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REYNARDINE
The Hare's Dream Red River Records
***

Raggedy as Reynardine's second album is, it's a slow burner that insinuates itself beneath the skin on repeated exposure, fuelled mainly by the band's unapologetic love of storytelling, and by Aideen Morrissey's lateral-thinking cello. Neil McAvinia's vocals may not register as sublime, but they bask in the wide open prairie spaces of the title song, a tale of nature's triumph whose unself-conscious, naive delivery surely owes a smidgen of kinship to Nick Drake. Reynardine relish the gold-digging that produces such gemstones as Maids of Valparaiso, the story dictating the pace, each memorable verse of seafaring derring-do underscored by a judicious melding of fiddle, harp and guitar. Only Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain falters under the weight of a ponderous pace and self-conscious reading. www.reynardine.com

Siobhán Long