Conor Caldwell & Danny Diamond - North album review: a long-playing delight

Fiddle music, never far from the epicentre of our tradition, is enjoying the restorative effects of a swathe of musicians who are taking it on roads less travelled. Danny Diamond (of Slow Moving Clouds) and Belfast fiddler Conor Caldwell have conjured a whole new soundscape on North, anchored by their instincts for re-interpreting old favourites such as The Kesh Jig and The Plains of Boyle with a distinctive lightness of touch.

Diamond’s gorgeous air The Floating Island is notable for its delicacy, though it’s also a robust response to our recent experience of emigration. Caldwell’s closing tune set is another delight, abetted by Diamond’s unusual low C tuning.

The freshness of the pair’s original compositions along with their eclectic mix of older tunes peg this collection as a long-playing delight.

[ dannydiamond.ie/north ]