Rain Of Light

This fifth solo album by the impish accordionist is built around a 20-minute suite commissioned by the St Patrick’s Festival for this year’s display. Alternately working its way up to a furious high-energy pitch and easing back into more lyrical passages, the suite is complemented by a sombre composition called ‘The Emigrant’ and five shorter numbers (all original) that wend their merry way around the globe: ‘The Corribean’ (pun intended) brings the sound of warmer climes to Ó Connor’s Galway stamping grounds, while ‘The Snake’ incorporates some nifty Eastern percussion from Danny Byrt, notably a rattling bellydancer’s headdress. Other guest musicians include sax player Ken Edge, Garry Ó Briain on keyboards and mandocello, Seamus O’Dowd on guitar and South American tiple, percussionist Jimmy Higgins, and Cathal Hayden on fiddle and banjo.