We regularly get to see bands and musicians we haven't come across before. Some might be fun on the night, but make no lasting impression. Others stay in the mind long after the event, and there were two in particular who stood out in 2014. Dallahan are a Scots/Irish/Hungarian band who blend influences from all three cultures, and more besides, to come up with their own unique arrangements of traditional music and their own tunes. Dallahanisation, if you will.
The line up features guitar, double bass, button accordion, fiddle, and the multi talented Ciaran Ryan on banjo, mandolin and fiddle. There's fast sets and slow, with Eastern European melodies bundled up with the Celtic. The arrangements are based around the interplay between the instruments with the combinations of sounds carrying the theme constantly changing. They look in tune with one another, and there's plenty of scope for improvisation. These are very talented musicians you are seeing here.
Iced on to this musical mixture are the fine vocals of guitarist Jack Badcock. It's not a voice that shouts 'folk singer', having something of a croonerish quality. Which serves to add more to the distinctive Dallahan sound. Jack has a beautiful tone, imaginative phrasing and a wide vocal range. From the mournful Katy Dear to the up beat Carrick-a-Rede he's able to bring a fresh interpretation to trad ballads. And raise a laugh with their regular encore piece, Shame and Scandal in the Family.
A special mention to Stuart on bass, playing his first gig with the band, and new enough to be playing off the page. I did wonder how many rehearsals he'd managed to have as he wore a slightly worried look for much of the gig! But he rarely put a string wrong and provided a solid foundation layer to the sound. All the same I did miss their regular bass man, if only for the joy there is in watching him perform. One the coolest and most charismatic musicians I've seen.
The one and only Dallahan album to date gets a lot of play in the Crawford household, so we're looking forward to hearing the new one early next year. If you get a chance to see these guys live, grab with all the enthusiasm you have available. They won't disappoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment