If there is ever an official movement founded to prevent the inclusion of the digeridoo on Celtic-styled recordings, I’d be first in line to join. I am a firm believer that one should not be allowed to put digeridoo on one’s CD unless one is A) Australian and B) not Dougie MacLean. Most of the use and abuse of the digeridoo over the years has left me with a healthy fear of any CD that lists a digeridoo credit on its liner sleeve.
Thankfully, Outback’s Dance the Devil Away does much to make up for others’ sins. Primarily instrumental, raucously energetic and constantly challenging, the CD is one of those rare discs that offers something new on repeated listenings. What had the potential to be a disaster (mixing Senegalese, Australian and Breton musical styles with a bit of folk is not exactly what I’d call a surefire recipe for success), comes across as a triumph instead. Possibly the key to the album’s success comes from the superb percussion work. Ian Campbell on drums mixes and trades with Sagar N’Gom’s traditional Senegalese percussion; the result is music that is not so much propelled by drumming as launched by it. It’s rare these days for drumming to be positively visceral in its impact, but Outback manages it.
The rest of the band’s sound is a delicate weave of the multitude of instruments the three other players bring to the table. Martin Craddick holds his own with the old standbys, guitar and mandolin, while Graham Wiggins bounces back and forth between digeridoo, piano and melodica (perhaps better known as a “Hooter” to all of us who crept out and bought “All You Zombies” on 45 rpm). Working over and around them without overshadowing them, is Paddy Le Mercier, whose fiddle work is outstanding. It’s not the fastest or the most intricate, but it’s always appropriate and often seductive.
The best tribute a reviewer can give a CD is to run out of words to describe it; that means that the disc is truly original. Such is the case here. Find it, get it and love it.
