Louise Mulcahy and her sister Michelle are a fantastically vibrant young force in Irish traditional music.
Michelle, who adds typically judicious piano and harp on selected tracks here, has already made her first solo album, 2012's beautiful harp manifesto, Suaimhneas, and now Louise has produced a recording that's brimful with musicality, featuring her brilliantly self-sufficient playing on flute, whistle and uilleann pipes. She's equally strong on all three instruments but her piping especially makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up with its bluesy expression on The Bold Trainer O and the sheer exuberance of the reel set that rattles to a mischievous conclusion with Five Mile Chase. This isn't the smooth uilleann piping style beloved of film directors but one that draws directly from the gnarly, characterful playing of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis et al. Colm Murphy plays occasional, subtly propulsive bodhran and, like Michelle's sisterly support, it's entirely aimed at keeping Louise's substantial artistry as the central focus.
Rob Adams
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