She could have chosen any one of a number of instruments for her latest album: fiddle, concertina, accordion, but Michelle Mulcahy’s solo harp album needs nothing by way of embellishment. Her playing is technically impeccable, her phrasing a masterclass in how to inhabit a tune, respecting its lineage while still putting her own insightful stamp on it.

Like most long players, Lady on the Island – the title borrowed from the album’s closing tune, which Mulcahy associates with the playing of the late east Galway accordion player, Joe Cooley – invites the listener to return again and again to discern the countless gemstones scattered throughout a beautifully curated tune collection.

Liner notes generously reference where tunes were first discovered, with particular attention to historical detail. Mulcahy’s reading of Tabhair dom do lámh finds previously undiscovered “sweet notes” that are a reminder of its origins, composed by the 17th century harper Ruairí Dall Ó Catháin.

Mulcahy comes into her own on another slow air, one of two original compositions on the album. Caoineadh Mick Moloney is an open-armed posthumous tribute to a musician who died unexpectedly last summer and whose influence is stitched through the harper’s music, while The Sweet Note, a tune composed to honour her father, Mick, is another highlight: dexterous, thoughtful, guaranteed to become a staple of the tradition.