Never too late to join this club and become acquainted with their warm glow of welcome.

Release Date : 7th November 2025

Label : Aztec Musique

Format : CD / Vinyl / Digital

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?

Four previous studio albums, six live albums and a best of, you’d think this was a band nailed into the psyche of any self-respecting aficionado of the six nations of Celtdom. Maybe they are, but, if so, why are they also such a secret?

This has been baffling me, as I peruse this fine album, number five from this Franco-Hibernian band. Franco as in French, which may well be part the rub, anything much ever described as Gallic Rock tending to cut little mustard this side of the manche. A pity, as they have produced as scintillating a mix of folk, rock, rap and reggae as anyone else has ever managed to, and, given the tiny pool of artists who have ever tried to blend all four, you’d think they’d stand out by now.

The Hibernian applies mainly to the musical genre they draw most from, that being traditional Irish, with fiddle always high in the mix. There has been, however, Irish blood in the band since 2018 (and there was Scottish ahead of that). No less than Dan Donnelly, of the Levellers, was in the band, 2018-2022, with his replacement, Taylor Byrne, literally picked up off the streets of Dublin; CSC mainman, drummer, Manu Masko, spotted him, via social media, busking on Grafton Street, ahead of signing him up.

The band are a seven piece, as, alongside Byrne, on lead vocals and guitar, there are five French men and one woman, many of whom have been there from the start, toting a heady swirl of guitars, twin fiddles, harmonica, bass and drums.

INSUFFERABLY CATCHY

Love Madness, which opens, is as instant as can be, an insufferably catchy burst of jangle, electric 12 string guitar to the fore, with even a taste of McGuinn in the vocals. With uillean pipes no longer part of the core band, it is the harmonica of Mathieu Péquériau that squalls in, shortly before the twin fiddles of Pierre Stéphan and Céline Rivaux shimmy on, adding folk fumes to the assuredly indie vibe. Masko’s drums are mixed high and hollow and it is a terrific start.

A snatch of indecipherable words then introduce the jugband blues of the title track. Harmonica again, clearly, with Richard Puaud’s bass bouncing exuberantly, whilst Goulven Hamel, the band’s “six-string sharpshooter”, offers staccato breakneck clipped strums. The rest aren’t idle either, as some very Dexy-like fiddle breaks through. How good is this, and that isn’t a question needing an answer.

More jangle for Elegy, a bed for the confident croon of Byrne to coast over. Now more a less hoarse Justin Currie than the the Byrd of before, it is easy to see how the band had to have him.The harmonica and fiddle combo brings in some textures of early Lindisfarne, with a piano adding extra background texture. So far the myriad fusion aspects of the band seem dialled down, the feel being of a new chapter.

Suffer For You repeats the 12 string glory of the opener. Is this the sharpshooter of six strings now widening his armoury, or is it Byrne? (Needing now to know, on checking out the band’s set at Shrewsbury, 2024, it looks as if it is Hamel who is cutting that jangular, and all with six strings!) Regardless, it is an awesome big old grin of a song, not least as the fiddles come out the woodwork.

CURIOSLY CONGRUOUS

That said, it is a distinctively hip-hop drum pattern that leads off I Know Who You Are. And, if Byrne isn’t exactly rapping, it is near sprechgesang, and the overall effect is curiously congruous with the fluid guitar motif that billows around his voice. I’ll admit my ears don’t discern it, but I’ll bet Péquériau is scrubbing the bejasus out the washboard he plies, when not honking on his harp. A suitable Gallic flavour emerges as the fiddles provide further contrasting scenery. I had to go back and play this one again, just as to confirm how well thought through is the whole construction. Shades of Clannad, at their soundtrack finest, then inhabit the instrumental, Imbloc, two minutes of moody fiddle and guitar, the latter riding high and close to feedback, echo pressed full to the floor for each.

If you have ever wondered how the Stones or Pretty Things, circa 1964, would sound with fiddles? I Will Go answers that question. Deliciously. Again, the rhythm section are high and prominent in the mix, with all the intent that suggests. The same wonder, now for the Kinks, infuses Never Get Enough, with the additional thrill of some Ticket To Ride guitar. Péquériau blasts through, on harmonica, and suddenly the twin fiddles are there too, scraping away. Yes, yes, yes, I love your new direction!

A RATHER SPECIAL EXPERIENCE

I won’t deny I was a little discombobulated by Byrne’s spoken narrative, for the penultimate Yes I Am. It sounds like the sort of intro that should be reserved for live performance, striking a slightly odd tone on record, however engaging his speaking tone, let alone the sageness of his commentary. I’d have preferred just a few opening words, leaving then the fiery flurry and frenzy of percussion, guitars and fiddles to speak for themselves, unencumbered. Maybe it is to allow the listener to do just that, and listen, as the closer, Winter’s Nearly Done is a far more sombre affair. The folkiest selection here, stripped back to Byrne and his acoustic, with fiddle to accompany.

First time around, it caught me on the hop, and I thought it a step in the wrong direction, with a touch too much sentimentality spooned in to his smooth delivery. But, as Stéphan and Rivaux glide in, it becomes glorious, confirmed on repetition. The fiddles, as they take centre stage, accelerating the pace, just enough and no more, it is more than enough to clarify that this has been a really rather special experience.

DON’T KEEP THE SECRET!

Despite making, over recent years, a handful of festival appearances over here, the profile of this band isn’t high. Or high enough. This release can only help, and, put it this way, if I see their name down for any opportunity in ’26, me and my tent , we’ll be heading thataway.

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