Parting Glass

This is Emer Kenny’s third album, fancifully touted by her record company as a “reflection of Ireland today”. But then they don’t live here, so how would they know? Instead of a bunch of songs about political, banking and church corruption, or even tales from the Dublin traffic, Kenny disappears into the Celtic mists, offering more retreads of such time-worn clichés as ‘The Parting Glass’, ‘She Moved Through The Fair’, ‘Sally Garden’ and ‘Scarborough Fair. These are fine tunes all, but their inclusion here suggests a paucity of imagination.
And it’s not as if she can’t write decent tunes herself. When along comes a track like ‘Rescue Me’, a Kenny original shorn of the Failte Ireland trappings, it’s a welcome surprise, making you want more of her own stuff and less of the effete tourist guff.