Wings

Jennifer Roland is a fiddle player par excellence from Cape Breton Island and Wings is her second album.

She brings a delicate amalgam of technical agility, subtlety and exuberance to her playing which here sees her in a variety of settings evoking echoes of Horslips, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, folk-rock and your standard ceili band.

The sparkling twelve-string guitar from Fred Lavery on ‘Back To Your Shores’ (the only song here) will stir memories of the legendary Area Code 615 while the drum loop makes it as contemporary as could be and the knockout vocals of Stephanie Hardy are worth the admission price alone. ‘Coleraine’ is what you imagine Altan might be if they went and upped their rock quotient and ‘Tears’ brings a warm Van Morrison feel to a Marino Waltz-like tune.

Throughout its thirteen tracks, Wings brings a miraculous blend of the old and new, technical wizardry and downhome feel. Jennifer Roland is a real find in a market that’s already way overcrowded. She can do soft and gentle and she can just as readily brew up a storm. She deserves to be heard, for once heard she’s unlikely to be forgotten. And she can dance too.