March 17-23, 2005

music

Irish Rovers

Waiting for An Echo in his house. " width="180" border="0" height="132" /> EASY AND SLOW: "Without the clock ticking, there is time for happy accidents," says Seamus Egan (center) of recording Waiting for An Echo in his house.

Wandering Irish experimentalists Solas toast their hometown on St. Patrick's Day.

by Mary Armstrong

The day is here, and by a stroke of Irish luck, Solas, America's finest melders of contemporary songs with traditional Irish music, are playing in their hometown.

Seamus Egan (flute, electric guitar, banjo) and Winifred Horan (violin), the heart and soul of the innovative Irish quintet Solas, live in Center City. When we got to talk to Egan about the new CD, Waiting for An Echo (Shanachie), he was panting from an extra-long sound check in Vancouver, preparing for not only a concert but also a session for the CBC radio network. You won't bump into Egan and Horan downtown very often; Solas tours endlessly.

So did they use a local studio for Waiting? "You could say it was real local," says Egan. "My house!" Like the old days when a band would get a four-track TEAC and get real creative? He laughs and says it's not far from that. And at 34, with 25 years as a performer behind him, he has some frame of reference.

"On the road, I'm using a G4 Powerbook and recording into Logic Audio. I started working in Logic a few years ago when I was in London, writing music for a dance show." After the music is recorded, it's transferred to Pro Tools for mixing and editing. This home recording technology is the best thing to happen to folk musicians, according to Egan. "You can record anywhere with a computer and mic — hotel, dressing room." Even a bar? "Yep."

Recording outside the confines of a formal studio has been a great relief for Egan and company. "Without the clock ticking, there is time for happy accidents," he says. If a take doesn't work right now, save the file for later and move on; see it as the creative experiment it is rather than the drain on funds that it can be in a high priced studio. Experimentation has sometimes cast Solas in a less than favorable light with the Irish music community.

Egan has a long history of Irish music performance, playing first with his sisters Siobhan and Rory as the Egan Family when they were gifted youngsters. He began working with legends Mick Moloney and Eugene O'Donnell when he was still in parochial school. That trio would write new songs that stuck close to the traditional music script. But by partnering with Horan, who was classically trained at the New England conservatory, and working as an adult with players of his own generation rather than his parents' generation, Egan's own musical vision started to develop.

Can you blame a guy for wanting to spread his wings? Egan swears he really didn't play rock on the sly as a kid. He was totally devoted to Irish music, which was itself something he kept on the sly from his schoolmates at Monsignor Bonner. He was devastated when a member of the faculty coerced him to perform at a school assembly.

Nobody came up to compliment? None of the other kids thought it was cool? "In a word, no." replies Egan. "I mean, how many kids let on in high school that they play banjo?" Or worse yet, play with a bunch of girls, even if they are your sisters, each winners of numerous musical championships, like their brother. Still, he was slow to look beyond Irish music. "I didn't even take up electric guitar until a few years ago."

The first Solas recording with full-blown experimentation went a bit over the top. Too often sounds seemed to be layered just because they were available and novel, not because they actually added something new.

On Waiting, those kinks have been worked out and the experiments fully realized. "The Ploughman," a traditional song, is redone with plenty of drums — and we don't mean bodhran — and effects. With its rhythm altered, it resembles Balkan club music. Horan's insistent, layered fiddling works wonders with singer Diedre Scanlan's traditional Irish sound. The lovely, soothing instrumental "Mi Pequeña Estrella" strikes a delicate, complementary balance between Horan's violin and Mick McAuley's accordion. And Egan proves he is still Irish to the bone with an assortment of jigs and reels. The cover of Richard Shindell's "On a Sea of Fleur de Lis" — "We adore thee, Mother Mary, won't you change me back to a witch" — will undoubtedly excite much comment from the observant in the Irish music community.

Despite their ceaseless touring, Egan and company have always been community-minded. They'd been planning a huge benefit at the E-Center for the Heart of Camden Housing Association when its founder, Sister Peg Hyne, was killed. The concert went forward as not only a fund-raiser but a tribute to Sister Hyne and her life's work. More recently, Solas has contributed a new tune to Compass Records' upcoming Hand Across the Water CD, which gathers the best of Nashville and Celtic in the name of tsunami relief.

Solas plays Thu., March 17, 7:30 and 10 p.m., $28-$55, with Maeve Gilchrist Trio, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400.