SOLAS
The Edge Of Silence (Shanachie)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Although they've been hailed as the best Irish traditional band on the scene, it's hardly fair to judge Solas' new release by that standard. There's not a traditional song to be found, for instance, drawing instead from the songbooks of writers like Jesse Colin Young, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. The instrumentation of the basic group is traditional enough, if you count the relatively recent introduction of instruments like guitar and bouzouki, commonplace today but scandalous not so many years ago, as traditional. They get outside help, though, to add distinctly non-traditonal elements like electric bass and keyboard programming. It's not Irish traditional music. It's not even traditional Solas music, as the band, founded in 1996 by Irish American composer and multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan, continues to expand its vision of what Irish music is and what it might be.

The lineup has changed again, too, with the introduction of Donal Clancy, formerly of Danu and son of Irish folk legend Liam Clancy, on guitar and bouzouki. What hasn't changed is the exceptional level of musicianship offered by every member of the quintet. They may take liberties with the Celtic tradition they draw from, but they take similar liberties with the contemporary material they use, molding every song into something distinctively Solas (Dylan's "Dignity" being a remarkable case in point) and something distinctively wonderful.

How Solas stands in the ranks of Irish traditional bands is largely a matter of how you define "traditional." How they stand in the ranks of musicians in general is beyond dispute - they're sensational, and the evidence is found on every track of The Edge Of Silence.

Track List:

Darkness, Darkness * Charmy Chaplin * Prelude #1/Black Annis * Who's In The What Now * Dignity * The Poisinjester's Mask * Maybe Is A Prayer * Beck Street * Clothes Of Sand * Prelude #2/Georgia Lee

© 2002 - Shaun Dale