áthas

Own Label 15 tracks, 47 minutes

This Irish American trio from Milwaukee plays in a relaxed jaunty style, capturing the spirit of the music with a confident full sound. As an independent debut recording, this CD is impressively slick and polished. Fiddle, guitar and bodhrán are the core instruments of Athas, with whistles and flute on a few tracks. There's more than a hint of Lunasa in some of the woodwind arrangements, although they're clearly not in the same league. Amy Richter is a young bodhrán player, recently winning the US mid-west chamionship. Heather Lewin-Tiarks is a time-served fiddler, Jeffrey Ksiazek plays guitar and woodwind. Names to conjure with indeed!

This recording includes eight compositions by the threesome, along with other Irish American influences, but the majority of the material is solid old traditional melodies. A couple of polkas start proceedings, compositions by Jeff and fellow fluter Kathleen Bremer, with the twists and turns of Sliabh Luachra. Spootiskerry, attributed to Ian Burns, is joined by Heather's reel for Seamus O'Kane. Jeff's charming waltz Inion Ní Mhicheál precedes a pair of whistle-led jigs with a lovely change into Scatter the Mud. Two traditional slides round off the first section of this album in great style.

There's a slight waning of confidence and attack in the midddle section, but things pick up again with a lively bodhran intro to Drowsy Maggie and The Mountain Road. Three powerful sets of polkas follow, including the catchy Heather's Polka, before the traditional Paper Plate Slide brings us to the final hornpipes: The Home Ruler and Cronin's, played with bounce and enthusiasm, and maybe just a touch too much guitar. I'm looking forward to hearing more from Athas, and they're definitely worth catching if you're passing through Milwaukee.

Alex Monaghan