Alec Brown – The Stepping Stone review: man with the mellow cello

Arkansas cellist Alec Brown is on a mission to bring it on down in Irish traditional music: lowering the tone in the best possible sense. This is a thought-provoking project, where Brown's cello swaps notes with fiddle, flute, accordion, bodhrán and guitar, with guests including Niall Keegan from UL's Irish World Academy and a host of fellow students.

Considering the muscular power of the cello, Brown’s preference is for subtle engagement with both his chosen tunes and his collaborators. His own compositions are deliciously atmospheric, resistant to the lure of convention, with echoes perhaps, of Brown’s tutelage by the experimental cellist, Rushad Eggleston.

At times he errs on the side of caution, allowing the cello to slip too far down in the instrumental mix: a signal solely of the modesty of this very fine debut. alecbrownmusic.com