Admitted: I wasn’t too happy with Beoga’s previous album Carousel all of five years ago. This band was one of the first in the Celtic scene that I really got into when I had my conversion to Celtic and later English and Nordic folk music. Their first three albums really made an impression and confirmed for me that this sphere of music is not confined to repeating old patterns and forms, and can kind of reinvent itself.
So Beoga were in a way, for me, in the same batch of modern Celtic or Celtic based music as, say, Capercaillie or Ross Ainslie. Bands and musicians such as these played an immense role in launching my new musical life. Without them, I would not be doing this now.
I love both traditional styles and the contemporary, modern, updated styles of Celtic music. So I have nothing against going a bit digital or adding synths and sequencers. Quite the contrary, as I love bands, like Peatbog Fairies. But for some reason, the way Beoga used all the tech on Carousel was something I could not get into. It seemed, in my ears, kind of forced and just not too exciting.
So I approached Phases with some trepidation; is this going to be Carousel number two or something completely different or perhaps a return to their earlier years?
As it turned out, Phases is an immensely enjoyable album. As the name seems to imply, it takes on the various styles and changes the band has seen over the years and brings them all to the table.
You have more traditional style tunes, such as the opening Anne Bonny, and you have much more modern stuff with all the digital enhancements, such as the absolutely fun Tradfather (that reminds me quite a bit of Flashback, by Mec Lir, from a few years back) or the very ambient and atmospheric Firewater. And you have quite a few tracks (Subject to Change and the title track, for example) that are pretty traditional tunewise but arranged for the 2020s in perhaps quite the same spirit as a band like Mànran does over in Scotland.
Throughout, the band sounds like they’re having a very good time and, of course, the lead vocals by Niamh Dunne are priceless. Overall, Beoga sound very much alive here, in a completely different form than they did on the previous album.
Phases is one of those albums I like to put on to both enjoy quality musicianship and to just have a good and uplifting time. God knows one needs that in these times we’re living.
FolkNotes 