THE WEST OCEAN STRING QUARTET
The Guiding Moon
West Ocean Records

"Hybrid" is such a dirty word these days, conjuring cringeworthy images of artists contorting themselves in all manner of ungainly positions, as they teeter on the brink of - or worse still, in - the void between genres. Miraculously, The West Ocean String Quartet have managed to avoid the pitfalls of pleasing everyone's ears all of the time, despite the fact that they trade in an elusive commodity: music that defies classification and positively dazzles in its renaissance-like ability to inhabit multiple worlds simultaneously. Their filigree debut, Unwrapping Dreams, set the bar high, but last year's ceiling is this year's floor, as they prove with this haughty, pug-nosed, wilfully diverse collection.

One of The Guiding Moon's trump cards is its collaborative conspiracy with The Chieftains' flute player, Matt Molloy (pictured with the group second from right). Mating flute with violin, viola and cello, the Quartet steer a course that's one part rapt reverie (Silent, Oh Moyle); two parts high schlepping roguery of the kind that'd raise Johnny O'Leary from his slumber (Sliabh Luachra Polkas); and three parts sheer, unadulterated drawing-room delight, steered in airy rivulets by Molloy's glorious flute-playing.

In between there's a startling arrangement of The Lark in the Clear Air, an unforced tribute to Ciarán MacMathuna, and a menacing bookend, Some Vague Utopia, that nags at the memory long after the last note has faded. A slow burner that'll loiter for a lot longer on the top of the CD collection than most of the rest of this year's releases. www.wosq.com