Buttons & Bows
The Return of Spring
(own label)
Irish quartet Buttons & Bows’ Celtic Connections 2016 double bill with Boys of the Lough was a real meeting of like minds. Although the Buttons & Bows trademark isn’t quite as long established as the Boys’, being a mere stripling of thirty-three, the group has earned a similar reputation for the richness and character of its melody playing, its fidelity of phrasing and rhythmical detail and its general warmth of performance. Featuring fiddle playing brothers Manus and Seamus McGuire, the great De Dannan and Patrick Street accordionist Jackie Daly, and Garry O’Briain on guitar, mandocello and piano, the group draws on repertoire both old and new, with all four contributing original tunes, including O’Briain’s aptly named Sweet Aibhilin, to complement material that’s long marinaded in the tradition. Whatever its provenance, the music here sings and flows naturally, with Manus McGuire’s lovely, descriptive Fort Dunree, Daly’s swinging polka for fellow box player Joe Burke and a superbly celebratory Templeglantine Slide among the immediate highlights.
Rob Adams
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