The latest trad release reviewed

SOLAS For Love and Laughter  Compass Records ****

Sometimes we're so preoccupied with trad musicians overstepping boundaries that we miss their leap into the blue yonder. Solas's Irish-American roots are the very things that seem to free them from the perils of navel-gazing. First, there's an urbane cosmopolitanism in the multi-instrumentalism of Seamus Egan. Then there are the compositional contributions from four of the five band members. Solas relish that primal flux of influences from zydeco to klezmer, jazz and bluegrass that bathed the likes of Michael Coleman and James Morrison before them. Amid a raft of busy arrangements and collaboration with The Duhks, newcomer vocalist Mairead Phelan excels on Mollaí Na gCuach Ní Chuilleanáin, and Winifred Horan's sublime My Dream of Youlingers long after the final note has sounded. www.solasmusic.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: The Gallant Hussar, Tilly's Jig