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Islands, and the clashes between traditional folk culture and slick urbane modernity, all of which is highly appropriate.
The album format is much as always, mix- ing tune sets and songs (Aaron Kramer’s poem In Contempt is set to a new tune, and Andy Mitchell’s excellent Indiana appears too), but with Ewen Henderson and Sean O’Donnell sharing the vocals there is more emphasis on Gaelic songs than in some earlier incarnations of the band. In addition, Henderson and Mike Katz doubling up on pipes against Alasdair White’s superb fiddling lend an urgency and excitement that was perhaps slightly lacking from their last album. Always a tremendous live act, Room Enough For All goes a long way to capturing that Battlefield essence.
www.templerecords.co.uk Bob Walton
LAURA-BETH SALTER Breathe Shee Records LBSHEE001
She of The Shee embarks on a solo album rooted in her own material, with Tim O’Brien’s Brother Wind and a vigorous version of Bob Dylan’s Meet Me In The Morning thrown in for good measure. It’s a desperately overcrowded arena she’s entering and a cou- ple of the songs do quickly disappear into singer-songwriter oblivion, but Salter has many saving graces. Her own invigorating mandolin playing is one; a voice of appealing warmth and vulnerability another; while a small but telling supporting cast – notably Adam Sutherland’s fiddle and James Lindsay’s lovely double bass – ensure the instrumental side of things flourishes, well marshalled into effectively understated arrangements with a superb sound quality for good measure. All contribute to lifting the album above and beyond the morass. She’s no Karine Polwart, that’s for sure, but songs like Carry Me and
Big River offer a welcome soulfulness that sets them apart from the pop-folk anonymity of so many artists in this field.
www.laurabethsalter.com Colin Irwin
LE VENT DU NORD Tromper Le Temps Borealis BCD214
Having listened to all their album and seen them on their first UK tour in a small school, it has been a great pleasure to see this quar- tet’s status grow in the ten years since first hearing their name. This summer they are back for another tour that sees them with headline appearances at Cambridge. Sid- mouth, Womad, Warwick and other leading festivals… in addition they offer this lovely new album, their seventh.
Inevitably, there will be comparisons with those other giants of Québécois music, La Bottine Souriante. Unlike those trail - blazers, they have not, so far, felt the need for a radical change in their approach. This is not to suggest that they have not progressed; this album shows more style, attack and con- fidence. In fact ,every album has shown them stepping forward.
All four are good singers and multi- instrumentalists, but it is the voice of Simon Beaudry that commands most attention and along with the accordeon playing of Réjean Brunet, but for all their individual strengths is the vitality, variety and subtlety of their ensemble playing that pleases the ear most.
The songs and tunes that are featured here are from a variety of sources. Some are straightforward interpretations of traditional songs, others are settings of lyrics found in the notebooks of old singers that only con- tain words, though the majority are composi- tions by each of the band members with all
songs being sung in Canadian French. Such is this band’s commitment to the tradition that it would take a great expert on Québécois music to sort the traditional from the mod- ern. The structure of Nicolas Boulerice’s pow- erful anti-fracking composition Le Diable Et Le Fermier, performed by the four of them to a marching boots accompaniment closely fol- lows the call and response structure so typical of these songs and uses images and word structure that would be found in traditional song. Clever stuff.
www.borealisrecords.com Vic Smith
THE PAUL McKENNA BAND Elements Greentrax, CDTRAX373
The Paul McKenna Band’s repertoire and compositions draw on the traditional songs and tunes of Scotland, Ireland and North America. This, their third album, contains shrewdly-chosen songs with rhythmic and inventive arrangements that give a lively energy from start to finish. The line-up is Paul McKenna (lead vocal, guitars), David McNee (bouzouki, tenor guitar, vocals), Seán Gray (flute, whistles, guitar, vocals), Ewan Baird (bodhrán, percussion, vocals) and Mike Vass (fiddle, tenor banjo).
What makes the Paul McKenna Band stand out from the crowd is their great story- telling ability. They really get you on the edge of your seat, gripped by the unfolding narra- tive. The band’s striking asset in the storytelling department is lead vocalist Paul McKenna him- self. His high vocal has a slight tremble to it that brims with feeling: tender but intense, full of pent-up emotion. It’s a distinctive voice unlike anybody else’s, although it reminds me of Tracey Chapman’s: the same quiver to the voice, the same highly-charged intensity.
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