Named after a real glen in Donegal, this is Altan’s first studio offering in six years. Eschewing studio trickery, what you get is Irish music at its most deliciously natural, with all the ruggedness and intimacy of a live session. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s sublime voice and her fiddle-playing are handsomely accompanied by the band’s fluid musicianship, with Ciaran Tourish (fiddle), Mark Kelly (guitar), Dermot Byrne (accordion), and Ciarán Curran (bouzouki) queuing up to weave rich and magical melodies around each other.
The 13 tracks bring a generous mix of old and new tunes and songs, some in Irish. The musicality of the language is exemplified by Ní Mhaonaigh’s singing of the love song ‘Caitlín Triall’, and the well-known ‘The Blackest Crow’. There’s a magical take on the American ballad ‘Lily Of The West’ and a song getting its premiere here in ‘An Ghealóg’, a plaintive tune about a dying bird written by Martin Tourish. Truly sweet fiddle-playing adorns the poignantly delicate ‘The Wheels Of The World’, ‘The Lancer’s Jig’ will defy you to sit still, while guitarist Dáithí Sproule’s composition ‘The House on the Corner’ is a real gem.
The sounds and the singing throughout The Poisoned Glen seem to emerge from the very landscape that bred them. There’s no question: Altan are back at the top of their game.