by Paul Matheson

Paul Matheson reviews Music for St Patrick’s Day Thar Toinn / Seaborne Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (2020) https://www.muireann.ie/

Muireann is an Irish traditional singer and musician from West Kerry. This mini album was released at the start of the pandemic in 2020, and it is a gem. All of Muireann’s recordings are worth seeking out: her previous solo albums, and the CDs she recorded as lead singer and flautist of the Irish folk group Danú. But I don’t think she has ever sounded better than she does right here, now, in her prime. Her mature, traditional contralto voice has a richness, texture and emotional depth that makes her a spell-binding singer of Irish traditional ballads. With a graceful ease and gentle charm that few others can match, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh captures entirely the Irish musical tradition’s signature notes of sensuous sweetness, romantic yearning, wistful melancholy and joyous exhilaration.