a satisfying album: it's great to have such fine music to mark the happy ending of We Have Won the Land.
© Alex Monaghan


Corner House "How Beautiful It's Been"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Audio

www.cornerhouseband.com

US-based quartet Corner House combines the talents of Orcadian fiddler Louise Bichan with mandolinist Ethan Setiawan, cellist Casey Murray and guitarist Ethan Hawkins for a tasty blend of Celtic folk and Americana influences. Their first full-length album, after three teasing EPs, is split five vocals to four instrumentals. Guests add drums, bass, synth, some very nice harp from Maeve Gilchrist and the environmental polish of Eli Crews on noseflute. The tunes vary from the opening Mags' 21st, a pugnacious upbeat number with staccato fiddle and attacking chords, and what sounds like a full drum kit, to the gentle final piece Wilbur's First Trip. In between are two impressive virtuoso tracks: the slow-to-speedy 2 Rights Make A Chicken, and the serene but buzzing Mayfly. Both have elements of the Bluegrass session, solo breaks between ensemble pillars, which allow each member of Corner House to shine on driving cello, smooth fiddle, jazzy mandolin and scintillating guitar. Add Scandinavian to the list of influences, and something between rock and modern jazz too. Tune composing credits go to Bichan, Setiawan and Murray.
The vocals tracks are mostly credited to Hawkins, with assistance from Setiawan. Songs, especially new songs, are not my main interest - as I told one music promoter recently, I have a navel of my own to gaze at - but if you enjoy the vicarious introspection of contemporary singer-songwriter material there are certainly some fine examples here. Momma recounts the angst of dysfunctional families. Angel Falls talks about love in its many hues. Young Brother is a tale of changing relationships, and unchanging feelings. Rollin' Home is a classic roadtrip ballad by Nathan Moore, "dancing with the rabbits on this stretch of country road" but sadly not with the girl of your dreams. South of the City is more complex, more poignant, although each song here carries its personal pain behind the bittersweet melody and tight arrangement. Wilbur's First Trip wraps up a varied bag of flawless performances with a slow oldtime tune on banjo and fiddle, adding layers of cello, mandolin, guitar and more as Corner House gracefully exits stage left.
© Alex Monaghan


Dónal Murphy "Tailored"
Own Label, 2022

www.donalmurphy.net

A second solo album from this Sliabh Luachra box-player is long overdue, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he has been delighting us with recordings from 4 Men & A Dog, Breaking Trad and other groups. Reared in Abbeyfeale on the northern edge of the polka and slide heartland of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, it's no surprise that Donal's own music is hugely influenced by the playing of O'Keeffe, O'Leary, and other Sliabh Luachra legends. Tailored transports us instantly to the set dances and sessions for which this music is designed, with a trio of tip-top polkas in the punchy regional style. Don't underestimate the guitar accompaniment of the incomparable Steve Cooney, the man who brought Séamus Begley to a wider audience and should never be allowed to forget it: his rhythmic playing, together with additional percussion from Robbie Harris, is the icing on the cake here, but Murphy provides the main ingredients and his own special raising-agent.
Three sets of slides and polkas are actually outweighed by four sets of jigs and reels, but all seven get that distinctive Munster accordion treatment which would set a statue's toes a-tapping. Mickey Dalton's Polka, Jim Donoghue's Reel, The Weavers Slide, Black Pat's, Ride a Mile and the aptly-named Last Chance Polka will have you rattling the boards and shouting for more. In among these well known tunes are half a dozen new compositions by Donal himself. The Murphy family makes other notable appearances in the shape of Donal's children Melanie on fiddle and Eoin on guitars, plus the poignant Dan's Waltz for Donal's late father. There are a couple more slow numbers here: the mighty song air Slán le Maigh, almost three centuries old, and the rather more recent Auld Resting Chair written in 1968 by Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson in the remote abandoned house of his grandparents. My favourite tracks on this recording are probably the set of three slipjigs, not often heard in the Sliabh Luachra style, and the big medley of hornpipe, reel, slide and polka - but it's all good, better than good in fact. Whatever your taste in traditional music, I think you'll find Tailored is a perfect fit.
© Alex Monaghan


J-C Guichen "Spi"
Glaz Music, 2022

Artist Video

www.jcguichen.com

In the sense that almost all the music here was written by Jean-Charles Guichen, this is his album - but the legendary Breton guitarist is far from alone on Spi, and is in fact joined by some even bigger names: Dan Ar Braz, Norbert Krief, and Alvan who represented France at Eurovision which is becoming a bit of a Celtic showcase! Six other Breton artists are credited, including a full bagad-style pipe band, bassist, fiddler, uilleann piper, flautist, and drummer, so there's a pretty big sound here. Spi means "hope" in the Breton language, and I feel J-C's music is about the future of Breton culture, the moving of that culture into the mainstream but also the continuation of its distinctiveness.
This recording manages to meld old and new, ancient Celtic elements and modern folk rock. The title track takes a dark minor melody on pipes and turns it into a rock waltz, acoustic guitar and bombardes creating a clear Breton tone very much in the mood of Alain Stivell or Dan Ar Braz. Kosmos is more like fest noz, Malo Carvou's flute and Neven Sebille Kernaudour's uilleann pipes leading us in a line dance with lace caps and linked fingers. The lively Noz e Breizh does exactly what it says on the tin, Clare Mocquard adding fiddle to the flute and guitar, and in fact most tracks are associated with one Breton dance or another. The style varies from the heavy rock of Hollvedel, Krief's electric guitar wailing like a banshee, to the more reflective Lok based around uilleann pipes, fiddle and acoustic guitar. There are no words, and even the CD booklet is largely images, so no need for translation - just a highly colourful and energetic hour of modern Breton music, most enjoyable.
© Alex Monaghan


Morgan Grace "Morgan Grace"
Own Label, 2022

Artist Video

www.morgangracemusic.net

Another hugely talented teenager, fiddler Morgan Grace hails from Manitoba in central Canada and is an established performer in the Métis style as well as more general Canadian and American oldtime fiddling. This debut recording covers eleven fiddle classics, almost one per track, including reels, jigs, waltzes, and some of the punchy syncopated Métis dance repertoire. Morgan's style is warm and understated, no unnecessary flashiness: she presents her tradition as it's played in a community setting. The charm of the music here is in its naturalness, its easy flow. This CD feels like a family gathering, a relaxed session around the stove or on the porch depending on the season. Indeed, much of Morgan Grace's live performance has been for family members and friends, whether at local events or online during COVID lockdowns, and that personal connection comes across well. More recently she has starred in larger Métis cultural events and begun to receive recognition across Canada as one of the brightest young rising stars of the fiddle world.
From the showpiece Bowing the Strings by New Brunswick fiddle legend Ned Landry to the final Métis classic Duck Dance, Morgan Grace is backed by Tom Dutiaume on guitar, bass and drums to provide a range of textures from cabin kitchen party to big stage dance band. In between are a couple of beautiful Canadian waltzes by Brian Hebert and Reg Bouvette, a patch of great reels from the Métis tradition plus Pelican Reel by Nova Scotia fiddler Gordon Stobbe, and the intriguingly titled Three Men on a White Horse, a tune which I learnt from Morgan's online playing and which is now one of my favourites. A bit of shuffle bowing, a bit of pizzicato, plenty of offbeats and rhythmic fiddling, and a few breaks by Tom on mandolin and guitar keep this album interesting from start to finish. The photos accompanying the CD show both sides of an outstanding young fiddler, the polished professional performer and the teenager having fun at home. I think this will be the start of a long and rewarding musical journey, for Morgan Grace and for her audience.
© Alex Monaghan



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