To an Isle in the Water

Brisk's music sounds thoroughly and authentically Irish, so it comes as a big surprise to discover the quartet are actually Belgian. Their fiddle player, Naomi Vercauteren, graduated from Ghent Conservatory having completed her thesis on bowing styles in Irish folk music. And why are they called Brisk? Their publicity material helpfully explains their music is lively and quick… and ‘just sounds brisk!’

This album is a carefully-curated collection of elegant and energetic versions of Irish, Scottish and Breton tunes featuring, alongside Vercauteren's fiddle, Gunnar Van Hove's Irish flute and whistles, Jeroen Knapen's guitar and vocals and Wim Moons' bodhrán, vocals and mandolin.

Most of the tracks are medleys comprised of tunes boasting quirky titles. ‘Sofie's’, for example, combines ‘Sofie's Doopwals’ with Hamish Napier's ‘Grant Wood Reversed Into My Dad's Fence’. Contrasting with the briskness of the instrumental tracks is a touchingly delicate rendition of the sea shanty ‘Leave Her Johnny’, while Knapen and Vercauteren's ‘Shy One’ is a impressive setting of WB Yeat's poem ‘To an Isle in the Water’, which also provides this admirable album's title.