Commissioned by The Dock, a multidisciplinary Arts Centre in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, this new song cycle from the award-winning, Dublin-born vocalist and songwriter Christine Tobin, creates a singularly beautiful sound-world which draws in elements from traditional Irish music, jazz and contemporary classical in an entirely seamless way.

An album which explores identity and the meaning of home from multiple perspectives, the scene-setting ‘Loch Glinne (Part 1)’ represents Tobin's return to Ireland from the US in 2020, beginning with a blusterous polyphony of found sounds from NYC before segueing into a compelling slow air performed by uilleann piper, David Power. Utilising the full textural palette of pipes, piano, viola, guitar and electronics, the ear-catching, multipartite ‘Gennie's Welcome’ was inspired by the warm greeting Tobin received from her nearest neighbour in the rural County Roscommon community she now calls home.

With its insistent piano ostinato irrevocably calling to mind Tobin's sublime 2012 album of Yeats adaptations, Sailing to Byzantium, ‘Callow’ strikingly depicts the varicoloured properties of this townland (“browns, yellows and greens, and all mustard hues”).

Following the joyous lilting of ‘Mullach na Sí’, Tobin pours all of her musical artistry into her engrossing setting of Eva Salzman's vivid poem ‘Still, Life’ with its haunting depiction of staying in a remote, abandoned house. Accompanied by Power, ‘Loch Glinne (part 2)’ references two of the more sombre episodes in the village's history, while the largely improvised ‘Hare & Crow’ tellingly juxtaposes two highly contrasting blocks of material.

While Robson's acoustic guitar and Lunny's viola envelop Tobin's vocal line in ‘Sedges and Heather’, the final song ‘July’ – a celebration of light and colour – returns to the full ensemble and brings this fascinating exploration of cultural reconnection to a close.