Lia Luachra: "Lia Luachra" (Malgamu Records)

There is great groove and feel to this young trad-folk outfit. High in the mix are the confident strings of guitarist Jon Hicks and Declan Corey's bouzoukis and mandolins, the pair often harmonising on melodies. And there's a nice propulsive scatter to the session unison, with Tricia Hutton's fiddle arcing away fluently alongside Shane Bracken's impatient, inventive concertina, which bleats out a few tasteful tunes of his own, such as Mischief Anneal. The few contemporary folky songs on the album left me cooler than the instrumental sets: tunes picked up by ear in Clare sessions and jammed in together with tunes of their own. Produced by Galway-based piano accordionist Alan Kelly, they give a strong sense of a new semi-urbanised trad generation, musically stimulated, suitably pheromoned and very creative.

Mic Moroney

Pat Gallagher and Goats Don't Shave: "Tor" (Cooking Vinyl/Warner)

Besides influences from Mick Hanly to Lloyd Cole, the informing principle behind this Donegal songwriter's ballad-album is the raw raggle-taggle of Mike Scott and the Waterboys. Gallagher's songs are deeply personal and often traumatised: songs of nostalgia for better years in Gweedore Bay, or the "little fingers" stuff about his four-year-old, Sarah; the fractured wonder of A Woman Like You, or the weirder bile of Ode To A Bitch; or You're Killing Me, the kind of unhappy love song you'd love to floor with a handbag. But the voice is strong and the Goats maintain a taut choo-choo dynamic, touched up with plangent guitars, mandolins, sax, and the articulate edge of Stephen Campbell's fiddle.

Mic Moroney

Lyle Lovett: "Step Inside This House" (MCA)

For his seventh album Lyle Lovett has pulled a typically surprising stroke: a 21-track double CD of other people's songs, the link being that the featured songwriters are all from his native Texas and many have influenced him greatly. The hallmark of Lovett's work to date has been the considered intelligence he brings to his songs: he is no less discriminating in his choice of covers and his performance of them. There are some old names and some new ones, but it is two old-timers who stand out - the late Walter Hyatt and Steven Fromholz. The latter's Bears and Texas Trilogy are straight out of Lovett's songbook of obscure themes and grainy images, while Hyatt's Teach Me About Love is a lesson in light-fingered country swing.

Joe Breen