Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Life can be extraordinary for some, but that is only because of the sheer hard work they have put into making it so. For as Andrew Finn Magill brings his growing audience a further taste of the music that he has become entrenched within and it is one that is patient, lively and full captivation, one that knows the spirit it offers and that of the musician’s Roots, one that spreads out as each note is forged in the steam of a fiddle on fire.
The album features the superb talents of John Doyle, Cillian Vallely, Sean Earnest, Vincent Fogarty and Duncan Wickel and each one of these players insists their knowledge and musical humour with the weaved fiddle that Roots so delicately envisages. The magic of the music displayed so elegantly by Andrew Finn Magill is dedicated, absorbing and with the players in tow, it is taken to a height that comradeship and respect can live within happily without ever for a single moment taking the initial idea out of the control of the man behind it.
It all comes down to the Roots, the seed of the idea, the notion that is blossomed and nurtured. If the root is healthy, then there is a good chance that the musical flower will flourish and be seen as something awesome, beautiful and endlessly serene; even when the temperature rises and the fiddle plays as if it is on the verge of catching fire.
Opening the album with addictive Miss McDonald/The Siesta and Don’t Touch That Green Linnet/Dancing Eyes/The Humors of Cavan, Mr. Magill gives the fiddle a reason to dance in the spotlight, to exhale with exhausted vigour and puff but to never sound anything but clean, crisp and look as resplendent than a gentleman wearing a brand new suit for the first time and looking somehow more immaculate than a polished coat of arms and matching Claymore.
An album that doesn’t just sit in the pantheon of Celtic music with ease, it takes a seat at the biggest table and roars in delight at the opportunity. Filled with more grace than an altar boy looking up at a stain glassed window and sensing the joy of his vocation, Roots is the start of something alive.
Ian D. Hall