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MARTIN HAYES & DENNIS CAHILL Welcome Here Again Green Linnet *****

The Zen master of the fiddle, Martin Hayes is welcome here again with another spare collection, accompanied with customary restraint by guitarist Dennis Cahill.

Hayes's genius is for unpicking the essence of a tune, delving deep beneath its epidermis and luring out the idiosyncracies that might be swallowed up in the melee of a lengthy set.

His distinctive musical accent makes its mark from the opener, The Clare Reel, a tune that he's made all his own.

Hayes's east Clare cadences manifest in his languid bowing and his graceful, feline pacing. Cahill's guitar shadow boxes with Hayes's fiddle with remarkable self-discipline, sated in the background save for the occasional foray up front, with the intricate O'Reilly's Greyhoundset of reels.

A magnificent return to the studio, and a timely reminder that less is so much more. www.compassrecords.com - SIOBHÁN LONG

Download track: The Night Poor Larry Was Stretched