Katherine Lynch: Settling Dust

Best known as Ireland’s edgiest female comic, who’d have thought Katherine Lynch had long harboured a desire to write songs and record a straight-up album?

With the help of Paul Murphy of Electric Penguins and guests Sharon Shannon and roots outfit Tupelo, she has done just that. A fine record it is too – her emotionally-charged voice resonating somewhere between Dolores Keane, Eddi Reader and Steeleye Span’s Maddy Prior. She’s no slouch in the songwriting department either. The opening title track is a haunting, after-the-deluge lament inspired by the economic crisis; ‘Amsterdam’, a tune of love won and lost, is well turned out; the upbeat ‘Burning Sun’, meanwhile, veers towards Fairport Convention fusion. A respectful ‘Raglan Road’ features the disembodied voice of the author Patrick Kavanagh (Lynch’s Grand Uncle!). Elsewhere, piano and strings underpin poignant slow-burner ‘Twilight Romance (Maureen’s Song)’. Strong versions of John Spillane’s nostalgic, ‘Magic Nights In The Lobby Bar’ and the emigration ballad ‘Caledonia’, round off an impressive collection.