Solas, Waiting for an Echo

Solas, Waiting for an Echo

Audio CD

Disk ID: 402575

Disk length: 59m 13s (13 Tracks)

Original Release Date: 2005

Label: Unknown

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Tracks & Durations

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Review

While Waiting For An Echo was recorded in hotel rooms, dressing rooms, and studios on two continents, the album sounds sonically cohesive with an emphasis on instrumentals. Stylistically, however, the quintet of top-flight musicians is all over the place. There's a bushel of Irish traditionals that come in shape of reels and jigs strung together (the even-keeled "Steven Campbell's/The Road Ringussoon/The Bag Of Beer" is a highlight); but the band also dives into folk-pop balladry on "The Silver Dagger" and "Erin," conjures a little country twang on "Lowground" and "On A Sea Of Fleur de Lis." A handful of guests further diversify things, but one thing about Celtic musicians is their thirst for jamming, so in way this is a more realistic look at a band than some of its Celtic music-leaning fans may be willing to allow. Nevertheless, there is enough here to keep them placated, unless you're fan of singer Patricia Scanlon, who contributions are limited to a few songs. - Tad HendricksonWaiting For An Echo, Solas seventh Shanachie CD, was recorded in a number of locations including Seamus' home studio in Philadelphia and on the road in Germany. "We did what we call guerilla recording," laughs Seamus Egan. "We recorded everywhere we could, backstage at concerts, in hotel rooms and wherever it made sense using a Mac G4 and my mobile recording unit." In typical Solas fashion, the band has crafted a thrilling mix of traditional gems, jigs, polkas, reels, contemporary material and originals. Their use of counterpoint and driving syncopation pulsates throughout the CD.

Seamus Egan says, "From one project to the next, we never want to make the same record. This album is more than anything a snapshot of where we are musically. We're a band that happens to have a strong grounding in a particular tradition. But the way we look at it, that tradition allows itself to be played with a little bit; it's malleable enough and strong enough to allow that. I think it's fundamentally impossible to play music any other way than being who you are and what you are. Irish traditional music is the first music I have any memory of; for a long time, I thought it's all there was. But I never saw it as something old; it was always there in our lives, and always evolving."

Highlights on Waiting For An Echo include the Antje Duvekot song "Erin," featuring the vocals of Mick McAuley, the traditional song "The Silver Dagger" which showcases an imaginative revamped melody and altered arrangement by Winifred Horan and the Richard Shindell song "On a Sea of Fleur de Lis," featuring the angelic vocals of Deirdre Scanlan. Solas has long wanted to record this Shindell song and finally does it on Waiting For An Echo.

Also included is "The Coconut Dog Morning Dew," two reels, the first penned by Eagan and the latter a traditional number arranged by the band. "The Coconut Dog" unites Solas with renowned Spanish bagpiper Carlos Nunez who has recorded with and is currently on tour with the Chieftains. The band recently had a chance to meet up with Nunez while on tour in Germany October and November of 2004.

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