A nice trip for us in this review to talk about, and listen to, contemporary Irish instrumental band, Notify, who earlier this year released their third album via Liosbeg Records, Airneán, which is an Irish Gaelic word meaning night visiting or staying up late at night in a social gathering, and per a review posted on the band’s website at https://www.notify.ie/ is a nod to the band’s nocturnal recording habits. This website loves modern, local roots music, and I have reviewed in the past couple of years some marvellous music from Scotland, Wales, and Isle of Man, so it is a pleasure to finally bring Eire on board.
You can order this album from the website, but it is also available via Bandcamp at https://notify.bandcamp.com/album/airne-n
The band are Pádraig Rynne on concertinas; Tara Breen plays fiddle; Davie Ryan on drums and percussion; Adam Taylor on electric bass; Rory McCarthy piano, Fender Rhodes and keys; and Hugh Dillon who plays acoustic & electric guitars.
For this album, they have brought in some guests to enhance the album, and they are Niall McCabe (vocals on track 3); Séamus and Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta (vocals on track 1, 5 & 8); Tyler Duncan (Uilleann pipes on track 4 & low whistle on track 7); and Alex Borwick (Fender Rhodes on track 4).
So, let’s discuss and play. We open with The Strangest Thing, a video of which is embedded below for you to enjoy. It is influenced by a television series, Stranger Things, an American horror/sci-fi series which featured Winona Ryder. At 6:35, this is the longest track on the album, and immediately you are struck by the beautiful piano accompanying the concertina. It started off as a polka, but developed into this piece, and the musicianship is what struck me from the off, a plaintive fiddle, delicate rhythm section, and concertina leading the charge, and note the wistful voices which I think more traditional progressive rock readers of mine will enjoy and think of Iona when they listen. A strong start to proceedings which nods to past influences but is most firmly created with and of the present.
Other Side of the Glass is a piece which Pádraig Rynne has written in memory of his mother, remembering her waiting in the window of the family home to welcome him back from school, so immediately what we get here, as with the best of all such music, is a musical story which can instantly be recognised by all, real life experiences as opposed to the sword & sorcery variety, and the concertina and fiddle combining especially brings us that sense of excitement that a young boy with a loving mother has of anticipating the welcome home. There is some beautifully delicate music on this as well, guitars, bass, and Rhodes. This can really be described as a warm folk-jazz fusion piece, and I like it a lot.
Tá mé i mo shuí / Murray's Potion follows, and the first part is a traditional Irish song about lovesickness and the meeting of a banshee, leading into a jig written for a great friend of Tara and Pádraig’s, Jim Murray and his approach to music and life. The vocals on this by Niall McCabe are tremendous with some fine harmonies. A celebration of life, and a joy to listen to.
Arty’s Words is written for Arty McGlynn, an influential Irish musician who persuaded Rynne to take music up as a profession in the 1990’s. The gentle piano at the start of this is simply beautiful, and the concertina expresses the words of the mentor in a positive “go for it” manner, this strengthened when the fiddle joins forces. Regular readers of my reviews will, of course, be familiar with the great Troy Donockley on Uilleann Pipes, and here Tyler Duncan provides us with a fine example of his craft supporting the lead. I have embedded this track below, something which is full of the joy of music and life, with some of the keyboard notes especially poignant before Dillon provides us with some fine guitar work, haunting and dextrous.
A Chomaraigh Aoibhinn Ó is a traditional song arranged by the band with vocalists, Séamus & Caoimhe Uí Fhlatharta. It tells a story of the Comeragh mountains in Co. Waterford and a person’s longing to return home. This beautiful, haunting piece of music is also embedded below, and simply sit back and allow Caoimhe’s lead voice and her harmonies with Séamus to wash over you, the instrumentation in the background perfectly pitched.
Idir is a direct follow-up to that track of beauty, and means “between”, Rynne & McCarthy composing the short piece after hearing the song, with a dreamy concertina accompanied by such a delicate set of ivories.
La Grene is the penultimate track and written by the guitarist, Hugh Dillon, who again demonstrates his dexterity on the frets, whilst Duncan returns, this time with a low whistle. This is an interesting track, a sort of jazz fusion (particularly with the bass melody) meets traditional jig, and I really enjoy the drum work on this.
We finish with An raibh tú ar an gCarraig, another traditional song arranged by the band and those wonderful guest vocalists. There is an interesting backstory to this. It was an old sean nÓs (unaccompanied, traditional Irish vocal music sung in the native tongue) song from Connemara and is translated as “were you at the rock”, referring to a time when the British ruled the country and the population was not allowed to speak Irish or say mass (a similar edict was imposed upon the Welsh in past days where I live, and is a continued source of antipathy from a small number of the population to incomers such as I), so they would go to slabs of rock and say mass, “were you at the rock” being code for “were you at mass”. Fascinating stuff, and really when I hear politicians especially in this election time glamorising our past, music such as this does put into a real context the darker element of British rule and the shocking way people were treated. You do not need to understand the words to appreciate the pain and lament inherent in them in a stunning vocal performance and the mournful fiddle and concertina in particular, alongside some delicate keys and acoustic guitar.
I am grateful to Notify for reaching out to the website. Airneán is a deeply mature album, oozing with traditional sounds, but in a thoroughly modern setting. For those of my readers who take progressive rock as their starting point, I would say that if you get pleasure, as I do, from the likes of Iona, then you will find plenty to enjoy here, and as such I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending that you take yourselves over to the Bandcamp page to avail yourself of a cultural highlight of 2024 for me.