"Bonnie asserts: I love Celtic music, which I’m sure everyone who is reading this can easily tell. All sorts of styles, traditional, original, bagpipes, or punk and rock influenced, I love it. However, sometimes when I listen to an album I just feel completely privileged to have the opportunity to fall in love with a new band and share that feeling with anyone who stops by here. This is undoubtedly the case when it comes to The Langer’s Ball. This dynamic duo (cue Batman and Robin theme song) blew me away right from the first track to the last one. Michael Sturm and Hannah Rediske have been performing together since July 2007, and their album As I Roved Out was released in July 2008. Michael provides lead vocals, and plays guitar and mandolin. Hannah plays penny whistle and plays the hell out of the piano accordion. If you think you don’t like the accordion, do yourself a favor and let her change your mind, you won’t regret it. Somehow I had never heard The Galway Girl before, and I’m glad that this is the first version that I was exposed to. Michael Sturm has got amazing pipes - the vocal kind, not the bagpipe or the smoking sort. His voice is so expressive and smoother than silk to boot. Every note and word sounds effortless, and emotionally invested. He sings as if he’s sitting right next to you telling you a story. Jigs is a lively instrumental arrangement featuring guitar and penny whistle. You’re likely to involuntarily smile, close your eyes, tap your foot, and sway in time with the music. I don’t know much about playing the guitar, and less about the penny whistle, but this has to be a difficult piece to perform - and they make it sound easy. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is a damn near perfect balance of vocals and accordion. This already poignant song hits me harder these days, with young men and women coming home from the wars scarred in body and mind, or not coming home at all. This track is almost nine minutes long, and I sat completely enthralled through three consecutive plays, trying unsuccessfully not to bawl my eyes out. It’s lovely and eerie and heartbreaking, I don’t know how anyone could play it better. I didn’t note a favorite track on this album, pretty much because I was so awed by several of the songs that I couldn’t choose only one. The Galway Girl, Ragland Road, As I Roved Out, and And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda are definitely on the list. Also, for the first time in a while, I am pleased to be able to compliment a CD’s production. As I Roved Out sounds fairly close to as good as the last major record label CD I bought … you know, before I discovered online music stores. [Couple Photo] I’d hate to be known as the girl who cried, well, not wolf. I guess the girl the cried “Woo Hoo! Awesome Band!” Okay, I changed my mind. I’m kind of alright with that. Seriously, I feel justified in telling you to check out The Langer’s Ball post haste, with alacrity, right freaking now. If my shouting doesn’t convince you then check out their photos. Drastically adorable, the pair of them. See that? They sound just as good as they look don’t th … hey where’d you go? THE LANGER'S BALL: As I Roved OutMike puts forth: Astute readers will note something about The Langer’s Ball. You’ve seen them on Celtophilia before. Indeed, we did an interview with The Langer’s Ball back at the end of July. Then, the idea was that this review would be released shortly afterward. People, sometimes things just don’t go the way I plan them. Here’s the bad part. I forgot. We posted the interview, and if you had asked me, I would have sworn we posted the review as well. Then, a week or two ago I got an email from Michael, who gave me the very polite and eloquent equivalent of “WTF, mate?” Words can barely express how bad I feel, because truly, our readers deserve to know that this is an amazing album. Michael Sturm and Hannah Rediske are incredibly gifted instrumentalists, and although they have only been playing together for a little more than a year, they exhibit the kind of skill and polish that I would expect out of a band with much more time under their belts. As I Roved Out is a tremendous example of their hard work and dedication to the craft, and I stand amazed. Okay, I sit amazed. You get what I’m saying, anyway. Everything is wonderful, but one thing that I will point out as particularly wonderful from a technical standpoint is the way that the flute was recorded. Most of the time, there is a tendency to get a really rough, airy sound from wind instruments, but here it is beautiful, full, and extremely clean sounding. Now, I’ll say a word or two about particular songs. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is a hidden gem of a song. At eight and a half minutes, it’s really like sitting and listening to an old soldier tell his story, and it never gets boring. It’s a beautiful, heart-breaking tale, and yes, I know it’s hard to reconcile those two things. If you’ve never heard it, START WITH THIS ONE. Michael’s voice really does amazing things with this song. It is easily my favorite track on the CD. The title track of the CD, As I Roved Out, really captures the spirit of both the band and the CD. It showcases both band member’s voices, Michael’s guitar, and Hannah’s accordion to fantastic effect. The Galway Girl, too, is a fantastic representation of these guys at their best. It is gorgeously arranged, and is one of the songs I would really like to hear them perform live. (Note to Bonnie: Road Trip?) Because I like to pretend that all my reviews are completely objective, I’ll tell you one thing negative about the CD. The tracks “Slides” and “Polkas” were very hard for me to get into. They’re quality stuff, but really nearing the outside range of stuff that I can listen to for hours on end. If you want more info about this stellar band, check out their website at www.thelangersball.com, and of course, you can Buy the CD at CDBaby. I am also including their reverbnation widget below, so check that out and get a sampling of what The Langer’s Ball is all about. You won’t regret it."
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