Boys Of The Lough
Album: The New Line
Label: BOTL
Tracks: 13
Website: http://boysofthelough.info

The Boys of the Lough seem to have been on the go for so long now, that you do wonder what their 23rd album of new music can bring to the world. The answer is: a joyful exercise in exploration of the traditional form which displays real expertise in instrumentation, with a continuing demonstration of artful singing from Cathal McConnell, on this album majoring in the sentimental form. The fourth vocal number on the album, a traditional Gaelic song from accordion / melodeonist Brendan Begley, is another slow air which nicely fills in the gaps between some fairly frantic playing which would still not be out of place in a Fantasy League pub session.

Opening with a set of reels, the first of which is their eponymous tune, is a fairly clear statement of intent, McConnell's whistle and flute combining with Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson's fiddle to good effect. Begley leads on the next, "The Gold Ring" a set of jigs on which he is later joined by McConnell and Henderson. McConnell's rendition of Delia Murphy's "Liffey Side", with delicate guitar accompaniment from Garry O'Briain, and ethereal fiddle from Henderson is the first of those affecting, almost naively sung, songs, which is then rumbustiously overtaken by two reels "O'er the Water To Bessie" and "The Old Cup of Tea", with the accordion to the fore, before Henderson's fiddle again takes centre stage on the Shetland tune "Da Smugglers".

"Four Slides" does what it says on the tin, O'Briain's mandocello underpinning some lovely playing from the other Boys, and then a song from the States (via Delia Murphy) from McConnell. This is followed by Begley's "Fill Fill A Run O", and then "Chase Her Through the Garden", a lively set led by McConnell on whistle, before McConnell again takes the pace down with the song "The Cavan Road". A further set of tunes McConnell attributes to the Clare fiddler Tommy Peoples, three of which have no names so they are group as "Tommy Peoples' Set". O'Briain then leads a set dedicated to the memory of a friend Mary Stokes, and the CD finishes, as is appropriate for a band who have always straddled the Gaelic and lowland traditions of Scotland and Ireland, with a song passed to Begley from Flora MacNeil of Barra.

A delightful, seemingly effortlessly so, collection of songs and tunes from four players at the top of their game.

Harry Thompson