Toner Quinn & Malachy Bourke: Live at the Steeple Sessions

Small but perfectly formed, this live recording clocks in at a modest 28 minutes, an object lesson in the less-is-more school of traditional music. This fiddle duo take palpable pleasure in stripping tunes back to barebones essence, their inventive pairings propelling the music into a place where it can be heard as if for the first time. Their longest set, bookended by Ryan's Slip-Jig and The Cordal Jig showcases Quinn and Bourke's fluid symbiosis beautifully: spirited yet spacious, lithe and languorous, they conjure apparently effortlessly the tunes' dance roots in a concert recorded in a church setting. These childhood friends play as if the tunes are entwined in a single DNA helix. Frankie Gavin's Josie Begley's Fancy makes a cosy bed-fellow for the well-worn If There Weren't Any Women in the World, a fine snapshot of musicians jousting playfully with the music. A distilled delight. ergodos.ie