EITHNE NÍ CHATHÁIN
Eithne
Claddagh Records
***

Ambitious and eclectic, debutante Eithne Ní Chatháin stretches herself to her outer limits, cherrypicking some of the finest songs and tunes in the English and Irish traditions. Her mournful, unadorned reading of Fáinne Geal An Lae is particularly affecting, and her musky (if slightly flabby) interpretation of Sandy Denny's Who Knows Where the Time Goes is evidence of a keenly tuned ear. At times, though, Ní Chatháin's voice struggles to meet the challenge of her songs. Oddly, this is particularly evident in the self-composed but David Grey-esque What's in the Bag Love?, her vocals wrestling to master the range demanded of them. Sweet echoes of Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss haunt Pretty Bird, but a touch more time in gestation mightn't have gone astray. www.eithnemusic.com

NIAMH NÍ CHARRA
Ón Dá Thaobh/From Both Sides
Gael Linn
****

The crossroads where the traditional and the contemporary collide: that's where Niamh Ní Charra lurks, not quite selling her soul to the devil, but bartering it for high stakes. She's brought her fiddle and concertina home, after a lengthy stint with Riverdance, and throughout Ón Dá Thaobh she strips bare old tunes, such as Caoineadh Eoghain Rua, and boldly reinterprets Jerry Holland's Mutt's Favourite, pairing it with her own jittering set piece, San Antonio. Forget talk of tradition versus innovation: Ní Charra's facility with everything from 19th-century Italian composer Giulio Regondi's Allegretto No 4 to a glorious set of Sliabh Luachra slides reflect a musician at home with music of any hue. Her concertina playing is particularly charismatic, with enough light between the notes to buoy this baker's dozen of tunes from start to finish. www.niamhnicharra.com