Attendees at the first Guinness Fleadh (festival) in New York were intrigued as the noted Irish singer-songwriter Christy Moore flogged his kid bother Luka Bloom's (the nom de plume is half Suzanne Vega and half James Joyce) gig from the stage, and those who took his advice were agreeably surprised. Salty Heaven shows why--it is a potpourri of soulful images and love songs: protests against France's atomic bomb tests in Polynesia, kisses at a Brigid well, laments commemorating Altan's late flautist Frankie Kennedy, and the Irish famine. Bloom sings in a strong, extremely masculine baritone that contrasts pleasantly with the sensitivity and relaxed tunefulness of his songs. His many long stays in the U.S. have given his songwriting a cosmopolitan, urban soft-rock, neo-folk blend. Even so, his point of view as a lyricist remains specifically Irish even as the concerns he addresses speak from a wider experience.

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.