TRADITIONAL

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SIOBHÁN O'BRIEN

Songs I Grew Up With

No Label

***

Limerick singer Siobhán O'Brien treads a vocal pathway forged with such brio by Susan McKeown. This collection shimmers through the low-key yet sympathetic arrangements of songs borrowed from her childhood, her beloved Radio Luxembourg and her family get-togethers. Her uncle, Brendan Bowyer, lends unbelievably delicate vocals to O'Brien's reading of Scarlet Ribbons, a song rooted in the past that somehow transgresses the chasms of the decades with the fleetest of footfalls. Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains adds suitably haunting pipes and whistles to The Long Black Veil, a song to which he's no stranger himself. A sweet, ultimately satisfying snapshot of a singer still building her identity through a repertoire that stretches from the grindingly familiar (Lakes Of Pontchartrain) to the unapologetically fresh faced (In My Room).  www.siobhanobrien.com SIOBHÁN LONG

© 2008 The Irish Times