KIERAN KENNEDY: “Pagan Irish” (WEA)

I’M PROBABLY in a minority here, but I have to admit that I never quite understood the appeal of The Black Velvet Band. It was with some trepidation then that I approached this the solo debut from The Velvet’s founder and frontman, but after a couple of tracks I found myself being drawn in by Kennedy’s unforced vocal delivery and by the simple beauty of Donal Lunny’s production.

Pagan Irish is an album that states its case quietly, and is all the better for that; it is a look at ourselves as individuals and as a race, an album which insinuates rather than attacks, full of subtle little hook-lines and phrases that’s distinguished by its sparseness.

As a writer, Kieran Kennedy’s style is honest and direct, devoid of artifice, which is why and how, songs like ‘Sinners Like You And Me’, and ‘Going Home’, among others, work as well as they do. The frailty of his voice – he’s no Pavarotti – is counterbalanced on occasions by wife Maria’s harmony lines and the whole effect is of an album which grows on the listener in a gradual, organic way.

I’ll be back for further helpings no doubt, but for now, Kieran Kennedy has produced an album which sticks a ritual tongue out at the detractors. Have a look at the superb sleeve and you’ll know what I mean . . .

• Oliver P. Sweeney