Review: SONGLINES
Four Stars
"Varied second album finds
young trio in fine fettle."

"Ish-ka-dooer" - that's how you pronounce the name, formed of the Irish then Welsh words for water. It's worth knowing, because we'll be hearing much more of Uiscedwr. Circle marks their arrival as a technically brilliant, musically versatile, highly enjoyable band.

After winning the BBC Young Folk Award in 2003 and releasing Everywhere, a promising debut, Anna Esslemotn, the band's Welsh violinist, fell ill and for a year was unable to work. Her playing now is better than ever, assured and jazzy on Esta LeVista, and her songwriting much improved. The canon is chocker with lamentations for people leaving for the US. Esslemont takes a different slant, however. Her song 'America' features a narrator who can't wait for her man to get himself off over there, away from her. Yet a yearning in the melody belies her forthright lyric. Sad? Glad? It's more complicated than that, the song suggests.

Kevin Dempsey replaces Ben Hellings on guitar and, having played with Dave Swarbrick, he knows how to accompany a gifted fiddle player, matching Esslemont note for note. In 'Flea Circus', which gets frenetic, he is fast, accurate, but also expressive, inventive. Throughout the album Cormac Byrne's bodhran astonishes. How he manages to coax such melodic as well as rhythmic range from a wooden hoop and a patch of goat-skin remains a mystery. His percussion piece, 'Tree', will convert the most ardent despiser of the drum solo.
All three musicians work joyfully together and Circle, crisply produced by Joe Broughton, is a delightful album. Uiscedwr will be appearing at many festivals - keep an ear out for the MC announcing "Ish-ka-dooer".

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