Music Review
By David Thorpe
 Bagatelle
The Irish Connection
Few genres can have produced quite so much bad music as the Irish ballad,
with treacly sentimentality and unimaginative instrumentals creating tunes
which are scarcely above what would be heard by pub singers.
As a musical three-piece Bagatelle are as talented as most musicians on
the Irish folk scene, but this new collection of their old songs does
scant justice to their talents. Anyone who has grown up or lived in Celtic
Tiger Ireland will find little to identify with songs about the loneliness
of emigration.
While the boys can sing and play their instruments to an admirable standard,
all of the songs sound the same and Bagatelle soon feel like a band from
a different era, a time when forced emigration was the norm, so it’s
difficult for a younger generation of Irish people to identify with this
music.
There is nothing wrong with this CD and it will surely sell by the bucketload
to the Irish Diaspora, but it’s aimed at a very narrow market and
won’t be bought by many people for the quality of the music.
 Nuala Shine
This debut album from the London-born Irish woman mixes jazz, pop and
rock, a blend which helps create an unusual originality on a debut album.
The standout track is the pop orientated El Sol, bright breezy and lyrically
strong, this is Nuala Shine at her most comfortable. Some of the other
songs possess merit but are bogged down by the performer’s self-consciousness.
That said there are no poor songs on the album and the jazz influences
create a unique and excellent sound.
Shine has toured with a variety of low-key bands in an eclectic career
and, understandably for a debut album, this record occasionally lacks
musical authority even as the obvious and rare talent of the performer
is evident.
Nuala Shine has the voice and songwriting ability to go on to have a sensational
music career, this album is a useful introduction to her sound, and is
well worth its place in any music collection.
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