Double You

Catrin Finch continues to startle and amaze. Classically trained, and now surely the finest, best-known harpist in Britain, she has been involved in a series of collaborations, from those exquisite, award-winning albums with Seckou Keita through to her work with Cimarrón (they were brilliant together at WOMAD) and the Freedom to Roam project. Now she has teamed up with the violin/Hardanger fiddle player Aoife Ní Bhriain, who is in many ways her Irish equivalent, mixing a classical background with a love of traditional music and experimentation. The result is a remarkable debut set in which Finch and Ní Bhriain sound as if they have worked together for years, constantly switching lead work and musical direction. It’s titled Double You because every track starts with a ‘W’ (these ladies are playful virtuosos), and it ranges from the opening ‘Whispers’, which eases from plucked violin to a swirling, emotional climax, through to ‘Wonder’, a glorious improvisation around a Bach prelude, and then with echoes of Mendelssohn, or ‘Woven’, based around work by the baroque composer Pietro Locatelli. Elsewhere, ‘Waves’ mixes an Irish hornpipe and Welsh traditional tune with unexpected time signatures; ‘Why’ matches Breton and Canadian tunes; while ‘Waggle’ is a glorious collision of classical, gypsy dance and jazz. Brilliant.