Sacred Earth

Sharon Shannon's first new studio album in three years is a curious affair. It seems to promise something for everyone, but more often than not disappoints in its eclectic blending of the Galway virtuoso's signature singing accordion with splashes of Shetland fiddle, African rhythms, hip-hop, operetta and much else besides. The low point is Finbar Furey's curiously lacklustre cover of the old Jim Reeves hit ‘He'll Have to Go’. The rockabilly/bluesy ‘Let it Go’ also misses the mark while the melting ‘Lippen Schweigen’ from Lehár's The Merry Widow may be softly lyrical and lilting, but what it's doing here is anyone's guess.

Co-produced by longtime Robert Plant guitarist Justin Adams, Sacred Earth tries hard to please but lacks a centre of gravity or a sufficiently strong unifying idea. Shannon is at her best on the swinging New England/Canadian tune ‘Frenchie's Reel’ and ‘Sea Shepherd’. The latter is lit up by Seckou Keita's luminous kora, while they both benefit from an infusion of African heat and energy. There's no faulting the contributions from the likes of cellist Rushad Eggleston, guitarist Greg Guy and Sean Regan's fiddle, but it's an oddly unsatisfying curate's egg of an album.