ONE OF the more interesting developments in Irish music in recent years is musicians’ engagement with the less conservative approaches to traditional music.
Among many Irish music acts, Lemoncello stand out for being perhaps more subversive than you might think.
On their second album, Perfect Place (Claddagh Records), the duo of Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella present songs that are as distinctive as any in modern Irish folk; their harmonising is a treat, and the intimacy with which they deliver songs such as Clear Eyes Open Ready, Meet Me Halfway, Misadventure, and White Flag is assured and genuine.
THE MEMBERS of County Sligo traditional group Dervish follow up their 2019 album The Great Irish Songbook with The Great Irish Songbook Vol. 2: Poets & Storytellers (Down the Road Records).
The first collection featured a bunch of classic Irish songs (Molly Malone, On Raglan Road, The Galway Shawl, The Rocky Road to Dublin, et al) performed by the likes of Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, Rhiannon Giddens, and Brendan Gleeson. Volume 2 ups the creative ante somewhat by presenting a collection of songs by contemporary Irish musicians whose work draws from and progresses the Irish song tradition.
Highlights are plentiful: John Spillane’s Passage West (by Indigo Girls), Lisa O’Neill’s Rock the Machine (by Iron & Wine), Shane MacGowan’s The Broad Majestic Shannon (by Dervish’s Cathy Jordan), and Van Morrison’s One Irish Rover (by Eddi Reader.) Hup!
THE TRADITION continues in a different but no less valid way with Limerick-based multi-disciplinary artist Willzee, whose cunningly titled debut album, Deep Tinker (Self-Released), reflects the experience and hardiness of the Irish Traveller community.
“I wanted to create something real, something my family, my community, and the next generation can feel proud of,” says Willzee of fluidly wrought rap/folk songs such as Travelling Man, No Fixed Abode, This is Our War, Oh Brother, We Are Living in the Times, and The Tribe.
HOME IS forever an anchor. In the case of the debut album by Cobh native Rua Rí (aka Séan Damery), home is also where the heart and hearth are, where memories reside, and where escape from is nigh-on impossible.
In essence, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life (Soft Boy Records), is a rite-of-passage travelogue that retrospectively explores what Damery describes as “romanticised landscapes, lived-in settings filled with drinking, boredom, friendship, and small moments that only feel meaningful in hindsight.”
The style throughout is tender and acoustic, with shades of some singer-songwriters you might be familiar with. Overall, however, Damery’s memories are very much presented as his own, and that’s what makes the songs so impactful and individual.
BELFAST BAND Wynona Bleach stick to a different kind of tradition, the kind that likes guitars blazing like flamethrowers, riffs that thud, punch, clash and smash, and songs that tell it exactly like it is.
Their second album, Animal Style (Fierce Panda), meshes indie rock, alt.rock and goth rock with the kind of no-messing techniques that invest songs such as Swim in the Bay, Not Cool with It, I Deserve That, and Be Positive with more vigour than an army of elbow-grease-driven oven cleaners.
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