Review: fRoots Magazine (Colin Irwin)

It's been a tough road for Uiscedwr since they graced the fRoots cover in June 2004. With a BBC Young Folk award under their belts, an acclaimed debut album on the shelves, high profile gigs filling their diaries and the energy and positivity of youth on their side, they seemed to be on an irresistible roll to wider awareness and popularity. Almost from that point they've been kicked from all sides. Anna Esslemont, the trio's ebullient singer, fiddle player and driving force, was struck down by aplastic anaemia, a rare but serious blood disease that hospitalised her for a long period and capsized the momentum and goodwill they'd worked so hard to build. The group threatened to disintegrate completely as brilliant Irish bodhran player Cormac Byrne suddenly found himself in big demand, notable with Seth Lakeman, and guitarist Ben Hellings departed.

But with the introduction of Kevin Dempsey as his replacement and the studio guidance of Joe Broughton, Uiscedwr have crafted a second album of commendable verve, conviction and daring. The thrust of the first album was in neatly played traditional tunes infused with classical flavours, but here they boldly venture into alien territories, with jazz rhythms offering a strikingly different feel to the first one. Opening track Everyday Cynic sets a powerfully confrontational tone, a fine Esslemont/Dempsey song musing on the debilitating effects of a world dominated by cynicism and Anna's America is a sentimental, but involving song of parting. Dempsey cranks up the emotional barometer even higher with The Music Bringer, stretching their horizons still further, though their strength remains in their instrumental interplay.

Dempsey's input is strong throughout and Cormac Byrne's bodhran keeps it all fizzing nicely, but the star of the show may well be Joe Broughton, who has moulded a lovely, sharp sound. Anna's fiddle playing, especially, is irresistibly pure and strident and they pull off a complex piece like the Swedish polska The Beast with great skill, Anna's scat singing blending imperceptibly with the Byrne bodhran. Anna's classical training is to the fore on Ceol Aine, proving they do mellow as well as they do the foot-stomping stuff.

Indeed it's a very thoughtful album, the one nagging doubt lies in memories of their spiritual predecessors and fellow fRoots cover stars Tarras, who also blended folk music with classical, jazz and all sorts of other stuff but eventually slipped between the margins. Uiscedwr deserve to progress - let's hope they retain enough focus to avoid the same fate.

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