Private Wars

Zrazy are back with a bang. And boy, do they know how to renew old acquaintance with style.

Three albums on and Carole Nelson and Maria Walsh are in mellow mood. Private Wars is a jazz album that's more New York than New Orleans, a loping languorous thing that hangs in the air long after the last song fades.

Zrazy were never slow to take chances. But this time round, they've turned expectations firmly on their head with one of the most romantic collections to hit the racks in quite a while. One listen to Private Wars and you'll wonder just how such meandering tripe as that extruded by Houston, Carey and Dion, ever managed to hog the limelight.

Walsh and Nelson are no slouches in the writing stakes either, with 11 originals out of a total of 13 tracks. The title track is an echo from their debut album, albeit reincarnated in more considered form. Sax, piano, double bass and percussion flutter and sway in the background throughout, like loving relatives waiting to be called for a contribution.

Much of Private Wars is erotically charged, emotionally naked. But Zrazy's take can always be relied upon to be a little more leftfield than expected. And so it is that 'Remember That You Did It First With Me' is a quirky meditation on both virginity and female relationships, which avoids getting tied up in knots lyrically or musically.

The two covers are carefully chosen and seamlessly melded with the originals. Billie Holiday's 'God Bless The Child' and Cole Porter's 'Night And Day' are suitably sublime additions to what is already an accomplished collection.

The only dud notes are struck by Walsh's occasional vocal uncertainties, especially evident on 'Beloved'. Still, whatever her motivations, she sweeps and soars for so much of the album that the odd vocal quandary serves more to tweak the attention, rather than sully the music.

Instinct tells me that Zrazy would be far better ensconced in Manhattan than in Dublin, if they want this album to truly see the light of day. The sheer panache and savoir faire that Private Wars exudes deserves a bigger audience than it's likely to garner in Ireland, where jazz is taken in small spoonfuls.

Whatever their game plans, they've produced one gem of an album that could alter forever the notion of 'mood music' if only it gets a chance.