The Gloaming: Taking It To The Live

Title: Live at the NCH

Label: Realworld

An Irish/American group that began to do their thing around 2011, the band have two albums under their belt. In fact, I reviewed one them them, The Gloaming 2, in 2016 (the other is the imaginatively named the Gloaming from 2014). 

The band consists of Martin Hayes on fiddle, Dennis Cahill on guitar, Iarla Ó Lionáird offers the vocal, Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh on Hardanger d’Amore which is a 10-string fiddle, would you believe and Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) on piano.

Some folk bands bore me to tears because they are happy to occupy their cosy genre corner and play within the rules. They are safe and secure and present folk music bundled in a box with a big red ribbon. And are quickly forgotten. The Gloaming is not really edgy or punk-like, the don’t really shock but they do cross over. Their sound is sweet and they have a devastating habit of hitting a counterpoint that hits you right in the heart so there is a cuddly aspect to the band while the bunch are extremely talented. They know their stuff and the gel extremely well to produce a flowing sound. 

And it’s not only a studio creation either because the band prove their worth in the live arena too. This album from the National Concert Hall in Dublin takes performances from two years of concerts which means that the studio takes that you might be familiar with are played with here to produce new directions and textures.

This is beautiful music that will send a glow through your very soul. And if you’re an audiophile? Well, you’ll be happy too because the presentation is balanced nicely with no frequency emphasis to harm and unsettle the music. A superb album from a wonderful band.

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