Tupelo: Push On

The danger faced by many Irish acoustic roots bands is that their sound could accidentally slip into Saw Doctors territory at any moment. These young Dubliners avoid such a calamity on their second album for the most part, but there are some hairy moments. Push On 's 12 songs are swinging acoustic-based and largely laid-back, with a distinctively Irish slant, both lyrically (to overstated effect on Roisin's Land and Hollow of the Hill) and musically (the tin whistle and uileann pipes of Old Country and When the Cockerel Crows). A second pair of eyes might have whipped James Cramer's clichéd lyric sheet into better shape, and the only vaguely hinted harmonies would indubitably have given this album a fuller sound. Still, in terms of musicianship and heart, Push On is a solid offering. tupelo.ie
Download: Old Country, The Shifting Ground