Up in the Air

Just in case you were in any doubt as to the nature of the latest Danú CD, they’ve subtitled it “Irish Traditional Music Solos Played by the Members of Danú”. Right then, so it’s not a Danú CD, after all. Either way, it’s nice to have the opportunity to hear all seven of the fine musicians who make up the group strutting their stuff on an individual basis – and with 18 tracks spread over 58 minutes, it’s a very extensive opportunity indeed.
“Solos” is a slight misnomer, in that most of the tracks feature a certain amount of collaboration from more than one musician in the way of accompaniment, albeit on the restrained side. The real treats here come when members normally relegated to the rhythm section get to take a front seat: bouzouki player Eamonn Doorley lashing into a lively set of jigs, and guitarist Donal Clancy with nifty flatpicked interpretations of ‘The Stone In The Field / The Walls Of Liscarroll’ and ‘Spike Island Lasses / Toss The Feathers’ as well as a soothing treatment of the slow air ‘Seán Ó Duibhir a’Ghleanna’.
Piper Donnchadh Gough’s ‘Taimse Im’Chodhladh’ is superb – powerful and solidly played – and flute player Tom Doorley weighs in with two lovely tunes of his own composing. Singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, accordionist Benny McCarthy and fiddler Oisín McAuley also make fine contributions, but that won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s heard the group previously.
If this album has a flaw, it’s in the liner notes, which could have done with a dose of proof-reading: the punctuation, spelling and capitalisation are all over the place. It would also have been nice to have a bit more in the way of informa