Latest releases reviewed
A Lovely Madness Beoga Music
Wilfully eclectic or attention deficit disordered? Beoga, a four-piece featuring duelling accordions, bodhrán, bouzouki and piano, turn the tradition on its head with their deliciously-titled début collection. Individually talented and collectively inspired, this is a quartet who speak a language called music with a fluency beloved of the best multilinguists. From John Fitzpatrick's string quartet guesting on the gloriously self-deprecating set, Soggy's, to the blues-tinged hornpipe, Amsterdam Blues, cogs are turning and imaginations are colliding with some spectacular results. Conjuring memories of the sharp shock of Sharon Shannon's Coridinio all those years ago, this is a gathering of tunes that screams for a chance to be heard in 3D, if only to see whether their deftness of touch and sheer ebullience carries over to their live performances.
www.beogamusic.com Siobhán Long
Music From The Robert ap Huw Manuscript No label
There's a haughty, brittle grandeur that defines this idiosyncratic collection of tunes, borrowed from the transcripts of a young 17th century Welsh harpist, Robert ap Huw. Jettisoning all preconceptions of the harp as a romantic instrument, Paul Dooley inhabits this music with the wilful eccentricity of a Joanna Newsom, full of angular, unforgiving rhythms. Still, there's something divinely soothing lurking in the body of this collection, which might owe something to its Inis Oírr birthplace. Like the piping of Eoin Duignan, this harp music will linger in the subconscious long after it's left the laser far behind. Revelling in its difference, this is music for a time when we'd all do well to check our own preconceptions of what music is all about. A delicious palate cleanser.
www.pauldooley.com Siobhán Long
