Mary Staunton: Bright Early Mornings (Fuschia Music)
This fine Mayo box-player creates quality sessions around her limpid, dainty, rollicking grip on the music. There are a lot of fragrances: elements of the heaving old push'n'draw style, something of the blasht of Sharon Shannon, under the needlepoint prosecution (hark June Apple), with reckless sprays reminiscent of Nenaghman Paddy O Brien, as heard through Seamus Begley. Indeed, a rake of tracks were produced by Steve Cooney back in Dingle, others by Frankie Lane and one - exquisitely - by Alec Finn. But for a traditional lament, the songs navigate the Western-seaboard country of Sean Keane, audible in Inishbofin man Andrew Murray. Yup, this'll pop into the favourites pile, for a while anyway.
- Mic Moroney
Steve Schuch & The Night Heron Consort: The Shores of Lillisand (North Star Records)
This big-production tradoid/folk/jazz/baroque mixture irritated my low sugar tolerance at first, until I found myself grooving foolishly around the writer's garret, rattled by the classical detail of this Reichsy, Scotsy-accented New England violinist/writer/composer; comraded by multi-instrumentalist Kent Allyn, David Surette's beautiful guitar, and David Coffin's many little wind instruments. The rhythms are often trad-march/ abridged jazz templates, supporting baroque flights which, when overlaid on traditional modalities, throw off some very hypnotic little moires indeed. Like the Carlos Nunez party, they burp up many world musics. All that old technology is cheesily translated betimes, but Schuch's baroque runs gently blow the head off you sideways.
- Mic Moroney