The West Ocean String Quartet: Atlantic Edge – Music from the Wild Atlantic Way

This aptly-named quartet make a long-overdue return with this cap-doffing to the music of our west coast, and the landscape that’s shaped it.

The West Ocean String Quartet's fifth album is also a celebration of 21 years in existence, with each member bringing their influences from the traditional and classical worlds. Composer Neil Martin contributes a beautiful air, The Boy in the Glen, an ode to the unquenchable imagination of the late piper Liam O'Flynn.

Bold choices abound. Martin's cello anchors their reading of the spectral Blasket Island air, Port na bPúcaí, with the trio of violins (Séamus McGuire, Niamh Crowley and Kenneth Rice) intrepidly plumbing the unfathomable depths of this seemingly endlessly evolving tune. Impishness is there in The March of the Mín an Tóiteáin Bull, paired perfectly with 'Níon a' Bhaoilligh.

Their focus (in the main) on traditional tunes over original compositions lends a comforting note to this collection; from Aisling Gheal to Slán le Máigh (in tribute to the late Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin) and the delight that is Paddy Fahey’s Jig #1, this is a musical odyssey to soothe and stimulate the imagination long into the night.

[ westoceanstringquartet.com ]