Maidin Domhnaigh

Seamas Hyland left those rapscallions, The Mary Wallopers, last year. His first solo album, Maidin Domhnaigh (Sunday Morning) reveals his musical path to be more exploratory and, though quieter, no less wild. There are waltzes, reels and some polkas recorded live in The Cobblestone, Dublin’s famous session pub. Hyland embraces all the sounds his accordion offers. ‘The Mullingar Races’ begins with the bellows’ inhalation; later the buttons clack like horses’ hooves. Bass chords growl and in ‘The Battle of Affane’, one of five of his own compositions, he achieves the popping percussive accompaniment that uilleann pipers create. Rooted in the tradition of Irish music, Hyland isn’t bogged down in it. He uses urban sounds: of a road, of Halloween fireworks. ‘Press and Draw’ is remarkable, a slow savouring of the sonic possibilities of the bellows pushed then pulled to their farthest extent. It’s the wonderfully sonorous antithesis of those catchy tunes, never succumbing to melody.