The sophomore effort from this very young Irish band is one of the best traditional folk albums to come out this year; not since the early work of has a new group sounded this fresh and exciting. draws almost exclusively from traditional sources, but its members aren't afraid to mess around with tradition when it pleases them (throwing, for example, the occasional contrapuntal harmony line into the mix on the reel ), nor is their playing bogged down by earnest folkie reverence. Bodhran player is especially creative, holding the pulse down firmly, yet varying his rhythmic and timbral approach widely from tune to tune. Singer is underused, appearing only on a few tracks, some of which are among the album's best. His singing on and is gently lovely, and he even manages to breathe new life into as tired a song as which is one of this disc's highlights. The instrumental sets are also uniformly excellent. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson