Heaven Paints Her Holy Mantle Blue

Now on his third album, it can’t be long before the Corkonian Wolfe takes his place on the top flight of home based singer-songwriter acts. His voice emerges from the core of a song as if it had lived there all its life, its delicate sparseness proving that less is more than enough. His new band The New Skylarks have a matching sensitivity, most notably on the opening title tune. But they also know when to keep out of the way and let Wolfe’s voice speak its volumes with echoes of the wistfulness of early Incredible String Band and Christy Moore or Martin Hayes. On ‘The Queen Of Summer’ for example, there’s the same quiet strength and honesty we get from the likes of Moore, McGowan and Damien Dempsey.
Wolfe’s themes are mainly pastoral and local, as in ‘I Watched The Sun’ and ‘Between Morning And The Moon’. Karan Casey’s airy voice refreshes the timeless essence of ‘As Deep As The Ocean’, while fellow Leesider John Spillane helps turn ‘The Lark Of Mayfield’ into another sparkling gem.
But it’s not all as good. Wolfe’s voice is weedy and weak on the reggae romp ‘The Victory Of Forgiveness’, only made listenable by Paul Frost’s trombone, and he might do well to raise his voice about something once in a while. That said, Wolfe pours out nourishing songs that not only come from the heart but from the soul.