Two weeks ago, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw an announcement on Facebook from Shay and Michael Black, that their new album, Glackanacker, was available for pre-order on their website, black-brothers.com. This week we were delighted and extremely privileged to receive a review copy.

This release is packed with a dozen of the great, traditional and contemporary songs we've come to expect from the Black Brothers, but two of them struck us as particularly poignant The Man From the Daily Mail, and Exile's Return.

All together, really good music!

The Black Brothers, Shay and Michael, have made their homes in the San Francisco Bay Area for many's the year now, where they are the backbone of the local live Irish music scene. They normally play a series of shows around Northern California early in the Spring. This year's gigs were cut short by the arrival of Covid-19 but fortunately, the brothers had completed a brilliant new album, Glackanacker, before the pandemic, placed everyone under house arrest.

Their new album opens up a whole new sonic landscape. Their voices, bright and pure, are paramount: there are two tracks where the voices alone are the instruments. But the CD is suffused with a richly textured sound palette launched by John Doyle's bouzouki underlay and Mike McGoldrick's pipes and whistle on the first track, Home by Barna. Doyle produced the album and his care for every musical detail is omnipresent. As a fine singer and songwriter himself, he knows how to present songs with the best possible setting and arrangement.

The album will enhance your appreciation for artists like the Black Brothers and their musical community who grace this CD. The brothers are the real deal, musicians with day jobs and families, who are deeply committed to playing and performing at the highest level. They take their responsibility to entertain seriously (expect to sing at their shows) without ever taking themselves too seriously. And, they rarely turn down opportunities to play for good causes.

This joyful album will lift your spirits, raise a smile, and might even inspire a desire to visit Rathlin when international travel reopens. It will certainly make you long for the time when the Black Brothers and many other artists can play live concerts again.