Latest releases reviewed.

NIAMH PARSONS WITH GRAHAM DUNNE
The Old Simplicity
Green Linnet
****

Niamh Parsons has been steadily brewing superb concoctions over the past decade, trawling traditional and folk archives for spirited material to match her rangy voice. Now, with Dennis Cahill on production duties and regular compadre, guitarist Graham Dunne at his subtle, understated best, Parsons finally inhabits a space that meets the challenge of that magisterial voice. Language buoys Parsons's every move: from the bald reality of alcohol abuse (No Half Measures) to the haughty grandeur of 1917 (The French Prostitute) and the wartime saga that is John Condon. Dunne, too, has entered a rarefied zone where his playing is both emotionally articulate and technically pristine, particularly on his own Cumha An Ghrá and the impish Moll and Poll Ha'penny. A delightfully light-footed leap into the great unknown. www.niamhparsons.com - Siobhán Long