A wee review for you, Ben…
‘Apart from a few natural sounds recorded in or near the recording studio, all sounds made on this recording were made by Ben and Greg on fiddle, flute, whistles and pipes. No other instruments were used and no cows were harmed in the making of this CD.’
So Ben’s told us at C&F they’ve got ‘a huge amount of variety out of just those instruments’… what have I actually spotted? Well, footsteps and a creaking door to take you in and out of the supposed venue, some strong-mooing cows with birdsong, lots of fiddle and uilleann pipes, some judicious multitracking with occasional subtle flute/whistle enhancement, some substitution of fiddle drones (both high and pitch-shifted low) for pipes, some sounds less associated with trad but still organically integrated (like the fiddle tremolos in the ghostliest of jigs)… and nice, understated regulator work that’s more subtle timbral colour than ‘in your face’ extra.
While many of the tunes were new to me as someone not particularly well versed in Irish repertoire, and some are likely to be new to all as composed by Greg and Ben, we’ve also got some beyond well-known… not that I’ll ever tire of Colonel Fraser! What’s common to all, however, is a lovely sense of pacing; we’ve got generally relaxed but never draggy tempos with stable pulse and plenty of lift.
Some tracks I’m going to have to comment on, like the solo fiddle version of Port na bPúcaí with sleeve note telling us Ben just loves this tune and (in more words than I’ve used here) hoping we get it too. So do I? Have to admit I was only half listening when it came on for the first time (out of three so far), so was quite caught off guard by the long (pipe-style?) slides against double-stopped support. It’s a sound that’s got obvious emotional content but is simultaneously almost austere, with every nuance or fluctuation of intonation exposed like nowhere else on the album. It’s grown on me with every hearing, but it’s not the easy listen I doubt Ben wanted anyway.
Then what about the following set of hop jigs, with sleeve note warning ‘maybe a touch on the slow side’? Since I really don’t know how hop jigs are supposed to go, I’ll just have to agree with the preceding statement, ‘There’s a great rhythm to these tunes’, because there is… it’s unusual, and really quite infectious in the best sense of the word!
Good too to have Lord Gordon’s, which I learned on whistle from the playing of Vinnie Kilduff, used to do as a solo with our (then) band c.25 years ago, but have rarely heard since… a fine counterpart to Colonel Fraser elsewhere on the album!
But perhaps my favourite track of all is (?)… the ghostly jig. And you’ll just have to find that one and work it out for yourselves, because it really is strikingly ‘different’.
As for sound, the arrangements all work for me. There’s some (as I said, judicious) multitracking, not just to add that subtle flute or whistle (not sure who’s actually playing which where except Greg’s more prominent, but still ghostly, whistle in that ghost jig), but also layer more fiddle etc. The whole experience is enhanced by really nice, clear recording, and you get a well-filled CD at over 77 minutes.
Now someone who knows more than me about this music needs to say more of real value/usefulness. But I’m liking the album a lot, which is more than enough to recommend it… for sure I bought it to support Ben as well as see what he can do, but it’s obvious he can do plenty, so buy it because he’s told us he’s proud of it and I’m telling you he should be! 
Seriously, they’re huge! 
