DAVID KOSKY & DAMIEN O’KANE


The Mystery Inch Pure Records PRCD30


jigs, and damned fine ones, jogging off into the sunset on a pair of chestnut guitars. Then the bonus track bursts in like the taxi at the end of Blazing Saddles and brings us back to reality. Good music played hard, played soft, and everything in between: The Mystery Inch is bigger than it sounds, and will certainly put a smile on the face of banjo fans.


Alex Monaghan ANGUS NICOLSON TRIO


Lasses That Baffle Us Fires On The Shore FOTS2


don’t feel any of the other stuff is needed. But that said, this is still an excellent debut CD with some good solid playing. Watch out for them playing live – I bet they will go down a storm.


Fiona Heywood TIM EDEY & BRENDAN


POWER Wriggle & Writhe Gnatbite Records GB010


Damien plays banjo and David plays guitar, with a bit of instrument-swapping and a couple of friends dropping in. Not sure why the names are this way round - O’Kane definitely leads, with Kosky accompanying and harmonising, doing much more than the average accompanist but still in the background most of the time. Maybe they’re trying to pretend this isn’t a banjo CD, or distancing this from Damien’s singing career. In any case, neither player has anything to be ashamed of here: the music sparkles throughout.


Google O’Kane, and you’ll discover he is “a blue-eyed, brown-eyed Northern Irishman” whose singing has evoked fulsome praise, even comparisons with his partner Kate Rusby. But that’s not the Damien O’Kane on this album. The Mystery Inch is all about banjo, in the footsteps of Gerry O’Connor, and starts with a cracking pair of traditional jigs bracketing the title tune, one of three Kosky compositions here. Reels, and the grand old slip jig Elizabeth Kelly’s Delight bring us to the first slow section: two more Kosky tunes played in lazy laid-back mode. The same pair of jigs crops up at speed as a final bonus, but for now the lads stay mellow with Marga’s Moment, a gentle 7/8 air by Armagh fluter Brian Finnegan. These slower tunes give Kosky a chance to shine, playing melody and double-stopping, before Damien launches into a version of The Humours of Tulla.


Na Ceannabhain Bhána has long been a favourite of mine, and the addition of three more fine musicians makes this track doubly enjoyable. Danny Cameron and Carmel O’Dea bring button box and fiddle to the party, while John Joe Kelly batters away on his hi-tech drum. The tempo drops again for a couple of O’Kane tunes, before a funky reel by a young Scottish fluter. More reels, this time by Damien, raise the vexed question of what counts as a new tune: then it’s into three classic jigs and another Scottish connection with The Seagull. A touch of technical magic brings bass banjo to the earth-trembling Bowelshifter, followed by a fine set of reels which deserve better names. Kosky and O’Kane finish as they started, with


The Living Tradition - Page 48


This is the debut recording from this trio of lads all hailing from Skye, fronted by Angus Nicolson on Highland and Border pipes and whistles. The remaining two thirds are Andrew MacPherson on bodhran and whistles, and Murdo Cameron on guitar and accordion.


Angus is a cracking piper, and the combination of guitar and bodhran behind him is a winning one. It’s tight, it’s exciting and it’s perfectly executed. At times the guitar / bodhran accompaniment is strikingly similar to Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly’s partnership in Flook! And in my opinion it doesn’t come much better than that.


The tunes picked are in the main from the Highlands and Islands with a few traditional Irish ones thrown in, and one of Angus’ own compositions for good measure. They ooze Scottishness, particularly in the marches which Angus makes a lovely job of. They are old and yet very fresh, and have a robust modern feel.


There is so much to applaud here, and in the main the CD is excellent, but for me, there is a but! It may be an eagerness to be a bit different, it may be an influence from outside the trio, I don’t know, but the arrangements are sometimes a bit over the top for me. Quite a few tracks feature a brass backing. I think brass can work really well at times and can really augment the music (Michael McGoldrick, La Boutine Souriante and Kate Rusby being good examples) but on this occasion I feel it lacks a bit of subtlety and often detracts from the tunes.


Both the brass and other “orchestration” are quite high in the overall mix, perhaps if they were a bit quieter it might work better. In any case, the trio’s musicianship is such, that I


English button-box player Tim Edey and Kiwi moothie magician Brendan Power come together for seventeen tracks of absorbing music. Mainly celtic, their broad brush touches blues, Balkan, and everything in between. Roughly half the material here is traditional, with most of the rest composed by Power and Edey.


They sing two songs each to leaven the mix. Brendan’s V For Blues is in true Mississippi delta style, while his wryly comic Our Lady Of The Road pays homage to the voice of SatNav. Tim draws on Enda McCabe for Wind And Tides Permitting, a serious ballad of love and blighted timetables, and on Steve Cooney for Bless The Road. They also throw in the lovely air Inisheer by Thomas Walsh with Tim on fingerpicked guitar, one of several gentler tracks.


The mix of Irish and black American styles is potent indeed. Celtic Thunder, The Corkscrew, The Red Haired Lass,The Tip Of the Iceberg, and several other tracks blend blues, trad, jazz, ragtime and showtime in a heady cocktail. Brendan reworks favourites such as The Mountain Road and The Connaughtman’s Rambles, while Tim brings Nordic influences to bear on his Baltic Crossing.


A Carolan air and Tim’s composition Why both provide respite from the free-reed firepower on display, while Danovska Horo and the title track both exhibit virtuosic exuberance. The final march Irene Meldrum’s Farewell To Bon Accord combines a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Scottish tradition with a chance for everyone to catch their breath. Edey and Power provide a full hour of fantastic music, fiery and fun, with enough tender moments to break up the tension: a very classy act, and another candidate for my 2011 Top Ten list.


Alex Monaghan Sponsored by BIrnam CD


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