Ancient Rite

Music that gets under your skin is a rare and beautiful thing. Ancient Rite has been a labour of love from its inception to its execution. No detail has been neglected, no note carelessly discarded.

'Breton Rhapsody' captures the essence of Duignan's modus vivendi effortlessly, featuring low whistle hammocked by Steve Cooney's unmistakable guitar, with Máire Breathnach's violin weaving its own Romany passage in between.

Duignan's Chil Aodha roots and Dingle allegiances are everywhere to be seen. There's the sean nós song penned by his grandfather, 'Táimse Agus Máire', with Duignan's mother and sister twinning their vocals casually and fluidly, and there is also 'Seán O Duibhir', a gorgeous air long beloved of Seán O Riada.

Above all, there's an unhurried ease to Ancient Rite that bespeaks of a musician comfortable in his own skin, content to lay the music bare with the minimum of distraction or bustle. It favours a loping rather than a harried pace and is free of the shackles of either over-protective production or irrelevant decoration.

This is music that's been a long time in the making. And it shows.