GOITSE – Inspired By Chance (own label GSECD4)

Inspired By ChanceI sometimes wonder if bands spend their spare time thinking up titles for their sets. Goitse’s fourth album, Inspired By Chance, opens with ‘Odds’, which is OK given that the whole record is about chance events but there is no particular reason that the three tunes gathered together should be given this title. I’d be happy if the last track was called ‘Evens’ but it’s actually ‘Chance’ so I suppose that makes sense.

Goitse came together in Limerick and still look impossibly young despite their experience and percussionist Colm Phelan’s beard. Indeed, the second set. ‘Banjoman Button’ is named for James Harvey who may have to start shaving soon but there is a sensible explanation for ‘First-Class Bananas’. My favourite tune here is the rocking ‘Fair Maids Of Ireland’ after the funky ‘Serendipity’ and the slightly off-the-wall ‘Time Zone Laneway’ – the last title in the ‘Serendipity’ set.

The first of the three songs, all sung by Áine Mc Geeney, is ‘The Hills Of Sweet Lislea’ written by Finbar Magee for a Great War commemoration. Its style is rooted in the Irish tradition and it deserves to become a standard in the years ahead. The second, ‘Ireland’s Green Shore’, is traditional and in a happier but still reflective mood and the last is ‘An Bonnán Buí’, a poem by 17th/18th poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna.

The band plays with a very light touch with only Martin Brunsden’s double-bass in a guest role and they could play the whole set live with no trouble. Goitse have won many awards and have a diary full of dates in Ireland, the United States and continental Europe. Perhaps it’s time someone brought them over to play in England.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: http://goitse.ie/

‘Serendipity’ – official video:

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