REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk

BENE & CORMAC - Wavelength 
Private Label BMCCCD001 

Bene is Benedict Morris from Glasgow, a fiddle player who recently won the title of BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year. Cormac is Cormac Crummey, a multi-instrumentalist from Belfast who here plays mostly guitar, with a bit of tenor guitar, banjo and bass. They met at a fleadh in Sligo, started making music together, and this is their first recorded offering.

It’s top notch music, technically hugely accomplished. Bene’s fiddling is sweet and accurate, and he adds just the right amount of ornamentation. Cormac’s no slouch on the guitar either, and he clearly understands how to accompany tunes, as well as managing to play them himself. On this album they concentrate mostly on their own compositions and those of other contemporary Scottish and Irish writers such as Hamish Napier, Aidan O’Rourke and Jeremy Kittel, and they are joined by a handful of other musicians in places.

The album opens strongly with a couple of Mike Vass tunes, including the now firmly established Cavers Of Kircudbright. The remaining tunes are all played exceptionally, but some prove more memorable that others. It’s mostly full of energy and drive, then things slow down on Jens Kommnick’s Teacht An Earraigh, which Cormac plays as a beautiful, expressive guitar solo. This and the following set of three traditional reels prove to be the high point of the album for me; the playing really being showcased to best effect here, especially when The Grafspee is slowed down in a style reminiscent of Martin Hayes. I prefer these to the contemporary offerings that are done in that ‘style’ that many newer bands have in common, and which, unfortunately, I feel tends to make them all sound the same.

That said, these guys have talent to burn, and if you like your tunes in a modern style, then look no further.

www.beneandcormac.bandcamp.com

Fiona Heywood