Garland

No Strings AttachedTall Ships Records ****

Circuitous tales of labour and sweat, on land and at sea, and of the occasional love lost or thwarted: this is the stuff of Garland’s much-anticipated collection, recorded some four decades after they stepped out together as an a-capella quartet. Not since The Voice Squad have we been treated to such ramrod male harmony vocals, trussed up with the discipline of singers in utter thrall to their songs.

No Strings Attached

is an aptly-titled celebration of the human voice and its ability to insinuate itself into the deepest recesses of memory. English and Scottish labour and love songs are appropriated with chutzpah, but sea shanties stake a particular place in Garland’s heart.

Lowlands

beautifully captures the slow-burning intensity of the group’s harmony singing. A distilled taster of four voices revelling in one another’s company. It begs for a brace of live performances to put the tin hat on it. See towerrecords.ie