Aly Bain, Ale Moller, Bruce Molsky 2/11/12

This is a captivating trio of musicians who I last saw almost exactly two years ago at the same intimate venue. It just works brilliantly - three engaging and scholarly musicians melding their related musical traditions together. If I was going to carp then perhaps I would say that Bruce Molsky featured a little too much this time round. I preferred the music without his vocals and I prefer the ancient celtic/viking oeuvre that Aly and Ale bring to the party. But there was enough of their songs to keep me happy and Bruce contribute beautifully on his fiddle to their tunes. Ale provided the rhythm on his 10-string mandola (when not playing ancient shepherds' pipes)and Aly provided the heart of the music with his inimitable and unwavering fiddle playing. Highlights for me included a couple of tunes played together one called 'Yalta' something and the other 'Freddy's' something, anything in the 'troll' tuning and some tunes in 21/8 time (whatever that is). It is deep music played very movingly. I'll be back next time they tour.