The widening gyre

"Altan have been around forever, of course, and you fondly imagne they'll remain here forever delivering quality Irish music with the mixture of Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh's genteel vocals and the excellent musicianship both of herself and Ciaran Tourish on fiddles and the rest of the band around them ... This, perhaps, is their bid to make people look at them anew and rejuvenate themselves, blending their own core values with a formidable array of guest musicians ... There's a cohesive beauty about the whole thing that makes it sound like a proper unified project rather than just another Altan album with a bunch of guest musicians bolted on to garner attention ... They get the mix of Americana and Irish just about right ... It's good to hear Altan firing on all cylinders again".