This week's traditional CDs reviewed

JOHN WYNNE

Ar Nós na Gaoithe/Like the Wind Cló Iar Chonnachta ****

When you're comfortable in your own skin, there's little left to prove but everything to explore. Roscommon flute player John Wynne has already set the bar high on his solo debut, With Every Breath(2000), and with fiddle player John McEvoy on their 2007 collection, Pride of the West. This time he excavates deep beneath the skin of a diverse collection of tunes, and his sensitive reading of the slow air, Ní ar Chnoc ná ar Íseacht(shadowed by Arty McGlynn's fine- grained guitar accompaniment) speaks volumes of Wynn's intuitive connection with the music. Elsewhere, the effervescence of his rhythmic style is a better mood enhancer than any chemical concoction, and the reel set, led by The Dawn, revels in the acrobatic potential of this most agile of instruments. www.johnwynne.com

Download tracks: Boney Crossing the Alps, Ní ar Chnoc ná ar Ísleacht

MÓRGA

Mórga Pug Records ***

The sizzling dynamics of a live session propel this debut from its opening reels set. Mórga are a newly minted foursome, featuring Danny Diamond on fiddle and Barry Brady on button accordion. Banjo and bodhrán from Jonas Fromseier and Dominic Keogh are the other propulsive forces, which put a dozen sets through their paces, with Fromseier lending the original pot-bellied Greek bouzouki to the mix with superb results. At times the sheer breakneck speed of Mórga's tune choices might send listeners diving for respite, but fleeting glimpses of restraint on the Seamus Ennis-inspired Return from Fingaland the old-timey whimsy of Biddy Martin's reveal musicians in thrall of the electricity that passes between them, but still intimately acquainted with the space between the notes. An impressive debut with limitless spark in its fuse box.

Download tracks: Wellington's Advance, The Braes of Busby