The Music Box
The Killdares — Any Given Element

January 2006

Fans of high-powered, Celtic-tinged rock 'n' roll need look no further than The Killdares’ long-awaited studio effort Any Given Element. The album is packed with scorching new material that features the band’s famously vibrant edge. Throughout the endeavor, hard-driving grooves are matched with powerful vocals, excellent fiddling, haunting bagpipes, slick guitar, and a beat that reaches out and grabs the listener. Taken in total, the outing is certain to please any self-respecting leprechaun.

Any Given Element commences with rolling electric guitar and mournful violin, but everything bursts into flames as "September", one of the strongest cuts on the album, kicks into gear. The song speaks to both the passage of time as well as to lost love, as is evidenced in the lyrics: "And it’s coming on September and I feel as though I’ve aged/August with its searing heat, October with its rage/And the time will quickly pass; another year has gone away/Another season turns to ashes, turns my bitter winter into gray."

September might have been a tough act to follow, but The Killdares keeps the momentum moving as Roberta Rast’s spirited fiddling drives Calendar, and the instrumental "Farewell to Decorum" fuses bagpipe, fiddle, and percussion to form a Irish-tinged approximation of Electric Light Orchestra. Rast also keeps the melodic "Dichotomy" aloft, and quite frankly, she plays with such natural ease that it’s easy to understand why she won top honors at the 34th Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville. Elsewhere, "Wasted" conjures the illusion of a midway carnival; "Gone West" tells the story of struggling immigrants as they strive for a better life in America; and "Fragile" is one of many tracks that highlights the ensemble’s outstanding vocal capacity. Masterfully produced with memorable lyrics, well-crafted melodies, and flawless musicianship, Any Given Element is an album that The Killdares undoubtedly is proud to have made, and one need not be celebrating St. Patty’s Day to appreciate it.