A recent release reviewed

PROVIDENCE
111 Rolling River Productions
****

There's enough hearty performances packed into Providence's third album, cannily christened 111, to nourish the neediest of appetites. From the spirit-tingling opening set bookended by The Gleanntán Reel and The Midnight Reel, to the bold setting of Leslie's March paired perfectly with the slip jig, Kitty Come Down to Limerick, this is a marker of a band who have worked long to create a sound that's all their own, and at the same time sympathetic to what went before them. Micheál Ó Raghallaigh's concertina is a revelation in all its naked glory; Michelle O'Brien's fiddle is typically (and quietly) confident; and Paul Doyle's guitar and bouzouki trace shiny new patterns across the inventive tune sets. Interspersed songs struggle to reach the heights the tunes scale, suffering occasionally from over-precious production. www.providence-trad.com

Siobhan Long