The Gloaming’s The Gloaming 2 open up Irish roots plus jazz

Title: The Gloaming 2

Label: Real World

Effectively an Irish roots album, this LP wastes no time in reaching right under your skin and plugging directly into your emotions with a mixture of folk rhythms plus jazz, a smattering of classical piano and other organic fare and some experimental constructions, just to keep things intetesting.

The conglomeration on these factors produces a work that is fresh. Fresh that is, in terms of is presentation. You don’t feel that the ditties here are mere re-treads. Some artists give you that feeling, “I’m sure I heard this album on the radio/via a busker/in a lift/as a ringtone/etc.” Not here. This music obviously comes from within because it is sung and delivered with a sense of seriousness and honesty. There’s a real dignity here that transcends the usual,  ‘Please make me rich by buying this familiar trash’.

With Gloaming 2, you feel like you are pulled into the world of the band. Take the gorgeous…and I do mean gorgeous, first track, The Pilgrim’s Song. The Irish language lyrics meant absolutely nothing to me but that was fine, I listened to it as if I was listening to an instrumental but the track never lost its immediacy and its fragile beauty.

I was happy with the quality of the sonics, in audiophile terms. Thankfully, any compression that has been applied to this CD has been given so subtly that I never really noticed it. I think there is a touch to upper the gain slightly. There’s no intrusive aspect to it, though.

If I could put this album ito some sort of box. I would say that this is music that constantly reaches. Muscles are always being stretched. Reaching. Listen to it, and you’ll hear what I mean.