Track Across The Deep

When I interviewed this London-based, Irish-bred group a few years back, fiddler Karen Ryan astonished me by cheerfully admitting that their original raison d’être was to subsidise a free holiday-cum-tour in the States. Since then, they’ve gone through a line-up change or two and solidified into a six-piece band, but their sound is still as honest and unpretentious as their manner. Vocalist Kathleen O’Sullivan has an old-fashioned singing style that matches the rather conservative nature of the instrumental arrangements, with a small céilí band’s worth of melody players (two fiddles, accordion and flute) plus unobtrusive piano backing from Pete Quinn. High points include the deliciously raunchy double-entendres of ‘The Ball of Yarn’ and a wistful slowed-down version of the set dance ‘Rodney’s Glory’.