Primeval

The entertaining thing about this album is that you can shove it into any number of niches — Celtic, modern Irish, folk, jazz, new age, soft rock, you name it. There's no drum kit to be found, that's for sure, but there's any number of other percussion instruments — on the other hand, percussionist Trevor Ferrier is also the lead vocalist. On yet another hand, they don't actually have lyrics — it's vocalese, using the voice as an instrument. The Celtic and jazz influences predominate, to the point that they cover Roland Kirk's "Volunteer Slavery" with bagpipes playing the sax lines — the insane thing is that this works somehow. From the opening "Fourth World Reel" to the closing "Dreaming of the Other Side," this is an unusual, entertaining, and friendly album that throws a lot of elements into a listenable stew of influences. It's a good guess that they had a good time playing it; you'll had a good time listening.