"This record," explains accordionist Mick McAuley of Serenade, his new duo album with fiddler Winifred Horan, "took a while to get finished." McAuley says this with a sly undercurrent of irony in his voice, for in this case "a while" refers to the better part of ten years. Though he and Horan are best known as part of the internationally acclaimed Irish-American band Solas, their musical kinship stretches back even farther, to the bustling Irish music renaissance that blossomed in the early '90s in New York City, where they first met a decade ago. Since then, Solas' busy tour schedule has left little time for other projects. McAuley and Horan recorded Serenade in a series of sessions in Ireland, sometimes held many months apart. The pair maximized their time in the studio by carefully discussing the sound, songs, and styles that make up the album ahead of time. The result is a beguiling collection, infinitely musical and laced with small surprises that reveal both familiar and fresh facets of McAuley and Horan's talent.
"Even before we stepped into the studio, we put quite a bit of time into researching the tunes and songs that went onto the album," Horan explains. The songs composing Serenade cast a wide net, encompassing Irish folk music, wistful Gallic waltzes, gypsy swing, contemporary and traditional American music, and the French-Canadian fiddle/accordion duet tradition. McAuley and Horan's unassailable musicianship, combined with their careful production and song selection, not only give the album coherence - they illuminate how the myriad styles interact and influence one another, giving the listener insight into Horan and McAuley's individual styles and what they contribute to Solas.
Serenade works similar magic, drawing its distinctive vibe from the empathy between Horan and McAuley and the sound of their respective instruments. "This album is well-connected musically to Solas," says Horan, "and the band has already heard it and loves it." Owing to its smaller scale and concentration on melody instruments, Serenade is an album of beguiling intimacy - elegant in its more pastoral moments, but equally rambunctious on the up-tempo selections. "I like to think that we take advantage of the technical limitations of the combination of the accordion and fiddle," Horan reflects. "We let that be the sound, and work from there."

Solas: Another Day

Winifred Horan:

Just One Wish

Karan Casey: Songlines