This Irish trio comprising John Davidson (fiddle,), Shane Booth (guitar,) and Rós O'Meara (bouszouki, guitar) call their popular take on contemporary folk/world music 'Atlantean'. Their three-part harmonies come with impressive instrumental flourishes which mostly establishes an elegant and homely atmosphere.
Images Will Flicker, however, is about the transience of our moods and our natural tendency towards eclecticism is reflected in the variety of styles in the 15 tracks. There are a couple of instrumentals, an a cappella protest song (Sweet Liberty) and a generous sprinkling of bitter-sweet songs of love/loss (e.g. Grà and Summer Song).
Hardslacks is an anti-work song in the form of a reel built around Oscar Wilde's wistful quote that "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars".
After creating a gently lyrical setting, a few tracks with a decidedly angrier tone stick out like sore thumbs. We expresses outrage in no uncertain terms towards a bigot ("What the fuck did you say?") , Together is more like a punk song ("I hate you and you hate me") and a cover of Ewan MacColl's Tunnel Tigers, written in praise of Donegal workers who laboured under harsh conditions to build London's Victoria Line, feels like it belongs to another album.
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Normal service is resumed for the closing track, Where is the Sound Gone?, a "lament for good times past" that re-established the overriding tranquillity of the album as a whole.
Ignoring hints of edgier inclinations, Cua's all-purpose roots sound is designed to appease traditionalists and will also appeal to AOR audiences.
Cua's website
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