Clear Skies

For the follow-up to their largely mellow and laidback 2012 debut, Open the Door for Three, Belfast trio Réalta have added personnel and instrumental clout to up the ante. One of Northern Ireland's freshest traditional outfits in recent years, Réalta's original members Conor Lamb (uilleann pipes, whistles, piano) Deirdre Galway (guitar, piano, vocals) and Aaron O’Hagan (uilleann pipes, whistles, flute) are joined here by all-Ireland champions Dermot Moynagh (bodhrán, percussion) and Dermot Mulholland (bouzouki, double bass, vocals, guitar, mandolin) together with co-producer Dónal O’Connor guesting on harmonium.

As a quintet, Réalta rocks, the brace of pipers delivering added adrenalin on the opening set of Asturian tunes from northern Spain and three stomping jigs, ‘The Rakes of Clonmel’, ‘The Glenshane Pass’ and ‘O’Leary's Motorbike’ – the latter two respectively composed by Belfast fiddler John Mackel and piper Paddy Davey.

Galway's pretty, brittle vocals sound as sirenic as ever on the County Antrim song ‘Kellswaterside’; Mulholland steps ably up to the mic for ‘The Longford Weaver’. Lamb's keening whistle comes into its own on ‘Tabhair Dom Do Láimh’, a crooning love song by the 17th-century blind harper Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin. In all, this is a solid second outing that whets the appetite for more.