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Irish Music Magazine, John O’Regan

A young sean-nós singer from the Aran Islands, Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola, has already achieved some notoriety being one of the
featured vocalists along with Katie McMahon and Breda Mayock on Hector Zazou’s 1998 production Lights In the Dark.
That particular album highlighted the sacred aspect of the sean-nós tradition, a realm in which her voice was particularly suited and
impressed.Now some four years later comes her debut solo album An Raicín Alainn, Lasairfhíona's voice is an attractive and yet
unusual thing within Sean-Nós circles, being wispy, and ethereal with a floating childlike quality it is a highly individual slant on an
age-old tradition. For comparisons sake her vocal style resembles that of a chanteuse as in an Astrid Gilberto or a Françoise Harry,
yet her presentation is embedded within the sean-nós tradition with some unexpected stylistic detours. Vocally this diversity lends
itself to both lighter songs as in Bean Pháidín and the heavier more demanding songs of the Sean-Nós album, Lasairfhíona Ní
Chonaoala has an imagination and musical vision, which moves far beyond the strict boundaries of Gaelic singing.Often she uses Jazz
and New Age/Ambient like vocal inflection’s, venturing into workless voacalese on De Thaisme and the closing Ceol Na Gaoithe the
results of which resemble Lori Anderson and Jane Siberry stranded in Connemara. Another surprising departure is Oileán na
Teiscinne where her breathy, childlike spoken work interlude recalls the ‘space whisper’ approach of Gilli Smith from hippie Space
rockers Gong and Rosi Muller from Krautrock legends Ash Rap Tempel. Likewise, her a capella treatment of Una Bhán initially
sounds more akin to Scots Gaelic in intonation than native Irish while Inis Oírr adapts words from Eithne Carberry’s 1866-1911)
poem ‘On Inisheer’ to Thomas Walsh’s air of the same name. Hitting more obviously home field turf, the lilting title track seductively
caresses the ears while Casadh an tSugán mixes an effective arrangement by Máire Breatnach and a winsome vocal adding new
layers of sophistication to an age-old vocal repertoire and tradition. Listen with open ears and be prepared to be amazed.

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