Description
Mollimor blend Irish & Celtic traditional and original tunes & songs with driving edgy, jazzy or mellow rhythms to produce a unique and varied repertoire.
Lyrical slow tunes alternate with driving rhythms, songs merge with tunes – it’s a melting pot. Instrumental firepower from fiddle accordion and flute, backed by gutsy rhythms on guitar, bouzouki, bass.
Arranging this music to showcase the skills of the band members and create a great listening experience is a pleasure for the members of Mollimór.
We had the honour of performing at the world’s biggest Irish music festival Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann held in Ireland in August 2022 .
Mollimor Trad Time – Live
CD review by Tony Smith
TN2564-82 – $20
The Victorian quintet Mollimor demonstrates a couple of adages very clearly.
First is that a champion team will come out on top of a team of champions.
The second is that bands which enjoy themselves infect audiences with their enthusiasm.
The messages for other players are plain: it is important to work on ensemble, something Mollimor has in buckets, and it is best to play tunes you really like.
The band consists of Frank O’Dowd (guitar, vocals), Pete Foote (bass, bouzouki), Kate Haines (flute, accordion, vocals), Ben Sim (fiddle, vocals) and Steve Schultz (dejembe, percussion).
Sim, Foote and O’Dowd have arrangement and/or credits for lyrics, but as the title of the CD suggests, most tracks have their origins in Irish music or in Galicia/ Asturias.
There are three lively ‘muneiras’ and ‘O Moso Tempo’.
Indeed, a fine feature of the album is the way in which Irish and Galician tunes are blended so well.
In one set for example, Mollimor have ‘The Gael’ (D. McLean) – ‘Hungry Rock’ (L. Kelly) – ‘Muneira de Pontesmapaio’ (Trad – Galicia).
There are listed 13 tracks, all of which carry multiple tunes.
Among the instrumentals are four songs – ‘Henry O’Farrell – Henry’s Last March’ (Foote and O’Dowd), ‘Lead Me’ (Sim), Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘Newry Highwayman’ (Traditional).
Sim’s ‘Little Festival Polka’ and ‘Roisin’s Reel’ make a good opening and his fiddle work is sound throughout, with some especially catchy phrases in the Galician tunes.
He features also on ‘Planxty Di’, ‘Humours of the Hill’ and ‘Back in the Burrow’.
This is very danceable music.
The rhythms are especially clear although there is nothing obtrusive about the percussion/bass backing of Steve Schultz and Pete Foote.
This band would have the audience up and dancing right from the start.
As well as supplying sound lyrics and arrangements, Frank O’Dowd’s guitar riffs are always appropriate.
More would be good.
While it is important not to lose sight of the great teamwork which makes this album so appealing, listeners will instantly appreciate the flute playing of Kate Haines.
Her accordion is fine as well, but the flute is as good as any you will hear playing traditional tunes in this country and well beyond.
Haines adjusts well to changing tempos between ‘Echoes Calling’ (J. McKenna) and ‘Tribute to Peadar O’Donnell’ (D. Lunny) and in the frisky Canadian fiddle tune ‘Mouth of the Tobique’ (F. Sowish).
The album is well presented with brief but adequate notes on a recyclable card.
The band thank Barrie Clissold and Wombat Studios of Valencia Creek and also their respective partners.
Listeners will likewise be grateful for this tasteful presentation of an interesting mix of originals and covers of tunes from several cultures.
Ed. This album is available from the Trad&Now website and tracks can be heard from time to time on Trad&Now live! during the new arrivals hour at 12 noon every day as well as at other times throughout the day and night.
