TIM EDEY & BRENDAN POWER - Wriggle & Writhe
Gnatbite Records GB010
English button-box player Tim Edey and Kiwi moothie magician Brendan Power come together for seventeen tracks of absorbing music. Mainly celtic, their broad brush touches blues, Balkan, and everything in between. Roughly half the material here is traditional, with most of the rest composed by Power and Edey. They sing two songs each to leaven the mix. Brendan's V For Blues is in true Mississippi delta style, while his wryly comic Our Lady Of The Road pays homage to the voice of SatNav. Tim draws on Enda McCabe for Wind And Tides Permitting, a serious ballad of love and blighted timetables, and on Steve Cooney for Bless The Road. They also throw in the lovely air Inisheer by Thomas Walsh with Tim on fingerpicked guitar, one of several gentler tracks.
The mix of Irish and black American styles is potent indeed. Celtic Thunder, The Corkscrew, The Red Haired Lass,The Tip Of the Iceberg, and several other tracks blend blues, trad, jazz, ragtime and showtime in a heady cocktail. Brendan reworks favourites such as The Mountain Road and The Connaughtman's Rambles, while Tim brings Nordic influences to bear on his Baltic Crossing. A Carolan air and Tim's composition Why both provide respite from the free-reed firepower on display, while Danovska Horo and the title track both exhibit virtuosic exuberance. The final march Irene Meldrum's Farewell To Bon Accord combines a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Scottish tradition with a chance for everyone to catch their breath. Edey and Power provide a full hour of fantastic music, fiery and fun, with enough tender moments to break up the tension: a very classy act, and another candidate for my 2011 Top Ten list.
Alex Monaghan
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 90 of The Living Tradition magazine. |