Mick McAuley & Winifred Horan
Serenade
Compass Records 7 4416 2; 52 minutes; 2006
When members of a band record their own albums,
there’s often a sense of different currents at work. So it proves with Serenade,
from the capable hands of Solas’s accordionist Mick McAuley and fiddler
Winifred Horan. Anyone familiar with the Irish-American band’s recent albums
such as Waiting for an Echo will be aware of its often energetic,
though rarely 
unsubtle
approach to traditional music, but Serenade, as it’s title might
suggest, is a far more mellow affair.
Despite this difference in mood, Serenade
still embodies that Solas feel, reinforced by the presence of the band’s former
guitarist Dónal Clancy and its regular guest bass-player Chico Huff. There
are notable melodic similarities, not least in a characteristically quirky
approach embodied by The Ballygar Jigs or in McAuley’s own composition,
the twisting title track itself. In contrast, Winifred’s two compositions, Little Mona Lisa
and A Daisy in December, both sweet-sounding tunes, drift towards the
soporific.
Now Kilkenny’s Mick McAuley is blessed with a mellifluous
voice, as his solo album An Ocean’s Breadth robustly proves, though he
rarely gets a chance to sing with Solas (or play whistles, bodhrán, keyboards
and guitar, as on Serenade). Yet the finest singer can often fall flat
on his face when it comes to song choice or quality control in terms of
arrangements. So it goes with a somewhat mawkish rendition of Adieu Sweet
Lovely Nancy and an unlikely cover of
After the Gold Rush which, the notes admit, owes more to Dolly
Parton than Neil Young and lacks the
Canadian’s unequivocal sense of desperation. So, overall, here’s an egg for the
curate.
This review by Geoff Wallis originally appeared in Songlines - www.songlines.co.uk.
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