Nuala Kennedy & Eamon O’Leary – Hydra
This music is firmly planted in the vintage Celtic traditions that were made popular in recent decades by bands like Magna Carta, Pentangle, Curved Air, Fairport Convention & with more of a Medieval touch Amazing Blondel. Here, the duo of Nuala Kennedy & Eamon O’Leary take it a few steps further & stay even truer to the traditions of those ancient melodic times.
This 11-tune collection was created to appeal to modern ears & does. Irish singer Nuala (pedals the drone/Shruti box) & Dublin’s singer/songwriter Eamon (flute/bouzouki/guitar/whistle/vocals) formed Hydra (when they recorded this LP on a tiny island in Greece with no cars). This is where their airy harmonies drifted with their unique instrumentation & a mix of balladry, ghost stories, jigs, reels, dance music & traditional themes. Like all great folk music that has been passed down through the ages (like in Appalachia where many of those mountain songs came from Ireland, Scotland & England originally). Only to be revived, reanimated & once again realized for new ears.
Additional recording was performed in Portland, Maine (USA) by Jason Phelps & in Ireland by Brian MacGloinn (mandolin) & Nuala. All the songs are traditional except for 3 on Hydra (Drops Nov 1- USA/Under the Arch Records/45:15) & recorded in Greece by Vasilios Korres at an 18th-century mansion known as The Old Carpet Factory. The most accessible to the untrained ear is tracks like “The Dark-Eyed Gypsy,” “Willie-O,” “The Night Visiting Song” & the wonderful “Bonny Green Tree.”
The album breathes with lots of bohemian atmosphere, charm & texture. The “sound” that’s created is a cross between the artists mentioned but most distinctly between Fairport Convention & Eddie Baird’s Amazing Blondel (“As We Rove Out” written by Eamon).
The duo’s varied traditional instruments leave a scent in the air like things old, vintage, historic & of value. Some melodies are mindful of artists who have cross-referenced their own having rummaged through dusty notes, old lyrics & melodies like June Tabor, the late Sandy Denny & even Bob Dylan (“Girl From The North Country”), Simon & Garfunkel (“Scarborough Fair”). All had borrowed liberally from the past to reimagine the melodies for modern times. Is it plagiarism? Not if the song is hundreds of years old.
However, what makes these tunes magical is their ability to keep the “age” in the song without over-embellishing the performance or making it sound dated. For some reason, this kind of music doesn’t carry along any geriatric type of application. The ancestors made sure of that.
Highlights – “The Dark-Eyed Gypsy,” “Willie-O,” “Bonny Green Tree,” “The Dark-Eyed Sailor,” “Breton Tune & Reels,” “The Night Visiting Song,” “As We Rove Out” & “Liffeyside.”
Musicians – Liz Knowles (strings) & the Liffeyside Chorus of Anais Mitchell, Will Oldham & Cathal McConnell.
Color image courtesy of Alli Novak & their website. A 6-panel folded lyric sheet is included. CD @ Bandcamp & https://www.nualakennedy.com/nuala-kennedy-eamon-o-leary/
