The Belfast singer-songwriter returns to the recording studio after a lengthy absence with a genteel collection of original and traditional songs. The opener, Silverbridge (a reference to her paternal grandmother's Armagh birthplace), cleaves to familiar folky tropes: Traveller encounters fair maid on the road, prompting a philosophical musing on the fleeting nature of life.

Producer Rod McVey steers the careful arrangements with confidence, with an occasionally surprising nod to the American folk scene of the 1970s in the piano and guitar arrangements. Cassidy is most at home with the labyrinthine storytelling beloved of such well-known songs as Fair Annie.

Still, it is the voluminous tale of Johnny Scott, complete with Joe McHugh's piping, that doffs its cap directly to the Planxty influence. ulsterfolksong.com