Anarchy & Rapture features 10 tracks with a decidedly Celtic edge. Annwn is a six-piece San Francisco outfit who use banjo, fiddle, flute, saxophone, drums and bass to great effect in interpreting some of the finest traditional Irish songs and tunes. The album also includes some impressive original material and a cover of David Crosby's song "Triad".
Leigh Ann Hussey's fiddle playing is note-perfect when it needs to be but beautifully loose and soaring when she solos on her own song, "Black Eye, Yellow Eye". There are echoes of the original Celtic rockers -- Horslips, Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull -- particularly on their version of "The Foggy Dew" and "The Reel Set", which includes "Joe Cooley's" and "The Mason's Apron".
Billie Mandel's lilting, mystical flute playing takes the Irish ballad, "The Blacksmith", to another astral plane.
Annwn have put together a great collection with Anarchy & Rapture; the blend of styles is striking: a west coast jazz-funk-folk-rock fusion. Stay tuned for the surprise extra song that stumbles into life after two minutes of silent intermission at the end of the last listed track, "The Parting Glass".
If further encouragement is needed to buy this CD, check out the photograph of Leigh Ann on the back of the CD, which displays more of her ample talents while defying every known law of gravity with a two-handed lift and separation that no Wonderbra could ever achieve.