This is clearly music intended not for a parochial Irish audience but the world (feel free to read North American) market. The sound is full and rich and avoids the cliches of both simplistic folk treatments and the new so called Celtic and Celtic-rock movements. It is centred just right to appeal to audiences of all ages at every level of society.

This release includes three medleys of traditional instrumental music that will raise even the near-dead to dance. The rhythms are bright and captivating, carrying the listener into the Irish world of Colcannon. These medleys alone make it worthwhile to own Corvus.

The only thing I can think of that would improve Mick Bolger's vocals would be to back them with some of the world's finest musicians. Based on this release, this has already been accomplished. Colcannon is as tight, polished, and professional a band as I have heard in a very long time. Any singer would sound better backed by Colcannon. Bolger is better than just any singer. What he and this band do together is very special.

Bolger has a rich singing voice that fills out and enhances any lyric, but there's more to it than that. No rustic, he has a fine-tuned voice through which his accent shines enough to establish the Irishness of his songs while remaining subtle enough for foreign audiences. Bolger keeps the sense of story in his presentation, never sacrificing the story to the music, yet using the music to underline the stories he tells. There is a great sense of balance in Bolger's singing.

Anyone who enjoys contemporary Irish music with an authentic traditional feel is sure to enjoy owning and listening to Corvus by Colcannon.