Traditional

The latest release reviewed

PATRICK STREET
On the Fly Loftus Music ***

New horizons beckon on Patrick Street's 11th album. Jackie Daly departs with a characteristically spirited pair of Sligo polkas, and John Carty steps neatly into the light on fiddle, flute and banjo

with finesse. Kevin Burke and John Carty trade their Sligo kinship with delicately traced fiddle lines, particularly on the jig set Happy

to Meet Sorry to Part, and Andy's harmonica brings a suitably rough- hewn touch to his fine reading of Sergeant Small, an Australian depression tale. Other song choices are less successful, and Ged Foley's The Galway Shawl lacks a freshness that might have rejuvenated such a time-worn choice. Carty's Seanmhac Station and Burke's The Long Acre both raise a glass in celebration of inventive composition - a signal that this is a band whose second wind is on the way. www.loftusmusic.com  SIOBHÁN LONG

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