Suaimhneas
(Cló Iar-Chonnacht)
As her Celtic Connections appearance in 2009 alongside her father Mick and sister Louise attested, Michelle Mulcahy could have used this debut album to showcase her accomplishment on a vanful of instruments. Instead, the girl from Abbeyfeale in County Limerick focuses on the harp and shows how it can be an entirely self-sufficient carrier of jigs, reels, hornpipes, marches and airs. There's no gimmickry involved, just clean, clearly articulated playing that celebrates the often poetic beauty in the shape, nuances and lilting cadences of these tunes. The dance sets have a gorgeous momentum and radiate expressivity, and her rendering of the air An Bhuatais is beautifully soulful and atmospheric. As a first album it's quite a statement and, without wishing to put undue pressure on her, this album could well do for Irish harp playing what Alison Kinnaird's The Harp Key and Alan Stivell's Renaissance Of The Celtic Harp did for the Scottish and Breton traditions. As a player, she's certainly in that league.
