Lúnasa
Click on the album title above
to head directly to the review.
Compass Records 7 4377 2; 40 minutes; 2004
The legal
machinations surrounding Lúnasa’s last release, Redwood, almost saw that
album sinking without trace and taking this influential Irish band with it.
Recorded before an invited audience at County Offaly’s Kinnitty Castle, The
Kinnitty Sessions marks a deliberate attempt to recreate Lúnasa’s
independence and regain control over their music and recorded output. 
That being
said, this, their fifth album, is a musical oddity – a live album with nary a
trace of the trappings normally associated with such products – no applause, no
shouts for favourite tunes, not even a cry of “Good man, Kevin”!
As ever,
Lúnasa’s strengths lie in the subtle combination of melodic exuberance embraced
by the three lead instruments (Seán Smyth’s fiddle, Kevin Crawford’s flute and
whistles, and Cillian Vallely’s uilleann pipes and whistles) and their
signature driving rhythm section (comprising of Donogh Hennessy’s guitar and
Trevor Hutchinson’s double bass). They’re unusual too, as the opening Stolen
Purse demonstrates, in eschewing the constant unison playing employed by
most Irish traditional bands. Kevin, in particular, often utilises jazzy tonal
shapes to reinforce the melody. Equally, too, guitar and bass sometimes combine
to produce an effervescent, rolling beat, as on Island Paddy, of which
many a rock band would be proud.
Maintaining
variety and, consequently, listener interest is a problem faced by all traditional
instrumental bands and Lúnasa succeed by permutating their line-up, allowing a
wonderful solo The Wounded Hussar from Cillian’s pipes and, elsewhere,
playing as a trio or quartet. Ultimately, however, it’s the joyful interplay on
The Four Courts reel which lingers in the memory. But why does Donogh
Hennessy look as though he’s about to deck the photographer on the album’s
cover?
Compass Records 74422 2; 48
minutes; 2006
Sé is the
Irish word for ‘six’ and reflects the numerical fact that this is indeed the
Irish instrumental band’s sixth album. Nowadays Lúnasa are down to a foursome
and resisted the temptation to replace their inimicable former guitarist Donogh
Hennessy, whose sheer layers of sound in conjunction with extant member Trevor
Hutchinson’s double bass provided such a formidable bedrock for the trio of
melody leads (Seán Smyth fiddle, Kevin Crawford flute and Cillian Vallely on
uilleann pipes – all three providing whistles too). Instead Lúnasa opts
here for three guitarists, singly or in twosomes – Paul Meehan, Tim Edey and
Conor Brady – as well as adding Pat Fitzgerald on piano for a couple of tracks
and the unlikely presence of trombonist Karl Ronan on a set of Spanish tunes, Midnight
in Avilés.
However, while said inclusions go some way towards
filling the Hennessy gap (though his compositional skills are sadly missed),
there’s an overriding sense in Sé that Lúnasa need to consider
reformulating their basic equation. Unlike perhaps their closest comparison,
Flook, there’s an omnipresent feeling that Lúnasa are over-reliant on the
re-excavation of old ground. True, there are plenty of tunes here (drawn from a
variety of sources, either traditional or more recent compositions) which bear
that distinct Lúnasa imprimatur, but the bulk lack memorability and their
arrangements veer towards the predictable for anyone familiar with previous
releases. Lúnasa’s musicianship can never be faulted, but perhaps it’s time for
the band to reconsider its direction.
Compass Records 74475 2; 68
minutes; 2008
As
its title suggests, this CD attempts to be a retrospective of Lúnasa’s
development to date, but whether a band which has only released six albums
needs such an artifice of attention is open to debate. Indeed said title is
somewhat misleading since, rather than providing a coherent narrative, perhaps
ordered chronologically or thematically, The Story So Far … leaps from
album to album, thus providing a series of snapshots rather than a cogent
whole.
The waters are muddied by the
fact that some tracks have been remastered by the band’s bassist, Trevor
Hutchinson, though others replicate their original album appearances, while Morning
Nightcap, from The Merry Sisters of Fate, and Aibreann, from the
debut album, have been completely re-recorded (though back in Nashville in
2006). It’s beyond the scope of this
reviewer’s time to assess whether these newer versions genuinely supersede
their predecessors in terms of quality.
However,
this compilation does capture the essence of the band’s sound, and probably
best so via The Floating Crowbar/Splendid Isolation. Yet, and
it’s a very big ‘yet’, no matter how much the musicians sparkle, whether
individually or as a collective, the overriding impression is of a band which
lacks a soul. Perhaps the whole concept of Lúnasa was flawed in the first place
and I’ll leave others to ponder that question.
These first two reviews by Geoff Wallis originally appeared in Songlines - www.songlines.co.uk – the third has not been published elsewhere.
Click here for more information about Lúnasa or here to visit the webpages of Compass Records.