Netrhythms - David Kidman - Sept 2006

An immensely invigorating and intensely sparkling 40 minutes from two ace Belfast musicians. John's a dynamic uilleann piper, definitely one of the land's finest, with an improvisatory sense all his own; he's toured as a founding member of both Lúnasa and Tamalin as well as a lead instrumentalist within the illustrious ranks of Dónal Lunny's Coolfin supergroup - and he's performed with countless other artists, from Clannad to Sinead O'Connor. For many, though, John really came into his own around four or five years back with the award-winning album At First Light, for which he'd teamed up with Michael McGoldrick. For Tripswitch, however, he's formed a scintillating new partnership with fiddle player Dónal O'Connor, son of the celebrated fiddler Gerry (whose tremendous album Journeyman I reviewed here a short while ago). Dónal shares with his father an immaculate technique and a totally professional approach to his art, and the spontaneity of his inventive interplay with John's piping is a joy to behold. He also has a breathtaking way of matching, and so very precisely mirroring, the principal melodic line. The wonderful musicianship of the two main players, though undeniably the main attraction of the CD and its raison d'être, isn't the only source of deep joy therein, however, for the duo's backing crew consists of four fabulous guitar/bouzouki players - Paul McSherry, Gilles Le Bigot, Tony Byrne and Rubén Bada, who between them provide a superb pulsating so-much-more-than-just-rhythmic backbone - and two percussionists (Francis and “Mudd”). The presence of this stellar bunch of names might well indicate to the well-versed listener a certain adventurousness of musical direction - and that would be correct, for, excellent though the disc's various Irish (traditional and self-composed) tune-sets are, its highlights definitely include the two selections which are based on Spanish tunes - a 5/8 Castilian set and an Asturian jig, ingeniously placed together near the centre of the disc. The odd-track-out is a delectable slow air, jointly composed by John and Dónal: Both Ghé, whose perfection is marred only by its undue brevity. The faster-paced selections are marked by a fantastic joie-de-vivre that's as infectious as it is welcomingly unhurried; in this regard I especially liked the slow reel that forms the CD's title track, the ethereal Antón (where John gives the pipes a rest and conjures some fine playing from the low-whistle) and the intriguing slip-jig/double-jig set that closes the disc (albeit officially - listen on for a glorious three-minute hidden track that sounds like it, like those earlier cuts, has an Iberian origin). The exceptional musicianship and the sheer sense of space created by the players on the tunes they create and/or arrange here combine to make Tripswitch quite a special disc.

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