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PRODIGALS Momentum Grab Entertainment ***

Curve balls don't come much curvier than Prodigals' second recording, Momentum. U2 went to the US and patented their very own Sunday Bloody Sunday; Bill Whelan saw Riverdance soar on the heat of its American welcome, and Uncle Sam's smiled on these boys, too. Prodigals are an Irish/English/American fourpiece who bring the high pitch of tradition down a peg or three with spinal bass lines and a frantic pace that could only be born of and in the Big Apple. They tread a road well-prepared by The Pogues before them. Prodigals' rhythms are their defining force, and while their songs struggle to rise above the ordinary, their bold instrumental forays criss-cross traditional, rock and klezmer strands with a powerful purpose, though one which admittedly is at times lost to the listener. www.prodigals.com

Siobhán Long