ALAN REID & RACHEL CONLAN - A Quare Yield
Private Label
Not the founding member of Battlefield Band - this Alan Reid is a banjo-player from Leitrim, and he's joined by Wicklow fiddler Rachel Conlan for an album of warm relaxed duets. There are some departures from the fiddle-banjo sound, but most of A Quare Yield is the sort of music you'd hear at a very good rural session - unhurried, totally comfortable, and well polished by decades of familiarity. Reels are in the minority, with a preponderance of jigs and a few other forms. There are one or two surprises - a Swedish polka, a crooked version of the hop jig, Top It Off, and a lovely version of the slow jig, Manorhamilton The 8th Of May on Turkish oud (fretless lute) and Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, well worth hearing.
The rest of Reid and Conlan's tunes jog along very pleasantly: The New Century Hornpipe, Glengarry's Foxhunter, Nancy Harling's, a delicious low fling-time rendition of The Limestone Rock, and a couple of brisker reels such as The Milky Way and The Highest Hill In Sligo. The notes on each track are excellent, giving sources and often composers - Joe Liddy, Larry Redican, box players including Michael Kennedy and Finbarr Dwyer, and fiddlers Ed Reavy and Charlie Lennon. There's a touch of accompaniment in places, but never too much, allowing the warmth and sincerity of this music to come across unhindered.
www.alanreid.bandcamp.com
Alex Monaghan
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