Kíla - Lemonade & Buns (Kíla)

Kíla have, over the past few years, developed a reputation as probably the best live band in this country. They've exploded beyond the narrow confines of the Irish traditional music scene to become truly unique. This latest release will only serve to consolidate their position. Anyone who's seen the band recently will be familiar with a lot of the tracks here and they will not be disappointed with the recordings. They've lost none of the energy or the wild spirit of the songs in the studio.

It's very hard to describe an album as flawless as this. " Lemonade & Buns" contains the same kind of songs as its predecessors - the wild party songs like 'Turloughs' or 'Where did ya hide that train, Joe?', where the fiddles, flutes and pipes scream and the bodhrán barely survives the beating its given. There's the slow emotive airs as well, like 'Andy's Bar' or the sean nÓs style 'Cé tú féin', that lift the hairs on the back of your neck, as my mother says. There's more of RÓnan's mad gaelic tongue twisters, 'Tine Lasta' and 'An Tiomanaí' in there too, which give a two finger salute to anyone who says Irish is a dead language.

Guesting on the album is a certain Liam Ó Maonlaí, who once said that nobody would buy music in Irish. Now there's a man who must be kicking himself. If you've heard the band before, then there's not much point in recommending this, you've probably heard it already. If you've never heard Kíla, you should be ashamed, this is a band that is the best at what they do. Buy this!

by Donnacha DeLong