A couple things in the media yoke this week. First of is the eponymous debut album from the band Tempest. “Tempest” is a four piece from the north of Ireland that consists of Brendan Mulholland (flute), Bláithín Mhic Cana (vocals), Aaron O’Hagan (uilleann pipes) and Luke Ward (bouzouki and vocals) and has put together a lovely, dynamic bit of music for trad fans to enjoy.
Formed in 2023, Tempest describes itself as being “firmly rooted in the heritage, song and music of their native Ulster” with a particular focus on South Armagh’s singing tradition and the northern province’s melodic heritage. Readers will remember Mulholland as the man from Glenavy, Co. Antrim behind “Bartin’s Bay”, an album of outstanding flute music, an album I wrote about last year. Mhic Cana, from Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh, is a fluent Irish speaker and comes from a family of traditional singers. She teaches at the Teileann Gaeltacht summer college in Donegal and has explored the Irish language song tradition of Armagh. From Belfast, O’Hagan is and is a fine musician and a flute and pipes maker of repute. Ward also based in Belfast, is a strong part of the scene there and performs regularly with O’Hagan.
The music on this album is strong and well executed. Each musician gives a robust performance and the way the playing comes together suggests a level of familiarity that benefits the listener. The instrumental tracks are tastefully executed and feature a level of arrangement that allows the music to breathe. I particularly like “Killarney Boys of Pleasure / Spike Island Lassies” in this respect, especially the interplay between Mulholland and O’Hagan as the track builds to its climax. “Dáithí’s Dance / The Enchanted Lady / Joe Cooley’s Delight” has a similar sort of attraction for my ears as well. Mhic Cana is featured on several tracks, with “Poirt Oirialla” one of the two I find most engaging as she gives a great performance and it sports variety in its arrangement. Ward’s background vocals shine here. But perhaps the finest of her features is “Úirchill An Chreagáin,” in which she delivers a wonderfully wrought rendition of this superb Ulster song.
Great stuff from Tempest on their first album. The musicianship and vision is strong and definitely one for the collection, especially if you enjoy great music and want to better know the goings on with bands from the north. For more info on how to listen and purchase, visit here.
The other yoke’d album is “Worlds Collide,” a product of Padraig Rynne’s group NOTIFY that also features the Irish Concertina Orchestra and the MGCE Concert Orchestra (conducted by Cormac McCarthy). It was recorded – without overdub or intervention – at Glór theatre in Ennis and is a remarkable bit of trad adjacent music that many trad fans might have no idea what to do with, except enjoy.
As I’ve written before in this column, Rynne’s music in general isn’t work that I’d consider “traditional” in outlook. Rather, it’s the product of a formative experience deeply rooted in traditional playing that at some point along the line became heavily informed by all sorts of other sounds and musical impulses. Because Rynne has an outlandishly broad musical vision, he’s been able to create music that has an incredibly sophisticated artistic flow unlike most anything else out there. Having people like Breen to work with – also an astonishingly good musician – allows him to realize his various creative visions with what seems like relative ease.
The album features an ambitious cast of players. NOTIFY, which is front and center, is made up of Rynne (concertina), Tara Breen (fiddle), Davie Ryan (drums), Adam Taylor (electric bass), Rory McCarthy (keyboards), and Hugh Dillon (electric guitar); they’re joined here by the great Jim Murray (acoustic guitars), with whom Rynne and Breen tour regularly. That’s a fair sized group, but that doesn’t take into account the Irish Concertina Orchestra, which comprises 37 musicians, and MGCE Concert Orchestra, which has 19, not including McCarthy. As you might imagine, it’s an impressive and large overall sound.
Having listened to a generous amount of Rynne’s work over the years, the word this album brings to mind is “transformative.” Let’s take its first track as an example, “May’s Smile / Amber Spring,” a pair of tunes that listeners might know from Rynne’s “Notify” (and also “The Basement Sessions”) and “Conscious” albums respectively. The treatment these tunes are given here is a far cry from that they were given in their original state. Rynne has done a lot to change their trajectory in intriguing and bold ways, with the results being very “cinematic” to my ears. “La Grene,” which I know from the “Airneán” album, is another tune that has become very different, set in a way to accommodate the much expanded ensemble. Larger, grander – it’s a full body experience, but one that rewards a close listening. Then there’s a track like “The Passing of Life” from the Irish Concertina Ensemble’s album “ZERO,” which is fairly faithful to its original form and given a beautiful airing here.
“Worlds Collide” is a superb bit of work. The new ideas are great, the live energy is captured well on the recording, and the thing that binds it all together is the sound of the concertina – Rynne’s very forward thinking approach gives his music a real individual sound and a character that has its own identity. His sound comes through in spades here. Yes, the music here is transformative but its not transmogrative, and the result is a delightful collection of tracks, especially for fans of the sort of modern sounds you might hear from Rynne, or bands like the ollam, Síomha, and others. Check it out if you want something expansive and beautiful to occupy your ears! To learn more and to purchase, visit here. https://www.notify.ie/.
