Profile

One first listen, the Wolfe Tones sound like yet another naff group of Celtic folksters drumming out the same old tired riffs of the old country. Yet the chorus of the deceptively jaunty "Wearing of the Green" concludes "They're hangin' men and women for the wearing of the green," a reference to a particularly brutal bit of 19th-century anti-Republican oppression. Yes, one has to take one's politics straight up with the Wolfe Tones, from their name on down, but this is actually most helpful to their music for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it keeps the songs from wallowing in the sentimentality that ruins so much similar Irish folk, and for another, it adds a spirited, committed edge to both the vocals and the playing throughout Profile. Biting songs like the admirably straightforward "Plastic Bullets" and "Butcher's Apron" may not be what will best enliven one's next St. Paddy's Day party, but they're bracing social commentary and far more passionate than yet another rendition of "Danny Boy."