The Storms Are On The Ocean Mermaid Records***

Appalachia has beckoned and Maria Doyle Kennedy has responded with her first studio release since 2007's Mütter, this one a collaboration with husband Kieran Kennedy. All human experience is writ large here: from pained expressions of fidelity in the title track to plaintive lullabies, murder ballads, doomed courtships and paeans to the spiritual deliverance of hard labour. Throughout, Kieran Kennedy's producer's touch is light, with a gaunt mix of melancholic backing vocals and skeletal guitar. The mood is set by a cover photo from her grandparents, and Doyle Kennedy delves beneath the crust of inheritance, celebrating the musical riches that come free. A niggling reservation persists, though, that some of these songs struggled to make their Atlantic crossing, and were simply more at ease on home turf. See mariadk.com

Download tracks: Standing On The Promises, To The Work