Welcome – or should that be fáilte? – to another edition of the folk roundup column. You may notice that there is a bit of an Irish theme this time around, not planned ’tis just the way the cards (or the albums) fell this month. Quite a variety of music nonetheless from the very traditional to the up to date sounding and all stops in between. And a mention of a VIR (Very Important Reissue).
Rakish are a modern folk duo who blend the fiddle and clawhammer banjo of Maura Shawn Scanlin with the guitar of Conor Hearn. Scanlin’s playing comes out of North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains whilst Hearn grew up in the Washington, D.C. Irish music scene. On their new release ‘Now, Oh Now‘ it seems from songs like ‘Lonely Hotel Rooms‘ that we’re very much in the modern coffee house folk scene with observations on the strains on love and the self-confidence to make it in music that an endless touring schedule creates. ‘765‘ adds some modern elements to the musical mix, with percussive “beats” and occasional electronic interjections, which certainly shakes up an otherwise traditional sounding jig, whether for the better is a moot point. ‘The Morning Glory‘, for example, sticks to the acoustic and is an elegant and elegiac instrumental. However, it is on the songs that the duo really excel – ‘Lightly Come, Lightly Go‘ calls on the lyricist services of James Joyce to give an extra appeal to this nod to Irish folk. There’s a lot to like on this second release from Rakish. (6/10)
No-one going to be falling asleep at a River Drivers gig, as ‘Live At Steelstacks‘ demonstrates beyond any argument. Recorded at a St Patrick’s day performance it finds the “Celtic-tinged folk rock collective” leaning heavily into the American-Irish strand of their playing and singing. It’s no surprise to find Organizing and Union songs in the mix – Mindy Murray is one of the four band members – but there’s also a strong strand of Irish rebel songs and sometimes, as on the opener ‘Connolly Was There,‘ the two themes blend together. The mandolin led ‘Cumann Na Mban‘ is a gritty telling of the Irish womens’ paramilitary. The musical hall song ‘Isn’t It Grand Boys (Look At The Coffin)‘ follows the Clancy Brothers’ reworking – it’s a raucous sing-a-long with no time for introspection: “look at the mourners / Bloody great hypocrites / Isn’t it grand boys / To be bloody well dead?” Mindy Murray’s own ‘Going Once,‘ about her father’s family losing their Torresdale PA farm at the start of the Great Depression, sits perfectly alongside ‘Pat works On The Railway‘ and ‘Union Man‘ with its version of the “Which side are you on?” question. Not a subtle album – but powerfully performed by Kevin McCloskey, Mindy Murray, Marian Moran and Meagan Ratini and it makes a strong case for seeing River Drivers live. (6/10)
There’s a very traditional take on Irish traditional music from Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’ Leary on their album ‘Hydra‘ (Under the Arch). The songs are steeped in age, and many of them will be very familiar, but with the nuanced playing and the gorgeous intertwining of the duo’s voices they make for a deeply satisfying listen. Eamon O’ Leary is a Dubliner transplanted to New York, and his guitar playing perfectly supports his warm, rich vocals. Nuala Kennedy’s vocals, as a nice contrast, are more careworn – clear and light as they are they have also an edge which is perfect for conveying sorrow and regrets – topics, it will surprise no one, that ‘Hydra‘ addresses on several songs. Her flute playing also adds a beautiful depth on so many of the song selections. Familiar songs such as ‘The Dark-Eyed Gypsy‘ and ‘The Night Visiting Song‘ are reborn, the tune selections sparkle. Whilst ‘Ag Bruach Dhún Réimhe‘ plunges depths of sorrow in its lament for the O’Neills it is ‘I Will Hang My Harp On A Willow Tree‘ that wholeheartedly revels in a golden melancholia, with its rejection of love and a consequent careless attitude to what fate the future may hold. This is a truly wonderful release that anyone with half a care for Irish folk will want, it’s the album of the month. (9/10)
Hannah O’Brian and Grant Flick continue the Irish slant, at least in part, on their album of instrumental folk ‘Unmatched Pair.‘ Bringing together Irish folk and American folk idioms, and adding a classically trained sensibility, the pair trade fiddle parts with flair, and on pieces where Grant Flick adds nyckelharpa (a Swedish form of bowed keyed violin) there’s a regular percussive note from the rapid clicking of the keys which gives a nice live in the room feel to the recordings. Tunes such as ‘ZigZag‘ could be a dance, the guitar and fiddle of ‘Dismal Nitch‘ is as far from dismal as it can be, skipping brightly in places, and driven along apace by both instruments. ‘Fools March‘ is half a jig and half a sidestep into beautifully executed musical disorder. ‘Unmatched Pair’ is an album that revels in the joy of playing, a joy it easily communicates to the listener. (7/10)
Mairearad Green and Rachel Newton take us away from Ireland, as the Scottish duo’s new release ‘Anna Bhàn‘ marks the first time the cousins have worked together on a project. ‘Anna Bhàn‘ is a concept album focusing on their great-great-grandmother’s involvement in the 1852 women-led resistance of 1852/53 in Coigach, during the Highland Clearances. The title song, a spoken historical explanation to a musical accompaniment on ‘Achnahaird‘ and the ghostly ‘1852‘ set the album’s context – the majority of the story of what can be seen as a brave but an only partially successful resistance is communicated through instrumental pieces. There are evocative moments throughout: ‘Ceit Bheag‘ is a plaintive pipes tune commemorating Katie Macleod Campbell whose part in the resistance earnt her eviction from the landlord’s estate, and having to build a frequently flooded home below the high water mark. ‘The Wick Fisherman‘ is a far livelier accordion led tune inspired by an act of solidarity when the fishermen of Wick prevented the presentation of eviction notices to their fellow fishermen from Coigach. Together the pieces capture a desperate time, with brief joyous moments of victory as the pawns of absentee landlords are thwarted, but mixed with the eventual cruelty of a one-sided view from the imposers of the law. It’s a haunting and excellently played composition. (8/10)
June Tabor & The Oysterband ‘Ragged Kingdom‘ (Topic Records) – and now it seems that this time around the theme might actually be unarguable truths. June Tabor is, without any shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest English folk voices of the last fifty years, and from their origins as The Oyster Ceilidh Band there was an evolution to become the muscularly political folk-rock unit that is the Oysterband. Coming together in 1990 to record the landmark ‘Freedom And Rain‘ they reconvened a mere 21 years later and pulled off that rarest of trick – the recording of another landmark album. ‘Bonny Bunch of Roses‘ tingles with an electric power, and, if anything ‘Judas (Was A Red Headed Man)‘ brings an even more spine-chilling feel of menace to the, possibly traditional, bonfire song. As on their first release modern songs were brought in and treated in the same manner as the older traditional material – so here’s P.J. Harvey’s ‘That Was My Veil‘ and a nothing less than triumphant reading of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart,’ the most pared back song on the album, June Tabor’s delivery of the chorus in particular is heart rending. The album has been reissued on crimson vinyl as part of the 85th anniversary of Topic Records. (9/10)
