The Art of Forgetting

The Art of Forgetting is a fine showcase for Kyle Carey's speciality – ‘Gaelic Americana’ – which sounds as you would expect of a sweet-voiced folk singer from New Hampshire, performing under the influence of Scots-Gaelic and Irish culture. Carey studied Celtic music in Nova Scotia on a Fulbright Fellowship and the Gaelic language in Scotland with Christine Primrose. Her command of the language is fluent and her nuanced delivery is imbued with a deep affinity for the singing tradition of the culture.

Carey's carefully balanced strategy is most successful when it more closely follows a traditional model, as it does on ‘Opal Grey’ and ‘Tillie Sage’, which smoothly blend the elements to produce a satisfying hybrid result. When she veers off into coffee-house jazz, on ‘Siubhail a Rùin’, a classic ballad with Irish lyrics translated by Carey, the result is not exactly a bad thing, just different. The Art of Forgetting features an all-star supporting cast including Rhiannon Giddens and Liz Simmons (vocals), Sam Broussard (guitar), John McCusker (fiddle), Mike McGoldrick (flute), Kai Welch (trumpet), James Mackintosh (percussion), Ron Janssen (octave mandolin) and Gillebrìde MacMillan (backing vocals). The music is richly textured, but never loses a sense of delicacy and poetic refinement.