Stephen Morris reviews The Roving Crows

By Stephen Morris
Website contributor

The Roving Crows performed on the BBC Introducing stage at Wychwood

Few things in life are guaranteed to raise a smile and get your feet tapping more than Irish folk music.

Some furious fiddling and the pounding of a bodhran is all that's needed to get the heart pumping and the craic started.

I recall a recent trip to the overcrowded Oliver St.John Gogarty's pub in Temple Bar, Dublin.

An Irish band was in full swing when a drunk woman decided it would be a fantastic idea to Riverdance on the postage stamp sized area of floor she had available - knocking all and sundry flying in the process.

The excitement, vigour and passion with which they approach they approach each song is impressive. Stephen Morris

It took four bouncers to get her out of the bar. She's probably still trying to do the dance as I type.

The Roving Crows are no exception to the rule of thumb described above.

They are at their best when rattling at full tilt through a reel or a jig.

The band have two examples on their MySpace page at the moment, both lively affairs, bounding with energy.

Firstly there's Mother's Delight (a traditional Irish tune) and later on down the set list there's A Stab in the Dark which starts off as a gentle lilting tune before picking up into something more frenzied - chaotic even.

'Traditional'

The majority of The Roving Crows tracks though are songs as opposed to instrumental tracks, and are equally divided between original songs and cover versions.

The covers tread ground familiar to many similar bands, not just with traditional Irish folk songs and tunes but also more contemporary songs by the likes of Christie Moore (Ride On) and Steve Earle (Galway Girl).

As should always be expected in such circumstances, there's a rendition of Whiskey in the Jar to top things off.

Such things are pretty much compulsory.

Elsewhere, the original material covers themes from domestic squabbles (Mary; in which an unreformed drunk begs his wife for forgiveness for yet another of his raucous nights out) through to political observations (Lies and Paddy's Coming Home).

Meanwhile, other songs are more personal, considering regrets and desires (Time and Hard Rain).

'Earnestness'

In these songs, the Celtic sound is softened, making way for other influences.

There is, for example, a clear debt to Bob Dylan in Hard Rain (not least due to the song's title).

In Time, meanwhile, it's also possible to detect traces of Leonard Cohen and David Gilmour along with Dylan's remaining presence.

The best songs here are the ones that concern the smaller scale; be this the intimate portraits of thoughts and feelings or the tales of drunken husbands.

When the songs cover larger issues, such as in Lies, there is a sense of over-earnestness.

Through this earnestness though, points do come across as comparisons are made between banks being bailed out while soldiers are left unequipped ("Each soldier's life is put upon the line/so we can have our spending spree").

'Varied collection'

Paddy's Coming Home works on a better level, using the story of the changes in Ireland's economic fortunes in parallel with the changes in the narrator's life.

It turns into a celebration of cultures coming together, similar to that found in Billy Bragg's album England, Half English, with Irish and Polish neighbours finding friendship in their new circumstances.

The result of the collection of songs available on The Roving Crows' MySpace page is a wide, varied collection of Irish folk, both traditional and contemporary, both original songs and cover versions.

The excitement, vigour and passion with which they approach each song is impressive.

Little wonder they were invited to perform at the 2010 Wychwood Festival.