Links and Bio's
About Irish Music Forever
Recent Album: On Seven Winds
Brittany's greatest instrumentalists team up with Scottish singer and instrumentalist Jamie McMenamy (previously of The Battlefield Band) for an unbeatable combination. ~ Steve Winick, All-Music Guide (From CD-NOW Biography)
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Recent Album: Lan Duil
World-music watchers wary of whether the Latin Pop boom heralds a broadening of Anglo tastes or just a homogenization of multiple cultures should take heart from the example of Mary Jane Lamond, a North American white-girl determined to clasp the mainstream jugular and not sing a
word of English.
Soon few Yanks won't be familiar with Lamond's processing of Cape Breton, Canada's Scots Gaelic folklore through state-of-the-art electronic production and up-to-the-minute groove theory. The mix is like a gleaming time capsule carrying Celtic tradition smoothly into the new
century, and its deep roots and broad possibilities are irresistible in any language.
For "Mo Mhaili Bheag Og," initially submerged in ghostly double-tracking, Lamond's clear, true voice breaks through and sails back into a bubbling electronic seascape of tensely wah-ing and spectrally strumming guitars, and dueling organic and programmed percussions. The
techno-tabla sound of "Mo Ghille M¢r Foghain'each" is a setting that stuns, as does "Nach Till Thu Dh•mhnaill?", whose drum-and-bass and slide guitar lines spiral around each other and Lamond's voice at tricky rhythmic angles.
For contrast, on daring a cappella stretches like "A Mh•rag 's Na Horo Gheallaidh," and on the heart-tugging acoustic ballad "Cha Tig M¢r Mo Bhean Dhachaidh," Lamond proves herself a master of the right technology for any job. L…n D—il strikes out for new musical lands even her
auspicious international debut, Suas e!, could only dream of. Here many dreams come true, and the night is still quite young. (From an album review on CD-NOW by Adam McGovern)
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Thistle and Shamrock Interview
Recent Album: Leahy
Previously known as the Leahy Family, this Celtic-pop group hailing from Lakefield, Ontario comprised the nine Leahy siblings -- from oldest to youngest, singer/songwriter Julie, bassist Siobheann, fiddler Donnell, guitarist Maria, drummer Frank, pianist Agnes, fiddler Doug,
pianist Erin and fiddler Angus. The family, along with their parents Frank & Julie and two other siblings who declined to pursue music professionally, began performing during the 1970s, developing a distinctive style informed not only by Celtic traditions but also Canadian folk and
French-Canadian step-dancing. The subject of the Academy Award-winning 1985 student film The Leahy's: Music Most of All, real-world concerns like school, careers and marriage eventually relegated the family's performances to special occasions, but by the mid-1990s, with all of the
children grown, they decided to turn professional; dubbing themselves simply Leahy, they issued their eponymous debut LP on Narada in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide (From CD-NOW Biography)
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Recent Album: Nest
Nest
It would be futile to try to narrow down Dublin, Ireland's Lir (pronounced "leer") to one or two influences. Powered by a twin-guitar attack, the five-piece confidently reaches into its bag of tricks and always comes up with something that adds depth and, more importantly,
substance to its sound. Led by vocalist David McGuinness, whose voice is somewhere between Bono and John Lennon's, the group's second album, Nest, puts heaping doses of emotion and melody into its masterfully-crafted pop songs, which makes good songs like the Beatles-ish "Wickerman"
great. Instead of burning out on digestible hooks, tracks like "Halcyon Days" and "Temple Child" build strong vocal structures over the songs monstrous guitar riffs. While the group just barely pulls off the funked-up "Groove Improvement" (a sound best left to the Red Hot Chili
Peppers) and a bland instrumental jam, "Railroad," Nest's last five songs (especially the sing-a-long chorus on "Shrine") rely on more acoustic instruments and a songwriting approach that gives the impression that the group is feeling its way through the songs instead of riding the
crest of a wave of guitars. Gorgeous songs and lush, careful arrangements all make Nest a record with unlimited rewards
c 1978-1999 College Media, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (From CDNOW Review)
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