Dermot Byrne, Éamonn Coyne & John Doyle – Liag
Self Released – Out Now
A delight from start to finish, Liag is a superb collection of tunes which reunites Dermot Byrne, Éamonn Coyne and John Doyle, three exemplary musicians, totally at one with each other and their music.
The music on Liag is from the deep well of traditional music of South West Donegal. It is here that the trio first met in the early eighties before embarking upon their separate musical journeys.
All three are masters of their instruments with Dermot Byrne on button accordion/melodeon, Éamonn Coyne on banjo and John Doyle on guitar and vocals. Alongside them, Brid Harper guests on fiddle.
The album opens to the three-jig set Washerwoman. Banjo and accordion play in unison to be later joined by John Doyle’s very unobtrusive and accomplished guitar. The playing throughout is crystal clear and the timing impeccable. Here and throughout the album, you detect a genuine feeling of three old friends just having fun playing together.
Deargs’ Reels features more virtuoso playing, but this time the guitar is slightly higher in the mix as we hear Brid Harper’s fiddle for the first time. Again, the playing is so tight that you wonder how two melody instruments can be so together. Occasionally there are points of divergence, little bits of harmony or chords, but by and large, it is seamless and joyful.
Continuing the fun, The Shelf, described in the accompanying booklet as “a tune” (it might be a polka?) is a delight as the guitar provides a magical canvas for the banjo and accordion.
And then it’s all change as banjo and accordion step back. The rhythmic guitar accompaniment is replaced by beautiful fingerstyle playing as John Doyle takes the vocal lead in a lovely rendition of St Helena. The song and its delivery are reminiscent of Nic Jones. The accordion is understated, and the banjo adopts a different voice showing Éamonn Coyne’s ability as an accompanist as well as a tune player.
All three have a wealth of experience in collaboration. Éamonn has played with the Treacherous Orchestra, Salsa Celtica and Kris Drever (including their Mareel EP) to name just a few. Dermot has performed with Altan and The Chieftains, and almost everybody in the Irish traditional music scene. Finally, John Doyle is one of the best guitar players I have heard and an excellent singer and interpreter of songs as well. Most recently he collaborated with John McCusker and Michael McGoldrick who recently played Cambridge and featured in this recent live festival review.
The only other song on the album Duffy’s Cut; Mile 59, gets a similar treatment. The song is well-placed in the programme to break up the album’s instrumental flow.
Brid Og Ni Mhaile is a lovely song played as a slow air by Dermot. There is no accompaniment, and indeed, none is needed. I had the pleasure of hearing Dermot Byrne play with the Scottish fiddle player “Iain MacFarlane” last year and his ability to empathise with the music is extraordinary. Among many technically gifted musicians, it is this ability that makes some players stand out from the increasingly large crowd.
Another surprise and highlight is People’s Palace. The tune starts with some flat-picked guitar being joined by banjo for the melody and finally the accordion for the last verse. There are more jigs and reels, a mazurka and a highland set where a strathspey fairly skips along before turning into a turbocharged reel. There is never any attempt to play over-fast; the tunes are allowed to speak, and the melody lines are distinct throughout. While much of the playing is in unison, there are enough improvisations and flourishes to raise it beyond simple tune playing with what I suspect is instinctive playing.
Traditional music is undergoing all manner of reinvention at present, and these three musicians are often at the heart of those changes. As demonstrated here, sometimes it is nice to peel back the instrumentation and let us hear the tunes, especially when featuring music from a specific geographical area.
Summing up Liag then: Superb music, superbly played, superbly recorded and presented, a delight to listen to from start to finish.
Here they are in session at Orkney Folk Festival 2019:
Catch them on 17th August 2019 in Drogheda, Co. Louth at the Droichead Arts Centre (tickets).
Buy the album here: https://eamonncoyne.com/shop/