fri 22/11/2024

CD: CrossHarbour - CrossHarbour | reviews, news & interviews

CD: CrossHarbour - CrossHarbour

CD: CrossHarbour - CrossHarbour

Fine debut album from traditional Irish quintet should have broad appeal

Sumptuous group sound: CrossHarbour

Materializing out of London's thriving traditional Irish music scene, this debut recording from new five-piece CrossHarbour presents an 11-track collection whose appeal should go way beyond traditional Irish music initiates. Featuring a judicious mix of tunes and songs, the quintet's musicianship is fabulously impressive.

In flute player Órlaith McAuliffe the band has a once-in-a-generation talent, a brilliant, preposterously accomplished musician who has bagged so many All-Ireland titles that her mantelpiece must be groaning under the weight. The band's other melody player, fiddler Sam Proctor, is an incredibly neat player whose crisply executed bow trebles help to drive the music inexorably forward. In the engine room, you couldn't blow smoke between the energizing backing of guitarist Philippe Barnes and bouzouki/bodhrán player Tad Sargent. A finalist in the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards, the mellifluous tones of vocalist Rosie Hodgson rounds out the quintet.

With their sparkling (occasionally bass-driven) arrangements and ear-catching detail, it's fascinating to pick out echoes of traditional Irish groups past and present, Lúnasa and Deiseal in particular. Driven along by Barnes's funky chording, album opener “Wedding Dress” – the first of four songs – is the perfect showcase for the group's sumptuous sound.

“The Higher Drive”, the stand-out instrumental set, kicks off with the oft-recorded “Jackson's Reel”, which McAuliffe rips into with aplomb, followed by “The Black Haired Lass” – the almighty rhythmic power of the tune-playing combining magically here with the powerful offbeats of guitar and bodhrán – before the band ease into cruise control for the appositely titled “The High Drive”.

Elsewhere, the gently tintinnabulating introduction to “Afterhours” is a delight, while the pick of the songs, “Blackwaterside”, inhabits a reflective world of melancholy, the engulfing beauty of the arrangement lingering long in the memory.

Overleaf: watch CrossHarbour perform at the St Patrick's Day Festival, London

The pick of the songs, 'Blackwaterside', inhabits a reflective world of melancholy, the engulfing beauty of the arrangement lingering long in the memory

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters