Transformed, Claddagh Records ***

Metamorphosis is the theme underpinning Goitse's second album. Taking their name from the Donegal Irish for "come here", this five-piece (all students, past or present of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance) seek out the pulse of the tradition – without succumbing to the temptation to raise it to a breakneck pace. Fiddler, singer and composer Áine McGeeney anchors the band with a clean, uncluttered fiddle style and ambitious trajectories. The title tune set epitomises the steadying influence of Dónal Lunny at the production desk, with bodhrán player and percussionist Colm Phelan and guitarist Conal O'Kane alternately fuelling and corralling the rhythm section with the wisdom of musicians with many more road miles beneath their belt. McGeeney's vocals are at times reedy, lacking the depth that songs such as Erin on the Rhine demand, but James Harvey's subtle banjo and Tadhg Ó Meachair's careening piano accordion bolster the vocals and insinuate themselves in between the tunes with impressive agility. goitse.ie