Padraig Rynne
Album: Notify
Label: Liosberg
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.padraigrynne.com/

Notify seems to be both the title of the album and the group of musicians Padraig has pulled around him to record said beast. You may recognise Padraig's name from appearing in acts as Flook, Altan and Guidewire. He's joined by a core of musicians, Tyler Duncan, Mike Shimmin, Joe Dart and Jeremy Kittle and leads them down a path that whilst traditional in nature is also heavily wrapped in keyboards and samples.

That infusion of modern textures give the more traditional aspects of the instrumentation a real framework to grab hold of, particularly as most of the rhythms on the album are as old as the hills and also eminently danceable to and where they're not that dance feel tends to be replaced by drama.

Whilst a lot of the tunes are titled for personal connections, there are also pieces that have been inspired by events as diverse as corruption and the migration of a pack of wolves, with all of the pieces coming from the pen of Rynne himself, leading to an album that feels it's been put together by artists that feel their role is to contribute to the tradition, rather than just draw on it.

Rynne is not afraid to deliver a modern album, which "Notify" most certainly is, but he's also not going to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are definitely traditionally inspired albums that are way to the left of the field this one walks in, but often they are also the ones that rely on a lot of work, this pushes the boundaries without ever losing sight of the shore and proves to be very enjoyable for it.

Neil King