Various Artists: Gaelic Voices (Green Linnet)
AS marketing terms go, Gaelic ain't half as bad as the C-word, here referring to songs in the Irish and Scots tongues from Green Linnet's back catalogue: Altan from the Frankie days; Micheal O Domhnaill's Fionnghuala harmonies with the Bothy Band, or with sister Triona in Relativity; the Kila boyos; Mairin Fahy and Reeltime; and a very fine Niamh Parsons. From Stateside, Cherish the Ladies' Aoife Clancy wraps the glottis around A Neansai Mhile Gra, but the Scotsy elements are more interesting: the winsome puirt a beul (gob-music) of Capercaillie; or the build of a waulking (cloth-beating) song from Sileas. A groovy, gentle little collection which will brighten your thoughts from a number of angles.
Mic Moroney
Irish Birdsong from Devil's Glen, Co Wicklow & Cape Clear Island, Cork (Real World Music)
NOPE, not an army of flute-bands, but a couple of naked dawn choruses recorded by Seamus Byrne, a Dubliner who sometimes blends nature recordings with meditation music. There are two 30-minute tracks: an echoing Devil's Glen, dominated by an extraordinary song thrush, backed up by wood pigeons, blackbirds and the odd dog, sheep, or passing blowfly; and in Cape Clear, the manic trills of a wren chipping away over a dubious-sounding water culvert. There is little analysis of the different calls or braggart choristers, as the album is inspired - like many of this UK label's releases - by getting in touch with your inner songbird. Still, it certainly beats car alarms.
Mic Moroney
