KEVIN CRAWFORD: “‘d’ Flute Album” (Kerbstone)

ALREADY OCCUPYING the number one position on the folk/roots charts, ‘d’ Flute Album is a delightful and eminently accessible collection of jigs and reels that will appeal to traditional purists as well as to lovers of Irish music in all its broader variations and manifestations. Crawford’s playing comes across as effortless, natural and instinctive – and the result is an album of uplifting charm and on occasions, one of dazzling beauty.

In many ways the flute is the ideal instrument for interpreting traditional Irish tunes and airs. Not as harsh as the fiddle nor as sweet as the uileann pipes – mellow is the word that immediately comes to mind. And that feeling also characterises the overwhelming atmosphere of Kevin Crawford’s album.

Highlights abound and the consistency is impressive but the standout tracks on first listen are, the lively jig, ‘Christy Barry’s Set’, the haunting slow air, ‘Season of Mists’, and a spirited trio of reels, ‘Dillons Fancy’, ‘Maids In The Meadow’ and ‘Toss The Feathers’. Crawford also tackles, with consummate ease, standards like ‘The Sligo Maid’, ‘Jug Of Brown Ale’ and ‘Junior Crehans’, the album concluding on a suitably dynamic note with ‘The Flowers of Brooklyn’, ‘The Palm Tree’ and the ‘Bucks of Oranmore’.

The guitar, piano and occasional light percussion accompaniment featured throughout ‘d’ Flute Album is effective, but never smothering and the production and balanced mix brings out the best in the performance.

An accomplished and highly listenable album, imbued with exhilaration and warmth. Proof, if it were needed, of the continually healthy state of Irish music.

• Colm O’Hare