Spirit

After over a decade on the road in a remarkably consistent lineup, Dervish have firmly established their position alongside the likes of Altan, De Danann and the Chieftains on the top rung of the trad music ladder. The opening track of Spirit – their first album of new material in nearly four years – reflects that nothing-to-prove status: no newfangled innovations, no showoff virtuoso displays, just four great reels played solidly and with gusto.

Lead vocalist Cathy Jordan is assured as always on songs ranging from the Robert Burns ballad ‘The Soldier Laddie’ to Bob Dylan’s ‘Boots Of Spanish Leather’ to a charming trio of nonsense songs for children in Irish. Particularly lovely is her rendition of ‘The Fair-Haired Boy’ – an original number composed especially for Dervish by Brendan Graham, part of the soundtrack he wrote to complement his book The Whitest Flower. Multi-instrumentalist Séamus O’Dowd is a fine strong singer as well, acquitting himself nicely on Ewan McColl’s ‘The Lag’s Song’.

Other notable tracks include ‘O’Raghailligh’s Grave’, a haunting slow air played by flautist Liam Kelly, and ‘The Beauties of Autumn’, an interesting set that starts with a march by Offaly composer John Brady, seques into a hornpipe version of ‘An Páistin Fionn’, then returns to the march, this time led off by O’Dowd’s guitar in a more up-tempo style.

While I’ve never been a big fan of hidden tracks, the one at the tail end of this CD is well worth hanging on for: a powerfully emotional rendition of an unaccompanied sean-nós song from Jordan, stretching out the mournful ochóns to mesmerising effect.