Latest CD releases reviewed

BRÍD NÍ MHAOILEOIN WITH ALAN BURKE
Ar Mhuin Na Muice  Habari Records

The Donegal singer's début whispers of gentility, but once the epidermis is peeled away, a strapping personality emerges that'd put legs on the coyest of songs. Ní Mhaoileoin's vocals are seasoned by her years as a member of Ceoltóirí Ghoill, and. Partnered by guitarist and singer Alan Burke, Ar Mhuin na Muice is laced with a love of history and geography, and a delight in tweaking well-known songs into shapes previously unseen. At times the production leans towards overweening politeness, but Ní Mhaoileoin's reading of standards and rarities (Níon a Bhaoilaigh), and her feisty a capella version of A Stór a Stór a Ghrá, accompanied by her sister and brother, Caitlín and Pádraig, speak of a singer with an unquenchable fire in her belly.

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Siobhán Long