The Eve of the Solemn Feast of St. Patrick

In keeping with the trend of posting music videos by Irish bands in the run-up to St. Patrick's Day, I feel obligated to post a video by another criminally unsung band. Fronted by the mind-bogglingly lovely Leslie Dowdall (although a young Sinead O'Connor was briefly with the band), In Tua Nua (best rendered in English as "A New Tribe") combined rock music with traditional folk music to form a melodic backdrop to the rich alto vocals of Ms. Dowdall. The band's first album, to my knowledge, was never released in the states, but their second album, The Long Acre, produced by Don Dixon, received some airplay in the New York metro area. This is another album which is all killer/no filler, from the blistering opening track Woman on Fire to the tender Sweet Lost Soul. The subject matter ranges from critiques of male chauvinism (the aforementioned Woman on Fire and religious oppression (the truly remarkable The Innocent and the Honest Ones, an agnostic hymn that, fortunately, can be heard on the band's MySpace page), to the economic hardships of the time (the title track of the album). The band broke up soon after the release of The Long Acre, a few years before The Cranberries and Riverdance ushered in an early 90s Irish renaissance in the U.S. (of course, zrm would rip my face off if I didn't mention Black 47 as an Irish-American band which rose to prominence in this era as well). If The Long Acre had been released four years later, it probably would have been a smash... Watch, and fall in love:

My personal favorite:


Their highest charting single:


Do check out the other videos, the "Self Aid" video for Seven Into the Sea is a real treat.