FOLK
BY JIM WIRTH
Niamh Bury
★★★★
Yellow Roses
CLADDAGH. CD/DL/LP
Petal power: wistful twistful debut from Ye Vagabondsapproved auteur.
Claddagh Records focused on traditional Irish music for much of its existence, but the revived label has taken a rather broader outlook; first the glowering debut from Lankum-related ØXN, and now this pastel-shaded pastoral from Niamh Bury, produced by Ye Vagabonds’ Brían Mac Gloinn. Another session regular at Dublin’s Cobblestone, Bury sings straight folk beautifully on Lovely Adam – a gender-switched Lovely Hannah – but tacks toward more hazy, surrealist Narnia on her own material; as she sings on the title track: “A pride of lions underwater, all is not as it seems.” Gatefold sleeve enthusiasts will spot shades of COB’s Moyshe McStiff on the banjo-decked Bite The Bridle, and traces of Jackson C Frank on Pianos In The Snow, but the oddball chord changes, cryptic lyrics and East-West melodies of the magnificent Budapest are all Bury’s own. Think folky Cat Power or sun-drunk Weyes Blood and prepare to be transported.