Celtophilia

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Artist: Bounding Main
CD: Going Overboard
Bonnie gushes: Warning, listening to this c.d. may induce the following symptoms, including: involuntary toe tapping, ear to ear grinning, clapping along, intense feelings of happiness and or joy, laughing aloud, and becoming so excited that you bounce up and down in your chair, eventually missing the chair entirely and falling onto the floor. (True story.)
Going Overboard, by Bounding Main, is one of the best a cappella albums I’ve ever heard. These people don’t need instruments, they scoff in the face of instruments. I kid you not, there were several occasions when I was covered in goosebumps from the sheer marvelousness of the sounds emanating from my speakers. Every single member of this group is an outstanding vocalist on their own merit, and the result of blending so many great singers together in alluring harmonies is damn near divine.
The album is a mix of traditional sea songs and original content that will shiver your timbers each time you play it. (Obligatory bad metaphor inserted, I shall now behave myself for the remainder of the review.) Oh, and a couple of great drinking songs, if you need an excuse.
To Ireland, written by band member Maggie Hannington, is a beautiful song that will resonate with anyone on the U.S. side of the big pond that treasures their Irish heritage, as well as anyone who adores labyrinthine harmonies.
Old Dun Cow is one of my favorite funny trad songs, and Bounding Main does it justice and more with their hilarious take on the pub that caught fire, and the patrons that wouldn’t evacuate.
If I was forced to designate one track as the best on the album, I would have to pick Toss and Roll. This song by David Yondorf is an irresistible juxtaposition of a mysterious and almost spooky tune, with hilarious lyrics that give hints of each of the group member’s personalities.
I can’t say much about Golden Vanity, except that it’s the happiest song about a murder that you’ll ever sing along with.
Going Overboard is a treat of an album, and when I say treat I don’t mean a 100 calorie pack of Oreos. I mean an ooey gooey warm brownie topped with hot fudge and ice cream. It belongs in the collection of anyone that’s partial to pirates, silly for shanties, or helplessly enthralled by harmonies.

Mike opines: If you like a cappella, then Bounding Main is a group you absolutely must hear. If you don’t like a cappella, then for the love of all things Holy, give these guys a chance to change your mind! There are so many beautiful, clear voices here that there’s almost an embarrassment of riches.
As you would expect from a group called Bounding Main, most of the songs have a definitively nautical bent to them, but the addition of a stirring rendition of Old Dun Cow is a welcome change of pace.
There seems to be some sort of an obsession with blowing amongst the song titles (Blow Liza Blow and Blow Boys Blow) but I’ll leave that for everyone to draw their own conclusions.
Every track on this disc is so well arranged and performed that it’s almost impossible to pick a favorite from among them. So, I’ll pick a few…. Okay, I can’t. I’m most fond of tracks 1 - 14. Fair enough?

If you want to know more about Bounding Main, you can find tons more at www.boundingmain.com and if you want your own copy of Going Overboard, you can at CD Baby.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Contemporary Celtic Reviews, Traditional Celtic Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.