Innovative Anglo-Irish quartet The Haar release their second album. Their debut, eponymous, album was described as “a splendid balance of swirling instrumental magic and beautifully sung narratives” by Folk Radio UK, and Where Old Ghosts Meet promises more magic across eight traditional Irish songs.
Matching the fresh talent of traditional Irish singer Molly Donnery with three of the most exciting instrumentalists on the folk and traditional music circuit: Cormac Byrne (Uiscedwr, Seth Lakeman), Adam Summerhayes and Murray Grainger (The Ciderhouse Rebellion, Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter), the band’s music is characterised by ‘live reactive composition’ – an improvised space from which Molly’s pure and unadulterated vocals can emerge.
They take familiar tunes and turn them into something fresh that mysteriously feels as if you have known it forever. As the band themselves say: “We let our imaginations run free with these old favourites.” The result is breathtaking beautiful, audaciously ambitious in its scope and, most importantly, a living document that proves the vitality of these ‘old favourites’.
A product of free-thinking and intuitive musicians at the very height of their powers. The concept might seem oxymoronic, but if you’re looking for the cutting edge of traditional music, it is here.