The Tin Fiddle

Your ears could be forgiven for presuming there was at least one percussionist, guitarist or mandolin player on this album. But no: all the music here was made by the Donegal fiddler Damien McGeehan on a violin knocked together by an expert tinsmith. Its metal body allows for plenty of unusual timbres and resonances, which McGeehan inventively exploits to create his own backing group to accompany his masterful Irish traditional fiddle playing. While his techniques are undeniably ingenious, the tracks on which the overdubbing is employed a little more discreetly, are the best. On ‘The Gravel Walks to Grannie’, McGeehan duets with himself an octave down, which is a common practice for two fiddlers in both the Donegal and the Sliabh Luachra (Cork/Kerry border) musical traditions. ‘The Four Posts of the Bed’ has a lively spring in its step, while ‘John Doherty's Waltz’ which follows it has an Eastern European flavour, largely thanks to overdubbed strumming that effectively turns his tin fiddle into a mandolin.
The completely solo tunes such as ‘Peadar O’Haione's’ are wonderful, showing off a talented Irish fiddle player engaging intelligently and directly with a tradition he knows and loves. McGeehan's fiddle has a grainy, wiry tone to it, as if it had been left out in the rain and the rust had somehow improved its tone.