Fidil – Decade
Raelach Records – Out Now
Decade is the fourth studio album from the Donegal fiddle trio Fidil, comprising Aidan O’Donnell, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh and Damien McGeehan; they’ve reunited after a hiatus of “a number of years”, which may seem like a whole decade, hence the title I suspect! It’s almost as if they’ve never been away though, such is the astounding freshness of invention they display here, always finding a new method of expression in conveying the spirit of the rich Donegal fiddle tradition.
Decade presents an exciting creative development for the trio, an added angle to their already-proven creativity, incorporating a sprinkling of original compositions (six in all) by one or other group member in amongst further items sourced from the less familiar Donegal repertoire for which they’ve rightly become famed over the course of three acclaimed album releases. Along the way, the latest menu also includes a couple of Scottish selections – the whirlwind The Hurricane by James Scott Skinner (played as a breathtaking solo here by Ciarán), and the minor-highland The Earl Of Dalkeith, the latter brilliantly paired with Ciarán’s own skilled contribution to the highland form Árd Na Dtaibhsí. And Fidil also turn in an ideally pointed rendition of The Valetta by the English composer Arthur Morris, a waltz very familiar to Donegal folk being one of several tunes lifted from popular culture in the first decade of the 20th century and readily adopted into the southwest Donegal fiddle tradition.
Back in the realm of indigenous Donegal repertoire, the album’s opening gambit shows the trio’s winning way with even the most well-established of tunes, here the pairing of two classic reels The Pinch Of Snuff and The Wild Irishman. Their intense artistic curiosity extends into every aspect of their playing, whether as individuals or in happy and fruitful consort, and whatever the tempo. Tastefulness allied to unashamed daring is the order of the day in the trio’s scintillating and original takes on their native tradition. But the disc’s proud emotional centrepiece is a gorgeous account of the slow air When The Ship Leaves The Harbour, a piece synonymous with one fiddler alone, James Byrne of Glencolmcille, who (we learn from the booklet note) died as recently as 2008. It’s followed by a trickily syncopated descriptive piece by Ciarán, whose title translates as The Seas They Ran Red With Blood, which takes its inspiration from the story of the Biddy from Muckross who got her tunes from the fairies.
Such tunes might well have included the ensuing Fantastic Reel, a tune by John Doherty that the fiddler-composer used to illustrate the bowing technique of “the floating bow”. The second tune in that set whips up the tempo as the full trio sound kicks in with a scintillating display of ensemble playing such as Fidil have long been renowned. The full-on rhythmic verve of these musicians is every bit as strongly pointed on the various mazurkas (the track 9 set and The First Draft, a composition by Tommy Peoples’ daughter Siobhán) as on the frisky slip-jig set (track 3), the step-dance Maggie Pickie and assorted sets of reels, and the combined intuitive power of all three musicians sounding simultaneously is a real joy to experience – at times one wishes for an extra repeat, for even when any individual track might have lasted a full four minutes it never quite seems long enough!
The distinctive Fidil sound is noted for its exemplary dynamic balance and wholly intuitive responses, while its carefully experimental texturings may involve such techniques as pizzicato and slurred scraping without fear of distraction from the musicality and tunefulness of the whole performance. It’s great too that one can fully appreciate the different – and gloriously individual – timbres and resonances of the various instruments used by virtue of the excellent definition and body of the recording. The focus is on the energy and momentum, while never losing sight of the end-goal – for instance, on the closing medley of reels, the intelligent deployment of parallel slower counterpoint offsets the principal melody before the concluding home-stretch flourish. This, of course, is guaranteed to send your finger straight back to the repeat-play button – in my case, it was for the whole disc! To be sure, Fidil’s Decade is an exceptional album stacked high with spellbinding playing. It represents another artistic triumph for the honourable Raelach imprint – and the package design and photography is most attractive too.
Order via Bandcamp here: https://raelachrecords.bandcamp.com/album/decade