Releases > Releases July 2026

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CARA
Our Ship is Ready
Artes Records ARCD6050, 11 Tracks, 54 Minutes
www.cara-music.com
One of the great things about Irish music is how it has taken root in places with almost no connection to Ireland - in Denmark, in Japan, and especially in Germany. Cara is one of Irish music’s most established German ambassadors, and on this latest album they show why that is so.
Starting with an upbeat modern interpretation of the Boys of the Lough song Farewell and Remember Me, Cara work Irish strands into Scottish, English, Breton, Balkan, and many of their own compositions, alongside a handful of traditional Irish pieces. Cara has several advantages in bringing Irish music to audiences in Germany and beyond: in fiddler Gudrun Walther they boast an exceptional musician in several genres, in young uilleann piper Simon Pfisterer (formerly of the band 3 on the Bund) they have found an Irish virtuoso in all but name, and in band stalwart Jürgen Treyz, they have a seemingly endless source of new compositions in the Irish style. Kim Edgar completes the picture, a Scots vocalist who writes and sings a mean song.
Actually, there isn’t one mean song on Our Ship is Ready: nobody dies, and the general mood of all six vocal numbers is broadly positive. Even The Sinking Ship, a commentary on today’s world, is cautiously optimistic. The seafaring theme cruises throughout this album, leavened with love in songs and tunes such as Where Sleepest Thou and Anniversair. In addition to compositions by John Dwyer and Brendan Mulvihill, there are a couple of nods to Gordon Duncan, a passing reference to Game of Thrones, and a rare musical tribute to the university town of Bochum in northern Germany. Cara end with a sweet tribute to Robert Burns by Kim, echoing his Ae Fond Kiss to finish an album which oozes quality on every track.
Alex Monaghan

BUA
Foscadh ón mBáisteach-A Shelter from the Rain
Own Label, 13 Tracks, 45 Minutes
www.buairishmusic.bandcamp.com
Chicago-based Bua flickered brightly on the American Celtic music scene from the late 2000s since their foundation in the Windy City. Their mission to recapture the golden era of Irish Music in Chicago, but it wasn’t just mere nostalgia as they had a fluency in their ensemble playing with a rich and varied sound that favoured musical dexterity over flash and exhibitionism. They concentrated on the lyrical aspects of the vocal tradition especially songs in the Irish language handled expertly by Brian O’Hairt, himself a fluent Gaelgoir making their sound rich and sonorous.
Foscadh ón mBáisteach-A Shelter from the Rain was their fourth album under the Bua moniker and their fifth and final album overall. Released back in 2022, it is now shared in the back catalogue of piper Sean Gavin. Bua’s ensemble work offers many instrumental highlights including Nora Criona/Paidin O’Rafferty and Maid in the Cherry Tree with some lovely fiddle/flute work straight out of Sligo and Born for Sport/The Mountainy Boy combines collective poise and elegance. Sean Gavin’s flute, whistles and pipes and Devin Shepherd’s fiddle made a potent front line while Brian Millar’s guitar and bouzouki accompaniments are sharp, precise and flowing. Topping it off, Brian O‘Hairt’s vocals sound not unlike Ciaran O’Gealbhain on songs such as A Chaipin-ar-leathstuaic, a’bhfeacais na caoire?
Ni Phosfainn mo Mhaire and Caislean a s’Sleibhe show off O’Hairt’s melodic vocals and command of the vernacular. The setting of the macaronic An Hide and Go Seek cleverly balances group dynamics and vocal expertise and the two English songs: A Soldier’s Farewell is an antecedent of Farewell to Nova Scotia and Jim Whalen, the latter a Canadian Shipwreck ballad, benefit from the relaxed lyrical settings afforded them. Foscadh ón mBáisteach-A Shelter from the Rain is one of those understated gems which allow pleasure and respite in equal doses.
John O’Regan

THE GATHERING QUARTET
The Gathering Quartet
10 Tracks, 44 Minutes www.facebook.com/thegatheringquartet
The Gathering Quartet is a new European folk ensemble who use traditional string music to strengthen connections between their countries of Ukraine, Scotland, England, Sweden and beyond. The players are: Olena Yeremenko (fiddle & nyckelharpa), Louis Bingham (guitar & cittern), Mats Nystam (bouzouki & mandolin) and Luisa Brown (fiddle & octave fiddle).
First out the gate is a pairing of Vals på Rokkelåven/ Of Bare Roots and Buckthorn. The first tune is a waltz written by Mats to christen a renovated “rock’n’roll barn”, quintessentially a Nordic whilst the second two tunes see the bouzoukis taking over on a pair of newly composed Cornish dance tunes.
The second set on the album mixes an unnamed English hornpipe with a pair of Swedish Halling tunes. Energetic and athletic, you could surely dance to these, but you’d have to fit. (Check out traditional Halling on YouTube and you’ll understand). The Goyle is a slower more pensive track, a composition from the farmer and fiddler Carl Allerfeldt, who has tapped into his Scandinavian roots whilst living in Dartmoor; a Goyle is a Devon dialect name for a ditch.
They move east to Ukraine for a pizzicato Freylachs Beregovski 91, a Yiddish folk tune collected by Moisei (Mykhailo) Beregovsky, who was active between 1920 to 1940. Freylachs refers to a happy upbeat and this track certainly lives up to its title. There’s even more Ukrainian music on Polkas from Polissa, the final tune on the selection, Chmelivka village would be a-shoo in for adoption by the lads around Newmarket.
Strings aplenty, dance tunes to keep you moving and a powerful presence from each musician. The Gathering bring their European dance music traditions under one resounding roof.
Sean Laffey

THE WEAVING
Warp & Weft
Own Label, 12 Tracks, 61 Minutes www.theweavingmusic.bandcamp.com
A powerful album of songs and tunes from Ireland and England, Warp & Weft combines the considerable talents of Méabh Ní Bheaglaoich from the West Kerry Gaeltacht, Cáit Ní Riain from Tipperary, and Owen Spafford from Leeds. Owen may seem an unlikely third element of this trio, but he knows the Irish tradition intimately and his fiddle-playing has won praise from Martin Hayes among others, not to mention competition success. Each member of The Weaving brings material from their own background, and the skill of this group is in blending and refining that material to make a compelling whole.
If you want to hear how well they accomplish this, listen to the combination of the Munster song An Buachaillín Bán with the Lancashire favourite Sportsman’s Hornpipe.
Across five songs in Irish and English, and a dozen and a half tunes old and new, The Weaving deliver strong melodies and compelling arrangements. The voices of Méabh and Cáit, separately or together, make a wonderful job of classic songs and also lilt the big jig Young Tom Ennis, which is given a vocal and instrumental treatment that even tempts Owen to exercise his vocal cords. Mr Spafford’s fiddling skills are to the fore on Martin Wynne’s Number 2 as well as the English straight hornpipes Creef Fair and The Lily. Fiddle and accordion delight on jigs, polkas and slides, with Ní Riain’s piano backing Spafford and Ní Bheaglaoich on some joyous Munster romps.
This album provides a huge variety of top class music running the full gamut of emotions.
Alex Monaghan

TEAGUE & JOYCE
Lost On The Wander
Own Label, 9 Tracks, 44 Minutes www.teagueandjoyce.com
Based in Galway, Niall Teague and Padraic Joyce’s music is an Irish west coast take on Americana. There is a hint of Van Morrison on their positive Looking Up which they say is “A nostalgic pop-folk tribute to childhood, Belfast, and brotherhood”. I hear the ghost of Hank Williams on their Sweet Song. This isn’t derivative, it’s on genre (would we criticise a fiddler who emulates Morrison or a piper who invokes the spirit of Keenan?).
They sing of the pitfalls of addiction on Bad Habits with the line: “Walking down the path of last existence, I was picking up a deal of least resistance.” If that song is about destructive escapism, Thistle Down Sally is about acceptance… Sally is content to be who she is and they honour her for her honesty.
Lost On The Wander is a love song, a tale of a meeting of soulmates. Things take another more serious turn on Last Hotel. There are hundreds of defunct hotels around the country that have been turned into Direct Provision centres. Rather than rail against the occupants, which is becoming a meme online, Teague and Joyce consider the plight of those who have no other option than to live in abandoned hotels.
Their songs profit from a stirring beat, a fiddle lurking in the background, a drum kit as pace maker, or an occasional harmonica, Things get a bit boogie-woogie on Button Down Blues, folks desperate to free themselves from their mundane lives, stuck on a spinning hamster-wheel realising it won’t stop until they do.
The final song God’s Walked Out of Here is their most serious: addressing the helplessness we feel when things are awry in the world and our dissenting voices won’t be heard. We find refuge in the trivia of entertainment, a panacea to acquit us from the pain that comes with the obligation of empathy.
If your cup of joe is laced with Western swing and a shot of Americana, then wander into the world of Teague and Joyce. There are songs here to make you happy and songs to make you think, which has to be the full deal, hasn’t it?
Seán Laffey

ALI LEVACK
Levack
Own Label LEVACK01CD, 10 Tracks, 38 Minutes
www.alilevack.co.uk
Whistle wild child, front man of festival favourites Project Smok, Ali Levack is well known for his scintillating melody lines and his liking for contemporary accompaniment. His first solo album maintains that reputation, with a whistler’s dozen new compositions and almost as many guests - but there are some surprises too.
Less than two minutes into Levack, Ali switches from his trusty whistle to the highland pipes, rounding off his soulful jig MacKinnon’s Road to 50 with a storming modern pipe reel Douglas Fairbairn of Tougal. Hailing from a wee town north of Inverness, Ali Levack was brought up with many aspects of Scottish music, including the Gaelic west coast tradition leaning towards Ireland, and the more eclectic music of the big cities. He makes full use of both here. The beautiful airs 177 Marrell and Dolina MacLean are filled with the wistful longing of Gaelic song, while Alex and Frankie’s has a good time vibe and Gudgie Funk blends jazzy backing with whistle virtuosity as you might expect from the title.
Ali’s various whistles and pipes are aided by an impressive string section with Graham MacKenzie, Innes Watson, Roo Geddes and Su-a Lee. All the musicians here have their chance to shine, but Levack is at the centre of it all. The laid back swagger Kenny Gillies of Applecross has already become an online hit, a catchy tune driven by drums and guitar, recalling Runrig or Mark Knopfler. To my mind, Levack saves the best to last with his wacky Clashmarrow whistle showpiece and the joyous North Coast Reel which ends this exhilarating album.
Alex Monaghan

MAIREARAD GREEN
Tìm
Own Label, 9 Tracks, 33 Minutes
www.mairearadgreen.co.uk
Tìm (pronounced ‘cheem’) is Scots Gaelic for time; this is another release from the prolific multi-talented Mairearad Green. She plays the piano-accordion, the piano, highland and small pipes as well as having a fine voice. She is also a visual artist, both practices  enhance one another. She says “My work is a visceral response to each moment in time, turning up every day, enjoying the process of creative interpretation, the stillness versus the movement, appreciating the small, the slow changes in landscape tones, and the ever-shifting skylines.” Weathering and rust is her visual oeuvre, expressed in what appears to be an alla prima address to her canvas, immediate responses to emotional landscapes.
Her music is intentionally lo-fi as if she chooses colours from her audio paint box. This album is full of new music, written as an integral part of Mairearad’s exhibition at An Talla Solais, a community arts centre in Ullapool. It has echoes of places and circumstances, the creak of a rocking chair on Old Dornie, and the chorus: Down to Old Dornie with the little boats shine All out of time. All out of Time.
There is a slow climb as the small pipes play a lament on Camascoillie. Things get a little more ambient on Knockan Crag, a piece named after the North West Highlands Geopark where the first evidence for tectonic plates was figured out in 1907. The title track is an instrumental on the small pipes, filled out with echoing reverberance.
Her painter’s eye colours the lyrics to On The Ground:
A grey day
Only rain to say
A blue feeling
A low cloud ceiling
A red cry
Above and in the sky
A green envy
The lichen sends me
To the ground
Mairearad lives and creates in a special place, her music blends with her painting. Both can be enjoyed apart but both revel in the synergy of her songs.
Seán Laffey

EMILY PORTMAN
Dominion of Spells
Hudson Records, 12 Tracks, 46 Minutes www.emilyportman.co.uk
Sheffield based, Glastonbury born, Emily Portman is an award-winning folk song writer and performer. She is joined here by a group of 10 musicians who have collectively created a dreamlike yet sharply poignant album.
Portman addresses modern issues that resonate with folk elements, both in metre and melody: the inevitably of aged-induced transformations both physical and social, the loss of agency and the resilience to resists its fading. The necessity of grief to cope with what was once so present in our lives, which must now be faded into our past. Her opening track Turn was inspired by watching her son dance, entranced in magical imagination, each revolution a reminder of the losses and changes to come.
Emily’s work inhabits a feminist paradigm, centred on the inner world of a middle-aged woman, with its responsibilities, fears, angst, hopes and dreams. In East of The Sun, she paints a picture of a husband-weary housewife, who has sacrificed her self-esteem to make a marriage:
Gave away her golden apple and her silver comb
All so you might wake up and make it a home
Emily’s voice is clear, strong and young, never defeated, often rising against a backdrop of a drone or double bass, or the piano on Dreamless Sleep, a plea to find a childish fairyland in restful slumber, a refuge from active lives. She sings:
Today slipped by, a fever dream
Where did it go, where did it go?
Into the wasteland of the screen
We have to wait until the final number to hear the title track. It pulls no punches, Dominion of Spells is an old phrase for folks lost to mental illness, lost to themselves. Often an innocent Eve forever blamed for simply being female:
With my lying tongue and wandering womb
They say pain is my penance and a hell-bound tomb
But my true tongue knows a different tune
This is a thinking person’s album, inviting us to sit a while and ponder those seemingly tiny questions that loom so large in many of our lives.
Seán Laffey

RUTH PARKER
Otherwise Occupied
Own Label, 11 Tracks, 44 Minutes
www.facebook.com/ruthieparkermusic
Australian singer songwriter Ruth Paker is something of a virtual discovery. I chanced upon her through Facebook and Bandcamp, and a wealth of musical riches I discovered. Her second album Otherwise Occupied has become a treasured refuge for the quieter moments in the O’Regan music pile of late. A gentle gem that spreads its subtle magic in the same way Beth Orton’s Central Reservation and Sinead Lohan’s Who Do You Think I Am? and Brian Kennedy’s The Great War of Words all achieved in their prime time.
Otherwise Occupied is one of those records that creeps into the subconscious to gradually unfold its many subtle charms. Subtlety is her key word as songs like Sweep Me Up, I Can See the Stains and the title track Otherwise Occupied, When My Feet Don’t Touch the Ground and I Won’t Know but I’ll Pretend all make their mark slowly and incessantly. Accompanied by tentative guitar, piano, and occasional multi-tracking, the mood is low key, late-night and delightfully low-fi, but that’s all the songs need to make their moves. Simply put, they are so good it’s totally disarming, no need for a big production. That’s what Otherwise Occupied and Ruth Parker are all about, subtle disarming through the strength of great songs and a muted yet perfect delivery.
Ruth Parker’s journey into songwriting began later in life, illustrating that creativity is time independent. Having started her musical career while living in an isolated fishing village in Western Australia, Ruth’s first album Cul de Sac was issued in 2024. Now Otherwise Occupied brings further proof of Ruth Parker’s creative genius.
If you like quality, singer-songwriter material, Otherwise Occupied will prove the best new discovery you will make this year. Trust me on this, it’s that good.
John O’Regan

SEÁN-PÓL O’PEATÁIN
Amergin
Own Label, Single, 4 Minutes, 38 Seconds www.seanpolceol.com
When the Milesians sailed into Waterville bay sometime in Ireland’s Bronze Age, the first lad off the boat wasn’t a sword carrying warrior, but the poet Amergin Glúnmar. Poetry in his time and indeed for centuries after, wasn’t anything like what you’d get in a Hallmark Greeting Card. It had its own name, Rosc. Not confined by meter or rhyme, it was a robust, powerful, often magical language, sometimes tied to a dread prophecy. Few of Amergin’s poems survive and the most famous one The Song of Amergin was written down in the 7th century. There is debate as to what the words mean. Are they a puzzle, do they mark out clans and territories? Perhaps they are a colonial claim… ‘we are the Milesians and this land is ours now.’
Seán-Pól understands its poetic provenance, imbuing his work with a feeling of the dangerous Rosc. There’s a harp introduction, lulling, a calm before the storm of Seán’s voice, alternating between a low rasp and a clear tenor, as if the old poet/judge is debating with himself.
Seán Pól describes his music as Neo-Druid Bardic …and for good reason on Amergin. It is said that Amergin taught the Druids and they gave their poetry to the Filidh and in turn that aristocratic class passed on their lore and language to the bards. The song of Amergin still echoes to this day, O’Riada’s Mise Eireann rests on those foundations. As does Seán Pól O’Peatáin’s Amergin. The song ends with the original art of the deal, three Queens of The DeDanann: Banba, Ériu and Fódla, will be forever remembered in Irish placenames as we take over your old world:
I am the birth of song
an incantation on the wind
Banba, Ériu, Fódla
I invoke the land of Ireland
I invoke the land of Ireland
Seán Laffey