Aisling Lyons – Aistear
Independent – Out Now
For me, this has been the year of the harp, a year of reacquainting and reconnecting with the instrument and with the music. It has been interesting to hear what harpists do with an instrument that has so many variations, so much history and so much folk tradition. Aisling Lyons’ debut album Aistear is as fresh as any but with the tradition firmly at its heart.
The album is full of sets that are seamlessly stitched together, tunes old and new, many composed by Aisling, including Martha’s Hop Jig, Buster’s Dreams, Frenzied. Most of these have stories attached, a memory of a lovely time at Whitby Folk Fest (With You in Whitby), Covid lockdown (Être Fleur Bleue) or a St Patrick’s Day celebration (Through the Roof). The one that stands out as much for its raison d’être as its melody is Tune for Dad. Written during her father John Lyons’ illness before he died in 2019, it is a truly personal piece among many.
Aisling’s harp playing is delicate yet robust. There is a precision to her playing that is easily picked out, but at the same time, the music flows effortlessly, giving an auditory appearance of placidity until you catch yourself tapping along or standing, looking out of the window, starting to move around, often to the amusement of the dog. In fact, some tracks such as the set M&M/The Braces of Busby/The Bunch of Green Rushes are very lively. On the latter set, along with two others, Aisling puts down the harp or at least lets it stand quiet and picks up the concertina.
I may have said many times before that one of the things that I like about traditional music is the ability to tell where a tune came from, whether it be learned from another player, another generation, or out of a 17th-century publication, it has some heritage, but it is also on the move to the next player, to the next generation. It will be a sad day if/when it comes when the currently lauded demise of solid recorded music on CD and even on vinyl, despite its resurgence and the liner notes disappear with them. I think that the path that tunes take make interesting reading at the least and informs their interpretation. Aisling’s notes tell where they have come from or what prompted their creation and helps to send them on their way.
These notes also reveal a bit about the performer. The final pair of tunes tell us something more, particularly the second, Dnaza Guairena, a Paraguayan polka and learnt from Niamh O’Brien, who, more importantly, inspired Aisling to ‘play what you love playing’. This is a great piece of advice, and this first album demonstrates this advice clearly. Aistear is full of music that has a joy and peace about it, and, as the first notes I made on listening to the album, its great strength lies in that it is gentle on the soul. Excellent.
Order via Bandcamp: https://aislinglyons.bandcamp.com/album/aistear