Goitse a Thaisce

A trip down memory lane, Goitse a Thaisce(Come Here, My Darling) is also a clarion call to the uninitiated to dive into the ‘depth of richness’ of Irish traditional music. A bran-tub collection of 11 satisfyingly diverse tracks compiled by Tom Coll, drummer with Dublin-based, post-punk Mercury Prize nominees Fontaines DC, it appears as a limited-edition vinyl only release on his own Skinty Records.

Drawing on the soundtrack of Coll’s west Ireland childhood, it’s no mere exercise in nostalgia. Solid mileposts along the way are provided in a cleverly described trajectory of era-defining names from 60s pioneers The Dubliners to the innovations of The Bothy Band and Planxty in successive decades, and on to Dervish and Ye Vagabonds in the present. That arc is echoed elsewhere as Andy Irvine & Paul Brady’s beautifully rendered ‘Arthur McBride’ gives way to the iconic sean nós vocals of Joe Heaney, authentically steeped in time-ripened tradition on the stirring ‘Oró, Sé Do Bheatha ’Bhaile’. Pointing to future directions, Lisa O’Neill’s striking ‘The Factory Girl’ distinctively fuses past and present into something altogether new. Nods, too, to well-chosen contributions by a firing on all cylinders quartet led by Sharon Shannon, and thrilling flute displays by Emer Mayock and Frankie Kennedy, partnered by his fiddler wife Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh.