Cold Old Fire

Much has been happening on Ireland's live circuit in recent years, with the emergence of new names trying new ways of approaching a perpetually re-worked tradition. One of the freshest and finest bands thrown up by the Irish capital's vibrant Traveller-accented scene are the self-styled ‘Dublin folk miscreants’ Lynched. Originally a folk-punk duo formed in the early 2000s, consisting of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch, Lynched make a stylish debut on disc with Cold Old Fire. After a decade of changing line-ups and charged live performances they have settled now into an altogether fabulous foursome with the addition of Cormac Mac Diarmada and Radie Peat. Lynched are a formidably accomplished force to be reckoned with.

There's something marvellously audacious about the energising back-to-basics simplicity on display here. Faultless four-part vocal harmonies weave through arrangements for uilleann pipes, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar to chilling effect on the Incredible String Band cover ‘Cold Days of February’ and deliriously so on the knockabout ‘Daffodil Mulligan’. Daragh Lynch's gravel-encrusted vocals channel the ghost of Ronnie Drew in ‘Father Had a Knife’. There's a dark poetic thread here too, in the hypnotic English ballad ‘The Old Man From Over the Sea’ and the righteous anger of the title-track. Re-minting the rough-hewn vivacity of The Dubliners in their youthful pomp, the street-ballad heritage of Frank Harte and the folk music urgency of Planxty, Cold Old Fire is a sure contender for any Irish album of the year lists.