Summer Catch-up, vol. 2: Dallahan, Gnoss, Peatbog Faeries and some oldies

…continued from Summer Catch-up, vol 1…

Before a few quick words on some fairly recent releases, I must pay tribute to some older releases.

After a very long time I returned to the two Guidewires albums (2009 and 2011, respectively) and found them just as fresh and exciting as before. The Irish-Breton lineup of Rynne, Barou, McSherry, Custy and Lynch created some seriously stunning music over a decade ago, bringing new blood and dazzle to the scene.

The first album (recorded live) has a couple of mind-boggling “celtfolk goes prog” pieces; I have done my share of playing ol skool prog rock as a drummer over the decades but I still had to do lots of close listening and counting to figure out how I would play a tune like Vicki’s World. Brilliant and fun! Too bad the third album never materialized; this lineup was dynamite.

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I also got out cellist Abby Newton‘s 1997 album Crossing to Scotland, probably the first “chamber Celtic” music I heard in my life when I got my Celtic conversion.

Produced by Alasdair Fraser, it’s still a fascinating album, full of music that’s formally close to classical but completely rooted in Scotland. Some traditional tunes, some old but composed tunes, some written for this work, all excellent. Harpist Kim Robertson, Alasdair Fraser himself and other guest musicians created music that was timeless and alive. Beautiful and soulful.

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And then to the present day. To say just a few words on some new music…

Dallahan‘s fourth album, Speak of the Devil, is the first outing of the revamped lineup that now stands as Badcock-Waite-Ryan-Morris. The arrival of the still-fairly-young fiddle wiz Benedict Morris has put a new focus and zing into the already energetic band. The songs are very good throughout but the playing is even better, close to amazing, really. The band are really together on this one and production is crisp and punchy and brings out the best in their sound.

Dallahan recently played a free outdoor gig in Helsinki and I’m happy to report that the crowd grew and grew during the gig and in the end didn’t want to let the guys go – that says a lot when I’m sure 99,3 % of the audience had never heard them before.

And if Benedict reads this (very unlikely 😄): thanks for the lovely chat after the gig, you’re super! And like my wife said on parting: “see you in Scotland!” We certainly hope so!

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The Peatbog Faeries gig in Celtic Connections 2023 was good but I felt there was a bit too much doodling and just messing about for my taste. No worries with the new album, though: I See A World is actually one of their best, for my money at least. Expertly produced and engineered by Andrea Gobbi, the album catches all sides of the Faeries perfectly and the musicians leave no room for doubt. It’s great stuff for partying but deserved a close listen as well, for both the musicianship and the production.

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Gnoss has become a big favorite in our home over the past few years and so we welcomed the arrival of Stretching Skyward this summer, especially as The Light of the Moon, in 2021, I thought was their best stuff up until that point.

However, Stretching Skyward, produced by Scott Wood, has left us with somewhat mixed feelings. There are now electronics and – gasp – electric guitars here and there, but those are ok, bands should evolve.

It just almost seems there are two bands at work here: the Rorie/Sinclair Gnoss that plays trad-based modern folk while the Aidan Moodie Gnoss goes very much in the direction of contemporary singer-songwriters. There’s not much in common anymore between Aidan’s Honey Wine and Graham’s Audrey’s.

Usually I like variety and different dynamics over an album but here something bothers me about this. And I’m not totally convinced Craig Baxter’s always amazing bodhran work needs any digital beats on the side at any point.

So, song by song, it’s a good outing, but also a bit uneven to my ears, and – well, divided, perhaps? Interesting to see what directions Gnoss take further on since this is obviously a bit of a break from they’ve used to be doing. A transitional work, quite possibly.

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Coming up soon: a closer look at two totally different but equally fantastic recent releases, Riverwoods by Salt House and Élan by Rachel Hair and Ron Jappy.

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned…