Formed in the post-Graceland ’80s, and mixing the sounds of Irish and world music into something new, Kíla have contributed many fine artists to the Irish music scene. Founding member Colm Mac Con Iomaire left to join The Frames in 1991 and current member Brian Hogan recently released a hard rock EP under the moniker Preachers Son. But bodhran-player Rónán Ó Snodaigh may be the most noteworthy of the lot, and his latest album ‘SOS’ succeeds at the very least in identifiying a sound that can be considered to be most distinctly Ó Snodaigh’s.

The album is sung completely in Irish, but it’s a dense and heavily-accented Irish that even life-long speakers will find difficult to decipher at times. But semantics are not the album’s purpose and the contribution of the words to the album’s overall meaning is one of rhyming rather than anything else. In this sense the voice employs a hip-hop aesthetic and indeed Ó Snodaigh’s syllable-heavy bars and breathless tempo make this as much a rap album as a trad-influenced one. The title track with its dark funky bassline and steady drums are a prime example of this.

In contrast to the polished sounds of Graceland – still the most iconic “world music” album in the West – ‘SOS’ has the kind of raw, almost under-produced sound found in modern recordings of Malian music. SEOD is a Malian sound, particularly in its ngoni-like guitar and the almost hummed singing of the track’s chorus. Following this AIRE is more in the lively mbaqanga style; very simple compositions but highly danceable.

BOG BOG is the album’s most outright trad-style tune and SEACHAIN utilises a bebop shuffling drum style, but around this point, six songs in, the album begins to exhaust its appeal. The first five songs strike you first as being unusual but they stick in your head and ultimately they all work. The last three seem to go overboard, particularly closing track BRAITHIM which utilises a production style in which Phil Spector and Philip Glass meet and don’t so much exchange pleasantries as try to shout each other down while Ó Snodaigh attempts to make himself heard above the din.

Despite the fact that the ending isn’t nearly as enjoyable as the album’s opening we have to admire the fact that ‘SOS’ doesn’t so much run out of ideas as throw every other remnant of an idea against the wall and hope it sticks. While these closers don’t quite work on their own terms the experimentation is admirable and the first five songs make the album more than worthwhile.