Cormac Breatnach

Éalú Dioscaí Mandala***

Whistle-player Cormac Breatnach made his mark with Deiseal in the 1990s and, later, duetting with Martin Dunlea on 2001's fine Music for Whistle and Guitar. Eleven years on, and Breatnach's jazz, Galician and Basque influences are still tangible, but this time round he's on an altogether more personal odyssey. Éalú, true to its meaning ("escape" or "evasion"), steals into shadowy corners where Breatnach's whistle toys with a range of disparate shapes and sounds, straddling traditional Irish, original tune compositions and slow airs. Vanessa Williams is guest vocalist on the ineffably maudlin Land of Open Welcome, based on lyrics written by poet Theo Dorgan, seguing earnestly into Thomas Moore's The Minstrel Boy.With guest musicians drawn from Africa, Japan, the US and Ireland, Éalúsuffers from an excess of ideas, many of them struggling to find purchase in this ambitious melting pot. cormacbreatnach.com

Download track: The Minded Set