Dervish - At End of Day

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Music reviews of At End of Day

Music Review: Irish music at it best
Rating: 5 Stars

Irish traditional music can abound in cliches - mawkish melancholy; repetitious unison playing; stage-Irish accents and all that "ar-diddle-diddle" stuff.

Then again Irish music can sound like Dervish. This young six-piece group recently produced its fourth album of traditional music. It is superb - almost totally devoid of cliche.

What lifts Dervish above the pack isn't immediately clear. They play all the sorts of tunes, sing all the types of songs that the average Paddies do. But after a couple of listens it's clear, for a start, that each individual is brilliant at what he or she does. From fiddle to accordion; whistle to guitar; bouzouki to bodhran, each instrumentalist is full of confidence and finesse. The wonderful voice of Cathy Jordan too is an ornament.

But the chief genius of the group is the light and shade they give to arrangements. Their sense of the dynamic of a tune or the emotional scope of a song comes through in their arrangements. Neither are they afraid to stretch the boundaries of the tradition. A slow Swedish instrumental ("Josefin's Waltz") - in which they are joined by Swedish group Vasen - is one of the album highlights.

The total sound of this album is so fresh, so together, that Dervish stands head and shoulders above most. Irish music fans should crawl over broken glass to get this great album!

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