Sure Hands at the Switch from McSherry and O'Connor

By Earle Hitchner

[Published on June 14, 2006, in the IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York City, USA. Copyright (c) Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]

My first exposure to the talent of Belfast-born uilleann piper John McSherry, winner of Oireachtas and All-Ireland senior titles, was in 1990 when he and three siblings--singer and flutist Tina, fiddler Joanne, and guitarist Paul--formed Tamalin. Teenagers belying their age, they were a highly promising and justly touted band, and Paul and Joanne were also members back then of another fine Ulster group, Commonalty, featuring Davy Maguire on flute and Milo Crossan on mandolin.

Since the heyday of Tamalin, John McSherry, who's also a skilled whistle player, has distinguished himself in two more bands, Lunasa and Donal Lunny's Coolfin, and in 2001 McSherry and another ex-Lunasa colleague, Michael McGoldrick, released "At First Light," on which Paul McSherry was a guest guitarist.

The title of that duet album has now become the title of a relatively new Ulster band, anchored by John McSherry and fiddler-keyboardist Donal O'Connor, son of former Skylark, Kinvara, and La Lugh fiddler Gerry O'Connor and La Lugh singer-flutist Eithne Ni Uallachain (1957-1999). At First Light can flesh out to as many as six members, including Tony Byrne on guitar and vocal, Ruben Bada on bouzouki, guitar, and fiddle, Francis McIlduff on bodhran, whistle, and uilleann pipes, and Alan Burke on guitar and vocal.

Byrne, McIlduff, Bada, and Paul McSherry are all guests on "Tripswitch," a comparatively short (just under 41 minutes) but absolutely splendid duo debut by John McSherry and Donal O'Connor on Glasgow's Vertical label that also features former Kornog guitarist Gilles Le Bigot and sound engineer Shaun "Mudd" Wallace on shakers, tambourine, and cymbals. With six other musicians in tow, it's hard to think of this CD by John McSherry and Donal O'Connor as a strict duet, but their playing stands out on each track, and the way the pair unpack a melody together is spellbinding.

The medley of "Johnny Going to Ceili/Sean Maguire's/John Doherty's/The First Month of Summer" reels begins with just pipes and fiddle in a tight, thrilling weave that never relents. The musical communication between John McSherry and O'Connor, who are eventually joined by guitarist Paul McSherry, borders on clairvoyance.

That is also powerfully evident in the medley of a slow reel followed by three reels, "Charlie Mulvihill's/The Pullet and Cock/Commonalty Reel/Iniscealtra." The track starts with a sensuous whistle, fiddle, and guitar collaboration on the slow reel, then bolts in tempo and energy with pipes, fiddle, and guitar on the first fast-paced reel. The next reel, named for the Commonalty band who used to perform it, spotlights whistle, fiddle, and bodhran, and the playing by John McSherry and Donal O'Connor is so seamless that when McSherry takes an intentional breath pause at one point, O'Connor matches him with a quick bow lift. "Iniscealtra" lashes up pipes, fiddle, guitars, bouzouki, and bodhran into a heady finale for this brilliant medley.

Close listening to another medley, "Rose in the Gap/Old Dudeen/First Month of Spring," reveals how John McSherry bends and slurs select notes for a sly, subtle effect, and O'Connor has the chops to stick with his partner during this imaginative ornamentation. The playing of "Charrada De Bercimuelle/Corrido De Encina," two Castilian 5/8 dance tunes, and "Muneira d'Anton," an Asturian jig, gives expressive vent to the rhythmically infectious native music of Ruben Bada, whose expert bouzouki playing on the former track and guitar playing on the latter track bolster the impact.

Nimbly seguing into the track of Castilian tunes is "Both Ghe," a slow air composed by John McSherry and Donal O'Connor and performed by them on pipes and fiddle, with Gilles Le Bigot lending a light Breton flavor on guitar. It's a lovely melody that O'Connor dedicates to his late mother.

The title track, "Tripswitch," is another tune written by McSherry and O'Connor, and this slow reel has a Lunasa-like progression with an intriguing bridge in the middle and a jazzlike, trail-off coda on guitar from Paul McSherry. Brooding and beautiful, it's almost hypnotic in the way it envelops the listener, with each note tendered like ripe, savory fruit from the vine.

"Aille's Arabesque" is a slip jig composed by John McSherry for his daughter, and its undulating movement no doubts mimics her own. Paired with that slip jig is the double jig "Tell Her I Am," ending the album with a relaxed, fluid blend of whistle, pipes, fiddle, guitar, and bodhran.

The graphic design and photography for this album are amateurish, as is Gearoid Mac Lochlainn's liner note. It gets jarringly hyperbolic in a bloated sentence such as this: "There are still controlled surges of energy rush from both musicians as tunes twist, weave, skip, and skirl through a range of moods, grooves, and cross-culture-calls, but the overall effect of 'Tripswitch' is that of purred incantation, a mellow, iridescent spell that signals a new phase in the creativity of both players." Got all that? If not, how about settling for "creative chill out zone," a Mac Lochlainn phrase in the next sentence? I'm surprised he didn't insert "feng shui" somewhere.

Dull packaging and dumbfounding liner note aside, "Tripswitch" is eight tracks of compelling playing from John McSherry and Donal O'Connor, a tandem as gifted as any now active. Throughout this engrossing album, they leave the switch emphatically on.

For more information about the CD (VERTCD076), visit www.atfirstlight.net or www.verticalrecords.co.uk.