May 2004
"With Friends like these, who needs big-name guest musicians? O'Shea (guitars, vocals, bodhran, bones) is joined by Barry Magee (concertina), Paddy Jones (fiddle), Ger Culhane (accordion) and Matt Bashford (pipes, clarinet, low whistle) for his third album of songs and tunes that linger in the memory.
The tunes are firmly rooted in the Sliabh Luachra tradition with slides and polkas taking centre stage; even the reels and jigs have the familiar Slaibh Lauchara lift - that combination of 'busyness' and effortless languor which the best musicians of this part of the world project. When accompanying tunes, O'Shea has all the muscularity of Steve Cooney. When accompanying the songs he demonstrates a lightness of touch and a feel for the depths of his material which ensures that his material is beautifully backlit.
A cover of Ron Kavan's 'Reconciliation' brings out a whole new layer of meaning and poignancy. His own 'Lake of Learning', around which Bashford weaves snatches of 'O'Neill's March', is an odyssey through myth, legend and recorded history, centred on Loch Lein - the largest of the Lakes of Killarney.
Listen out for an absolutely cracking SLOW VERSION OF Cronin's Hornpipe by Magee. The pace allows Magee to ornament the tune subtly and masterfully and puts paid to the lie that music needs a bit of speed to capture it's pulse.
A subtle, restrained and deeply musical album from subtle, restrained and musical artists".
