FolkWorld #58 11/2015

CD & DVD Reviews

Grens/zland „Kersen delen“
Nederossi, 2014

Artist Video

www.grenszland.nl

At the heart of this CD, Dutch duo Johan Meijer and Jos Koning present songs from German singer songwriter Gundermann translated into Dutch. Alongside those are Dutch versions of songs of French chanson singers Brassens and Brel, as well as some own compositions. Presented with guitar and violin, the music is appealing and has a lot of atmosphere, but given the nature of the songs are most likely to find interest in their home country.
© Michael Moll


Shooglenifty "The untied knot"
Own label, 2015

Artist Video

www.shooglenifty.com

The phenomen that is called Shooglenifty is back – six years after their last album, and 25 years since the band started, with their classic debut “Venus in Tweeds”. And their latest album proves that Shoogle’s magic has not waned at all.
This time the Scottish progressive folk trance rock band has a new innovation - it has ventured from a purely instrumental outfit for the first time into songs, with Gaelic singer Kaela Rowan contributing her vocals on 8 of the 11 tracks. This new dimension is an excellent addition to the groovy Scottish Shoogle dance music. The trademark Shoogle sound is still there, with wonderful banjo and fiddle leading the melodies, backed by a modern electronic line-up of bass, acoustic and electric guitar percussion, drums and drum machines. Of the original line-up, the band still features fiddler Angus Grant, banjo player Garry Finlayson and drummer James Mackintosh. They are now joined by Malcolm Crosbie (acoustic and electric guitars), Ewan MacPherson (mandolin and tenor banjo) and Quee MacArthur (bass and percussion). And several former Shoogle members make guest appearances on the album. Shooglenifty are as spectacular as ever - if not even better with the Gaelic vocal additions.
© Michael Moll


Alyth "Homelands"
ANE Records, 2015

www.alyth.net

"Homelands" is the third solo album of Scottish singer Alyth (Alyth McCormack). The Lewis born singer moved to Ireland seven years ago, thus the idea of "Homelands": An album of largely traditional largely well known songs from Scotland and Ireland, often around home and emigration. Half of the songs are in English, half in Gaelic, and they include classics such as Raglan Road, Carrickfergus or Thig am bata. Played in with a strong line up of Brian McAlpine (piano, guitars, accordion), fiddler Aidan O Rourke, Karol Lynch on bouzouki, Joe Csibi on double bass and percussionist Noel Eccles, "Homelands" is a beautiful collection of familiar songs.
© Michael Moll


Bukahara "Strange Delight"
Own label, 2015

www.bukahara.com

"Strange delight" is this album called - for me this wonderful versatile band from Cologne was certainly an unexpected delight and revelation, with their lively infectious and happy musical melting pot. With German, Tunisian, Palestinian, and Swiss-Jewish roots of band members, this four piece band have created their very own style - and they are themselves obviously not quite sure how to describe it: On their German website they describe the music as between gipsy, reggae and balkan; the English version refers to psychedelic swing, Arabic reggae, Balkan jazz, and even folk hip hop. If such a blend does not sound appealing, forget about this description and seek them out nevertheless - their music IS great.
The songs on the album are largely in English, but to stay true to their roots, there's also a German and an Arabic song. These work at least as well as the English ones, and it would be great for their next album to have a bit more emphasis towards non-English songs. The music of these four young men is a wonderful blend of guitar, violin, accordion, drums, percussion, double bass and a strong and groovy dose of trombone and helicon - plus attractive, slightly smoky vocals.
A real powerhouse of modern contemporary folk/world/jazz music, full of improvisation, Bukahara must be a most amazing live act. I love it.
© Michael Moll


Terje Isungset "Meditations"
All Ice Records, 2015

www.isung.no

If you have experienced a concert of Swedish band Groupa, you will remember the wide range of wonderful percussion instruments and devices of their Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset. This is one of his solo albums, fully focussed on creating a meditative soundscape from - well from ice!
Terje plays icehorns, ice percussion, iceofon, crushed ice and icedrums! Well seeing is believing - have a look at the video clip on icemusic.no otherwise you will not understand.
From this perspective, the sounds that are created are pretty unique. Even though on the album Terje is joined by a range of musicians on instruments that do not melt (trumpet, double bass, viola d'amore, keyboards and voice), the music remains very meditative. While I really enjoyed watching the mad video clip, I am no so keen on listening to the whole of this album. No doubt in live this is quite an experience - but dress up warm when you go and see them!
© Michael Moll


Hohka "Mailla Halmailla"
Own label, 2015

Artist Video

www.hohka.net

The start of the album may mislead the listener to pigeonhole this Finnish band into Irish music, with its energetic Irish style fiddle tune. Tune number two on the album is already a completely different kind of fish, a nyckelharpa tune with a dark Nordic folk rock backdrop on percussion, keyboards, e-guitar. These two tunes could have been from a different album compared to many of the remaining numbers – which are much more peaceful and gentle: Beautiful calm acoustic Nordic music on kantele, nyckelharpa, accordion, fiddle, bass, guitar. All tunes are composed by band members of this quartet, and the album is full of surprises. Some of the tunes are dragging on a bit for my liking. The talent of this band is undeniable, and I found a lot to enjoy about this album.
© Michael Moll


Kirsten Bråten Berg "Tonesvarm gjennom 35 år"
Grappa, 2014

One of Norway’s premier traditional singers, Kirsten Bråten Berghas recorded her singing now for the last 35 years. To celebrate this milestone, Norwegian record company Grappa has released a compilation of 29 of her best songs from her album collection. The centre piece of the double album, and of (nearly) every single song, is traditional Norwegian singing. This is mostly sparsely accompanied or a capella, often pretty purist. Yet the collection also showcases the singer’s appetite for and excellence in innovation and pushing boundaries: There are songs (from her album “Arv”) with strong jazz arrangements, there’s the unique collaboration with Senegalese singer Solo Cissiko where Kirsten and Solo combine Senegalese with Norwegian traditional song and music to some great effect, and there’s a collaboration with American singer/songwriter Eric Anderson in the Richard Thompson song “Dimming of the Day”.
© Michael Moll


Mark Billingham / My Darling Clementine "The other half"
Hachette Audio, 2015

www.theotherhalfshow.com

An interesting collaboration between acclaimed mystery fiction writer Mark Billingham (author of the Tom Thorne crime novels) and English country/folk duo My Darling Clementine. “The other half” combines an audio book with a music CD. In Mark Billingham’s original story, a barmaid in a grotty bar in Las Vegas spends her life listening to the stories of her diverse range of customers – stories of love, heart break and loss, and reflecting on her own unsuccessful life – until her life turns round. Between each chapter, My Darling Clementine provides a song, written specifically for this project and taking the topic of the chapter into music and song. I enjoyed the songs, with their well-crafted lyrics, and their presentation in a gentle acoustic folk/country style, primarily backed by guitar. With seven songs and eight story sections, this album is good entertainment – and the listener certainly will want to come back to the songs again.
© Michael Moll


The Changing Room "Behind the Lace"
Own label, 2015

The Changing Room "A River Runs Between" [EP]
Own label, 2014

The Changing Room "Splann" [EP]
Own label, 2015

Sam Kelly "Spokes" [EP]
Own label, 2015

www.thechangingroommusic.com

An album of original folk songs, in the style of traditional English ballads and seafaring songs. Even though based now in Cornwall, the core duo of the band, Sam Kelly and Tanya Brittain, have roots in Sheffield, Norfolk and Ireland. Both Sam and Tanya are rather gifted songwriters and singers, and play respectively guitar and accordion. The songs are all acoustic, some of them more contemporary and lively, more often though with gentle more trad arrangements. The album features some special guest appearances to great effect – including Scottish fiddle maestro John McCusker and double bass player Kevin McGuire, as well as wonderful harmonies by the Polperro Fishermen’s Choir and the Oggymen.
Good traditional style lyrics, quality music and great male and female voices make this album very pleasant listening.

www.samkelly.org

23-year-old singer-songwriter Sam Kelly's musical journey ranges from the final of Britain's Got Talent, The Changing Room's Cornish folk to the 'Best Singer' nomination at 2015's Spiral Earth Awards. The "Spokes" EP is electric and eclectic folk rock. Check the Sam Kelly Trio's "Cypress Grove" @ YouTube! Debut full-length album scheduled for November 2015!

© Michael Moll

Spuyten Duyvil "The social music hour Vol. I"
Own label; 2015

www.spuytenduyvilmusic.com

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Bluegrass and Americana. Yet this American band has an unescapable charme and appeal. Spuyten Duyvil play largely traditional Americana songs, in an attractive blend of bluegrass, Olde Time, folk, rock, Blues and pop. Energetic and happy bluegrass songs (such as “Reno Factory” or “Hot time in the Old Town”) immediately create a party atmosphere, counterbalanced by superb, more reflective versions of old traditional folk ballads such as “Lord Franklin” and “Barbara Allen” – the latter beautifully arrange in a pop style which would also be well suited for mainstream airplay. Certainly plenty of great music to enjoy during Spuyten Duyvil’s social music hour.
© Michael Moll


Rura "Despite the dark"
Own label, 2015

Artist Video

www.rura.co.uk

Relative newcomers on the Scottish scene, Rura, have been widely celebrated as one of the most exciting new Scottish folk bands. This is only their second album, three years since their debut, yet “Despite the dark” very much follows in the footsteps of their first album.
For me the strength are Rura’s wonderful energetic and heady Scottish tunes – a mix of traditional, contemporary and self-composed. These tunes, with their powerful blend of bagpipes, guitars, bodhran and fiddle, are infectious.
The songs are very different to the tunes – indeed different enough that they could be from a different album. Featuring the earthy vocals of Adam Holmes, they are modern and feel melancholic, and I have to admit, they are not my cup of tea. Apart from an arrangement of Robert Burns’ “O Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast”, they are all written by Adam Holmes. As you would expect of a band of this calibre, the musical arrangements of the songs are also tight and strong.
© Michael Moll


Double Tonic "Drops of Celtic Life"
Own label, 2015

www.doubletonic.de

There are lots of German bands playing Celtic music, and many of them to a high standard. Yet this is one of those bands that stands out from the crowd, as Double Tonic has taken traditional music into a new context, in a way that you would hardly find in Ireland or Scotland.
It’s folk jazz – yet this is quite different to the kind of folk jazz you might find in Scottish music circles. Double Tonic’s musicians are steeped in jazz and acoustic pop, however they manage with ease to combine and complement jazz and traditional Celtic songs, while staying true to the traditional roots of the songs. The band features piano, flutes/saxophone, acoustic and electric bass and drums, plus the fine singing of Yvonne Arnitz. The album features a number of very well-known songs, such as “She moved thru the Fair”, “Black is the Colour”, “Ye Yacobites” or “The Blantyre Explosions, all of them attractively dressed up in a jazz context. Not all songs work quite so well - in fact, the closer the songs are to traditional interpretations, the less well they work. Overall though, this is an interesting album which I enjoyed a lot.
© Michael Moll


Niall Toner “Working on love”
Own label, 2015

www.nialltonerband.com

Artist Video

The banjo is the subject of many jokes on the folk music scene, yet Niall Toner's new album is a good example of the qualities of the banjo as an instrument to accompany singing. All songs on the album are self-penned, and have interesting and engaging lyrics. Highlights include the epic story of the mandolin of Bill Munroe, and a wonderful biblical gospel song “Walking on water”. Stylistically Americana with some bluegrass elements as well as Celtic influences, the album has much warmth to it. A set of Irish tunes rounds the CD nicely off.
© Michael Moll


Michelle Burke “Step into my parlour”
Kilcronat Records, 2014

www.michelleburkemusic.com

A beautiful album of traditional and contemporary Irish folk songs arranged in a style that takes the listener to the dancehalls of the middle of the last century. The album was inspired by Michelle's memories of her grandparent’s songs of her childhood. There’s a great swing in the music and the singing, and Michelle's voice is full of character. Musically, the album is a powerhouse of talent. James Ross' piano often takes centre stage and what a gifted player of trad music he is; living legend Cathal McConnell joins on vocals and flute, there’s Anna Massie, harmonica maestro Brendon Power, accordionist Kathleen Boyle, and some jazzy trombone sounds by John Kenny. A truly wonderful album.
© Michael Moll


Sean O hEanaigh “The Tides that bind”
Own, 2014

www.tidesthatbind.com

Born to Irish parents in Boston, Sean grew up with regular house parties filled with Irish music and song. The family returned to Connemara in 1966, where over the years Sean's mum wrote down the lyrics of many of the Irish songs she had learned in Boston, from friends and family. This album features some of those songs, in both English and Gaelic language. These are combined with a few of Sean’s own compositions, as well as songs from the Scots Gaelic tradition – overall a convincing collection of traditional songs. The CD has a very relaxed charm to it. Sean has an appealing warm singing style, and he is accompanied by a host of top Scottish folk musicians - including Blair Douglas, Allan Henderson, Findlay Napier and Mary-Ann Kennedy.
© Michael Moll


Alma “Transalpin”
Col Legno Music, 2015

www.almamusik.at

Artist Video

With many of the tunes on this album I could only guess where this band comes from, as the music does not give it away. It's the tracks that feature yodelling – very angelic sounding yodelling one has to say - that give away the alpine roots of the album.
The home country of Alma is Austria. And in Vienna, they call everything that comes from the other side of the Danube, and in fact everything that comes from the rest of the world, as trans-Danubian. And trans-Danuabian is the concept of Alma: Music that transcends borders, travelling to Scandinavia and Britain, then back to Austria, before heading off to Morroco before returning to the music of the Alps.
With a line-up of three 3 violins, an accordion and a double bass, the music does not feature any rhythm instruments apart from some clapping; this makes the music somewhat more demanding for the listener. It’s a lovely album though - and the album features also what must be the most beautiful Austrian song I have ever heard.
© Michael Moll


Odessa Projekt “Liza”
Own label, 2015

www.odessa-projekt.de

Another album that lives from crossing musical borders. The Odessa Projekt travels through Klezmer and gipsy, Eastern European and Balkan music worlds. The music is skilfully presented in folk music style with an attractive jazzy swing, particularly in the dominant happy dance songs and tunes. Driven by accordion, saxophone and clarinet, the five piece band also features fiddle, double bass and percussion. There is also some attractive singing, with songs in Yiddish as well as Eastern European languages.
© Michael Moll


The Urban Folk Quartet “The Escape"
Own label, 2015

www.theufq.com

A powerful quartet of talent based in England: Joe Broughton on fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass; Paloma Trigas on fiddle, Tom Chapman on percussions, and new recruit to the band, banjo maestro Dan Walsh. All of them also contribute vocals. The album is a wonderful blend of songs and tunes, bridging English, Celtic and American trad with a very fine dose of jazzy versatility and elements of rock. Some of the highlights of this album, displaying the breadth of styles found, include the American traditional “Boat up the river”, the traditional English “The snow that melts the soonest” and a stunning Cuban inspired song “Resiste” written by the band in Spanish. The music perfectly flows throughout the album, taking traditional inspired music into new dimensions yet always staying true to the principles of its roots. This is an exciting and varied album, full of energy, swing and passion - a joy to listen to.
© Michael Moll


Sam Lee “The fade in time”
The Nest Collective , 2015

Artist Video

www.samleesong.co.uk

Listening to this album is pretty demanding. The music is very experimental, and there is an archaic feel to the album- not least through the few extracts of field recordings woven in. Most of the songs feel drawn out. Yet there is a fascination to this album, even more so when reading the sleeve notes. Instrumentally the album features violin, cello, koto, brass instruments, percussion, a bit of piano and more (but no guitars). An intense album that takes traditional English music, and blends in world music, jazz, classical music and improvisation – yet the result, rather surprisingly, has a very archaic English feel to it.
© Michael Moll


Domo Emigrantes “Kolymbetra”

www.domoemigrantes.it

This Sicilian band aims with this new project to celebrate and spread the musical history of Sicily and its cultural links to the other countries bordering the Mediterranean. The album features largely traditional songs in Italian language. The music unmistakably showcases elements of other Mediterranean cultures. Instrumentally the band features a wide range of traditional Sicilian and other instruments played by Stefano Torre, including Sicilian flutes and bagpipes, jews harp, guitar, bouzouki. He is joined on frame drums and percussion, accordion, saz and baglama.
© Michael Moll


na-mara “Navajos & Pirates”
Own label; 2015

www.na-mara.com

This is the first time I have come across this duo - and what a find it is! Na Mara brings together talented English singer songwriter and guitarist Paul McNamara and wonderful mandolin player Rob Garcia. The songs on this album are generally around the themes of love lost, history and wars, and they are packaged in effective yet simple instrumentation featuring rhythmic guitar and the mandolin leading on the melody, with occasional guest addition of percussion.
My highlights of the album are the self-composed historical songs: The title track commemorates the "Edelweiss pirates" who stood up against Nazism in pre-war Germany – a song that is an immediate classic, combining meaningful lyrics with a powerful melody and refrain. Other impressive self composed songs tackle modern day slavery (“The Garden of England”) and the fate of Basque refugees who emigrated to Britain in 1937.
The other core element on the album are French traditional songs (of Breton, French and Canadian origins) which have been successfully and sympathetically adapted into English language, while keeping the French feel to the songs. There are also a number of tunes, often from Spanish Galician and Breton traditions.
A stunning album indeed, combining English French and Spanish traditions and exquisite songwriting, presented in a confident and warm manner, by one of the outstanding duos on the English folk scene.
© Michael Moll


Marco Zappa Trio “UnaNuovaForza”
Own label, 2015

www.marcozappa.ch

Swiss Italian cantatore and multi instrumentalist Marco Zappa combines on this album many different influences. At the heart are contemporary Italian songs that bridge Italian folk, italopop and jazz influences. The other strong element, much more dominant on the second half of the album, are Serbian and Albanian songs and tunes – this Balkan influence comes from Marco Zappa’s trio partners, accordionist Goron Stojadinov from Serbia and percussionist Ilir Kyrekurti from Albania. There are addititionally two Greek songs sung by Martha Mavrodi. Recorded live, yet with a high recording quality throughout.
© Michael Moll


John Jones “Never stop moving"
Westpark, 2015

www.jj-rr.org

Best known as the front singer of iconic English folk/rock Oyster Band, this is already John Jones’ second solo album. As part of his solo career, he has also started a habit of walking, with groups of walkers and musicians, to get to festival gigs – what a grand and unique idea!
His new album is much more folk than any Oyster Band recording I have heard (but have to admit that I have not had the opportunity to listen to recent Oyster Band albums), and it’s not only more folky, but also much more quintessentially English. Still, the music has a contemporary and modern feel to it. The songs on “Never stop moving” have been highly influenced by discovering, and overcoming, cancer, and as a result, the lyrics have a lot of depth.
This is a wonderful album, with a to me unexpectedly folky style –which suits John Jones’ voice extremely well
© Michael Moll


Jackie Oates "The spyglass and the herringbone"
ECC Records, 2015

Artist Video

www.jackieoates.co.uk

Young English singer Jackie Oates presents on her new album a confident choice of traditional songs, songs written by contemporary folk singers, two great song versions of poems, plus the song “Can’t be sure” of pop group The Sundays. Jackie has a finger in picking songs with stories that very obviously mean something to her, and turn them very much into her own. While the album has the feel of a solo album, there is a host of great musicians to support her – with musical arrangements ranging from Morris, via contemporary, via clapping , to gentle folk. Yet throughout, this album is quintessentially English folk, in its best sense. Jackie confirms with this album that she is one of the bright new stars of English folk song.
© Michael Moll


Barluath "At Dawn of Day”
Own label 2015

www.barluath.com

Artist Video

Scottish six-piece band around singer Ainsley Hamill. Instrumentally, this band has plenty of oomph, featuring two pipers (who also play whistles, clarinet and bouzouki), a guitarist, a fiddler and a piano/harmonium player. Many of the tunes are wonderfully melodic and powerful – as good as Scottish traditional music can get!
Many of the songs counterbalance this abundant energy, as they are mostly calm and beautiful ballads, both in English and Gaelic language. Some of the songs are so sparsely accompanied (e.g. only piano) that it belies the fact that this is a six-piece band. Highlight of the album is for me the set of puirt a beuls, with its brilliant full band sound around Aisnley’s charming voice – this track alone puts this band amongst the very best Scottish bands around. The album finishes off wth Barluath’s own version of Donovan’s classic “Catch the Wind”.
© Michael Moll


La Jose "Espiral"
Arc Music, 2015

La Jose, the artist name of Spanish singer josefina Gomez Llorente, blends on her new album Flamenco and Sephardic songs with world music rhythms and instruments, and with Pop and Soul. All songs (apart from one traditional arranged) are written and composed by La Jose and guitarist and co-producer Victor Iniesta. From fiery flamenco featuring flamenco guitar and clapping to more gentle world pop ballads, this album has many musical shades. Beyond aforementioned guitar and clapping, instruments featured include the Indian veena and tabla, Egyptian flute and a range of percussion instruments. Yet it is always the passionate and expressive singing of La Jose that is the centrepiece of the album.
© Michael Moll


The Secret North "Live"
GO Danish folk music, 2015

www.thesecretnorth.com

This project brings together six great musicians from Scotland, Scandinavia and Ireland, with folk and classical music backgrounds – and with experiences in bands such as Dreamers Circus, Buille, Dave Munnelly Band, The Outside Track, Elias Quartet and Basco: The band features Allie Robertson on harp, Ale Carr on Cittern, Donald Grant on Fiddle, Kieran Munnelly on flute, whistle, bodhran, Nial Vallely on concertina and Nikolj Busk on piano. The music - all instrumental- is a fascinating and appealing blend of traditional and classical music with a dose of jazz and avantgarde, with distinctive visits to Ireland, Scandinavia and Scotland, and lands of dreams. The album features one composition from each of the musicians, each more of suite of music lasting 10 minutes or more, presented in a gently a playful innovative way. The album was recorded live but this is only noticeable at the end of each tune.
© Michael Moll


Klezmeyers "Emilias Lächeln"
GLM/Fine Music, 2015

www.klezmeyers.de

While klezmer may be its basis, Klezmeyers' music is much more than that. The German trio brings together a klezmer clarinettist with two jazz musicians on guitar and double bass. All tunes on this album are composed by one of the three musicians, and they venture from klezmer into many music styles - be it French musette, flamenco or Arabic rhythms – and there is strong jazzy feel throughout the album. The versatile and lively music is dominated by the clarinet, sometimes cheeky, sometimes reflective, and sometimes swinging.
© Michael Moll


Kalakan "Elementuak"
Own label, 2015

www.kalakan.fr

This band from the French part of the Basque region is focussed on vocal arrangements of Euskera (i.e. Basque language) songs. Kalakan are three male singers / percussionists - and that's all there is to the band. With this basic line-up the trio still manages to create a very exciting and varied album of songs, so much so that you never even think about other instruments missing in the line-up. The vocal harmonies are always effective and charming. Several of the songs are a-capella, while for the remainder, the voices are accompanied by a range of percussion instruments, such as various basque hand drums, as well as the unique Basque txalaparta.
The songs are mostly of traditional Basque origins. Their contemporary arrangements will have wide, also international appeal - proof of this wider appeal is that Kalakan toured in 2012 in more than 80 concerts as a support act to Pop icon Madonna.
Elementuak is a stunning album that puts this band right alongside the greats of Basque folk music, such as Oskorri and Kepa Junkera.
© Michael Moll


Short Tailed Snails "Dunkle Wolken"
Own label, 2015

German CD Review

www.short-tailed-snails.de

This German band focussed on early and medieval folk music, primarily from German regions, but also venturing to Spain and France. The singing by Regina Schmidt is pure, virtuous and expressive, and sounds as she might have been classically trained. Musically, the band features a combination of German tradtional instruments - hurdy gurdy, flutes, cister, guitar and oriental percussion. As a result, many songs are instrumentally steeped in early German folk music, though have sometimes, as a result of the percussion a distinct oriental flair. A beautiful album.
N.b. The Short Tailed Snails have recently changed their name to Lauzeta.
© Michael Moll


Harmony Glen "The Cure for everything"
Own label, 2014

www.harmonyglen.com

Judging from the cover of this album, showing a picture of the band dressed in strange and tasteless clothing, my expectations were not too high. However, I am glad to say, the music of this Dutch folk rock band speaks for itself. Celtic music is in central to Harmony Glen. The six musicians play guitars, fiddle, drums, accordion, banjo, mandolin, whistle, double bass, and have amongst them two very decent lead singers, male and female. The album offers a mix of high energy folk rock instrumentals, folk pop songs, more traditional sounding and gentler songs, and even some bluegrass. My highlight of this album, the trad song "Pleasant and delightful" is just as its title suggest, featuring some excellent harmony singing.
© Michael Moll


Fil Campbell & Tom McFarland "Back there"
Own label, 2015

Article: Folkclub Goes Space

www.filcampbell.com

The seventh album of Irish folk singer Fil Campbell sees her returning to contemporary folk songs and away from the Songbirds inspired songs of her childhood. I had lost touch with Fil’s music over the last decade and missed her “Songbirds” series; the last Fil Campbell album I know is from the 90s, and this new release is a neat continuation of the Fil I knew from that release.

There's a “first” to this album - her long term duo partner and percussionist Tom McFarland is, for the first time, lead singer of two songs: Warm and relaxed versions of “Cavan Girl” and “Come Rain and come shine” – both tracks are real highlights of this album.

The remaining songs, sung by Fil, is a well chosen collection of songs with touching lyrics that obviously mean something to her. They are sung gently and emotively, and include two songs written by Fil herself. The songs are musically arranged to good effect, featuring guitars, fiddle, percussion, piano, cello etc. I particularly enjoyed the atmospheric uilleann pipes on "The brightest sky blue".
© Michael Moll



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