Spirit of gathering
Molly’s Revenge and Moira Smiley celebrate the soul of Celtic community at Caltech
By Bliss 08/07/2008
It’s no small thing for a traditional Irish band from North America to earn respect from musicians in the mother country. So it was something of a coup when Santa Cruz-based quartet Molly’s Revenge teamed up with John Doyle, the Irish folk artist renowned for his collaborations with Karan Casey, Liz Carroll and Kate Rusby, and, most prominently, co-founding the globally acclaimed ’90s Irish group Solas. Doyle produced Molly’s Revenge’s new album, “The Western Shore,” on which the band shares topline billing with vocalist Moira Smiley. The ensemble makes a rare local appearance this weekend at Caltech.
Smiley, probably best known to local audiences for her work fronting award-winning a cappella group VOCO, sings on only a handful of tracks on “Western Shore,” but her silky soprano and handy accordion playing broaden the sonic palette of an already dynamic set. Highland/uilleann piper and bodhran (drum) player David Brewer, bouzouki player Pete Haworth (who co-founded the band with Brewer), guitarist/mandola player Stuart Mason and classical violinist-turned-Irish fiddler John Weed are notorious for their love of sessions, or seisiúns — off-the-cuff, party-like jams, often fueled by sundry libations, in which musicians, friends, neighbors and grizzled pub regulars grab instruments and swap songs and solos. That free session spirit is channeled through the energy and song structures on “Western Shore.”
Most of the tracks are roiling medleys of traditional ballads, nature-inspired original instrumentals, and waltzes and jigs learned from veteran Irish and Scottish artists; the band repertoire liberally “poaches” melodies and songs from the Celtic and Cape Breton folk canon as well as the contemporary songbooks of Altan, Liz Carroll and Paul Brady. Smiley’s vocal turns are like a soothing between-reels breather. Haworth, Mason and Weed sing a bit too, but crooning takes a backseat to breathless reels and genial humor (which extends to traffic jams and the merits of eating hedgehogs in the wild).
Irish music is defined to an uncommon degree by minor keys and story songs releasing deep emotions of displacement and loss. Molly’s Revenge indulges in little in the way of morose balladry, instead celebrating life, community and the sheer joy of playing. Melancholy threads through even their liveliest dance tunes, but amidst the skirling pipes and thumping bodhrans, it’s that session spirit of gathering that gives the music such a powerful pull.
Caltech Folk Music Society presents Molly’s Revenge and Moira Smiley in concert at Caltech’s Beckman Institute Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Pasadena, 8 p.m. Saturday; $15 for adults, $5 for Caltech students (with ID) and children. Call (626) 395-4652 for details. They also give a free outdoor concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at Peter Strauss Ranch in Agoura Hills; concert preceded by jam at 2 p.m. www.mollysrevenge.com, www.moirasmiley.com.
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