Album Notes

“What’s in a name? Plenty! Messrs Lipshutz and Gosa hail from County Milwaukee, somewhat west of Galway, and they don’t claim pure Irish ancestry but the music is most definitely in their blood - whether by osmosis or repeated transfusion, there’s enough Irish spirit in this duo to stock a Dublin bar. Not that it isn’t tempered with distillations of other cultures - there’s a pair of tasty French-flavoured waltzes, a challenging Klezmer gallop, and a charming Breton air on flute and bombarde. It’s a while since I’ve found that combination on an Irish flute album, not since John Skelton’s CD in the mid ’90s, and Lipshutz plays a beautiful arrangement here. His own compositions vary in feel, from the Breton influenced Bed on Rice to the American immigrant Trip to the Deli. The opening set pairs Miss Galvin’s with Ran’s Dirty Vans, a reel by Brett which could have come from any current Irish composer, well worth hearing. That makes eight totally Irish tracks, from old stalwarts like Cailleach an Airgead to the modern polkas Island Wedding #1 and Mimi and the New Generation by Charlie Lennon and Eoin Duignan respectively. The arrangements on Night and Day make every track memorable, with thoughtful guitar or striking harmonies. In fact, I’ve concentrated on the flute but the guitar is just as important here: driving, percussive, lyrical, gentle, dominant by turns. Randy Lee belies his name with some exquisitely delicate fingerpicking on several tracks, and a stunning solo performance of Bed on Rice. The contrasts are stark on this recording: old and new, fast and slow, stripped-down solo airs and multi-tracked arrangements. It could as well have been called Chalk and Cheese, and so could the duo themselves: one big and hairy, and the other less so. A combination of extremes, meeting perfectly in the middle, Lipshutz and Gosa are a class act and desrve to be widely heard. Very highly recommended. Check out www.randygosa.com. ” - Alex Monaghan (Folk World) (Irish Music Magazine)