Coscán: Firedance – musical ode to the Boyne Valley

The cradle of Irish civilisation that is the Boyne Valley provides the inspiration for Coscán's latest collection. Propelled by a deeply felt sense of place, Firedance is a celebration of four musicians' delight in their home place – from Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth to the Greek geographer Ptolemy's classical references to the river Boyne.

Coscán find their form on the air and slow jig of The Flame of Slane where David Nevin's propulsive bodhrán undercuts Harry Long's whistle with such clean precision that the melody and rhythm have ample room to shimmy and slide in divine concord.

Elsewhere, production veers towards the over-zealous, with the band’s highly variable vocals struggling to meet the demands of their own material. Nevin’s keyboards err on the side of florid at times too, rendering a synthetic quality to what is in essence a highly organic album concept.

[ coscan.net ]