CD Review

Whirligig
Spin
(Prime CD, 2000)

I've rarely heard such a fine mix of traditional tunes and original compositions, all done with outstanding musicianship and painstaking production. The instrumental tracks consist of energetic medleys of reels and melodies that sound more like multi-section concertos. One of the most rewarding qualities of the recording is the multiplicity of instruments that the members of Whirligig play well: Paul Kovit and Greg Anderson play just about every instrument with strings - bazouki, cittern, mandolin, bass and guitar. Matt Darriau and Cillian Vallely and Yves Duboin play just about anything that uses breath: flutes, clarinets, saxes, uillean pipes and whistles. And Lisa Gutkin plays a passionate violin. The alternate tracks feature the haunting, pure voice of Lisa Mosciatello. "A Fair Maid Walking" is the old story of a woman who refuses the advances of a youth, saying she means to stay true to her lover who has been out at sea for seven years; the youth turns out to be that lover. In the other two ballads, the young woman's determination to stay true has less happy consequences. In "The Nobleman's Wedding," a girl married off to a rich man dies of heartbreak on her wedding night. "The Constant Lovers" is one of the most exquisite melodies I have ever heard and it is performed superbly here. In this story, the speaker, a man of means, finds a beautiful young woman weeping for her dead lover on the cliffs. He is immediately smitten by her and asks her to marry him but she refuses: "I'll be constant and true hearted / all the time that I have life," she sings, and throws herself off the cliff in the next verse, as if she could no longer bear her grief - or perhaps because she mistrusts her ability to withstand this young man's entreaties. Of course, it's never clear whether the girl was real or a ghost in the first place.... All I can say is that I have not stopped singing this song to myself since I heard it. After months of knowing only the chorus, I finally had to invest the time to learn all the verses by heart.

The album, a generous 50 minutes, does take a strange turn at the end - not altogether unwelcome but odd. Label-mate Susan McKeown shows up as a guest and joins the group on a cover of her "Through the Frost and Bitter Snow," the result being that it sounds very much like the version on McKeown's own CD of the same title. The final track, "Revolution Earth," is an unlikely B-52s cover. Made beautiful here, it's a spacey love lyric in which the lovers standing on a hill become one with the earth and sky, space and time. In a new age way, I suppose it does continue the theme of "The Constant Lovers" who become one with the rocks and sea. "Revolution Earth" also puts a climax on the whirling motif, I guess. Makes your head spin.

Bottom line: this album is uncommonly original in its approach to Celtic traditions and sounds. I can't stop listening to it.