Track Listing: 1. Reels: Haley's Tweed / Lad O'Beirne's / Launching The Boat 2. Barndances: Lord Leitrim / If There Weren't Any Women in the World 3. Song: My Ballyronan Maid 4. March/Polkas: Boys of Belfast / Julia Clifford's, Reg Hall's 5. Reels: That's Right Too / Esther's Reel / Miss McDonald 6. Song: Johnny Seoighe 7. Jigs: Mom's Jig / The One That Was Lost / Doberman's Wallet 8. Planxty: Joe Burke 9. Song: Bean An Tí 10. Jigs: The Humours of Ballyloughlin 11. Reels: Maggie on the Shore / Brady's / Rodney Miller's. 12. Song: A Stór Mo Chroí 13. Jigs/Slip Jig/Reels: Chapel Bell / Gan Ainm / Ladies Step Up The Tea / The Piper on Horseback. Click on underlined titles to hear MP3 sound bites

We are delighted to announce our release of their 4th CD.

The London Lasses & Pete Quinn
By Night & By Day
LL005

* Karen Ryan: fiddle, mandola.
* Elaine Conwell: fiddle
* Maureen Linane: accordion
* Elma McElligott: flute, backing vocals
* Brona McVittie: vocals, harp
* Pete Quinn: piano, bodhran, backing vocals

Special guest: Teresa Connolly: fiddle on tracks 4,5,&10.


"This is a gorgeous record. I've got a big collection of recordings and the Lasses' CDs are right at the top of them. T'his one is their best yet.'Brian Rooney

'This is wonderful. Love the tunes, love the musicatity, love the singing, love the arrangements - once again we're treated to a concert and a party, all in one. You go girls (and Pete) Liz Carroll

"By Night & By Day has all the ingredients and hallmarks you look for in a great album, fantastic tunes, flawless and wonderfully musical playing and singing,
all wrapped up with creative arrangements and subtly powererful accompaniment.' Kevin Crawford (Lunasa)

"A beautifully crafted alhum balancing an elegant respect for the old styles and embracing inspiring contemporary arrangements. 'Track 2 stole my heart.' Karen Tweed


And now their fourth album, By Night & By Day (2010), in Brian Rooney’s opinion, “their best yet” pays tribute to their 10-year anniversary with the addition of Elma McElligott (Flute player) and Brona McVittie (Vocalist, harper), who joined Karen Ryan and Elaine Conwell (Fiddlers), Maureen Linane (Accordion player) and Pete Quinn (Pianist) two years ago at the 10th Return to Camden Town Festival. The band is now very pleased that for the first time in its history all members are London-based.

The London Lasses and Pete Quinn have toured Germany with the St Patrick’s Day Celebration Festival, performed the first ever ceilidh in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, and played at Ireland’s longest running folk festival, Ballyshannon. They have brought their unique sound to some of the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls including Cambridge Folk Festival, the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Glastonbury, Philadelphia Irish Festival and Sidmouth International Festival.

In addition to featuring on the 3-CD box set Beginner’s Guide to Ireland (Nascente, 2005), the band has appeared on UK and Irish TV including Backstage (BBC Choice), Ardán and Geantraí (TG4), plus a memorable turn on EastEnders (BBC1).

Described by Irish Music Magazine as “one of the best bands on the scene today“, The London Lasses and Pete Quinn have released three critically acclaimed albums:

* Enchanted Lady (2007) :: “a well-balanced helping of first-class Irish music” Irish Music Magazine Available from Copperplate, click here

* Track Across the Deep (2003) “The London Lasses and Pete Quinn’s emergence is vitally important, acknowledging a forgotten voice in Irish music and rebirthing it magnificently” fRoots. Available from Copperplate, click here

* The London Lasses and Pete Quinn (2000) “One of the most remarkable releases of 2000…a fabulously vibrant debut” The Rough Guide to Irish MusicAvailable from Copperplate, click here

Date Sheet


* Friday 14th May :: St Elizabeth’s Hall, 131 Exeter Street, Salisbury, SP1 2SF
* Friday 28th May :: The Cobblestone, 77 King Street North, Dublin
* Saturday 29th May :: The Mills Inn, Ballyvourney, Macroom, Cork
* Monday 31st May :: St John’s Theatre, The square, Listowel, Co. Kerry
* Tuesday 1 June :: Markethouse Theatre (Tom Malone’s Pub), Miltown Malbay, Co Clare
* Wednesday 2nd June :: The Crane Bar, 2 Sea Road, Galway
* Thursday 3rd June :: Matt Molloy’s, Bridge St, Wesport, Co. Mayo
* Friday 4th June :: The Glens Centre, New Line, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
* Friday 16th July (12-1.30pm) :: Café Consort, Royal Albert Hall, London, SW7
* Thursday 22nd July (Pete, Karen, Brona) :: Folk at the Royal Oak, Station Street, Lewes, BN7 2DA

Friday 16th July (daytime) - 12-1.30pm
The London Lasses and Pete Quinn FREE lunchtime concert at Café Consort, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore as part of the Friday Ignite Series of concerts. http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/production.aspx?id=11596


The London Lasses and Pete Quinn appearing at:
Wed 25 - Fri 27 August - Whitby Folk Week, http://www.whitbyfolk.co.uk/
Sunday 29 August - Crawley Irish Festival: www.celtic-irish.co.uk
Monday 30 August - West Yard, Camden Lock: www.returntocamden.org
Saturday 16th October - Liverpool Irish Festival (Sefton Park Palmhouse): http://www.palmhouse.org.uk/whats-on.php
Saturday 23rd Oct - Return to Camden Town Festival with Matt Molloy & John Carty & Artie McGlynn. www.returntocamden.org
Saturday 13 November - Leeds Gathering Festival (Otley Courthouse) http://www.otleycourthouse.org.uk

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Press Reviews



www.netrhythms.com
The London Lasses are a well-established band on the London-Irish scene, with a recording history now spanning three albums. Though at one time ostensibly centred round the talents of founder member, fiddler Karen Ryan, the group interaction and togetherness has always been all-important in performance, with the contributions of all musicians carrying equal weight. Album number four takes in some personnel changes, with Brona McVittie (vocals, harp) and Elma McElligot (flute) joining the lineup in place of Kathleen O’Sullivan and Dee Haylin, alongside existing members Maureen Linane (accordion) and Elaine Conwell (fiddle) – with the redoubtable Pete Quinn still providing more than just a piano keyboard continuo. (I can’t help thinking that the effect of the latest lineup change on the Lasses’ sound is not unlike that on the Chieftains when harpist Derek Bell came into the band between albums 3 and 4, but that would be over-simplifying things!)

Although majoring on a no-nonsense approach to the music – yes, they still play with ample nimble musicality, inner fire and evident unpretentious joy and abandon – the Lasses can now also inhabit a quite refined sound-world at times, without leaving on display the rougher edges that you might get with yer typical Irish ceilidh outfit, pub session crew or showband; but equally you’ll find no lack of genuine thrust or commitment in their playing. It can be quite like listening to a concert party that one minute is playing a concert and the next having a party!

Taking the instrumental tracks first, it’s still hard to resist tapping your feet from the moment the Lasses “launch their boat” in the opening medley of reels – a delightful set and no messing, with typically agile interplay between fiddles, accordion and flute and some intelligent underpinning by Pete’s gently pumping piano as ever. All the instrumental items are characterised by a tangible warmth and a real joy in musical collaboration, and they contain some imaginative performance decisions regarding tempo, choice of key and instrumental combinations, the majority of which pay off handsomely (though I wasn’t entirely convinced by the amount of keyboard enhancement given to Elma’s otherwise very persuasive, and measured, account of the Humours Of Ballyloughlin jig).

The proportion of songs to tunes on this new disc is probably about right: four out of the 13 selections, of which two are sung in Irish. Brona’s harp is a key feature in the arrangements here, and gives the treatments a quite different, elegant and slightly ornate, flavour to the music; you might even think you’re listening to a different band entirely from that which plays for the dances (and that’s not necessarily a criticism). The Ballyronan Maid, learnt from the singing of Antrim’s Len Graham (another undersung exponent of the song repertoire), is most charmingly done here, and the endearing lilt of Brona’s voice is just right for this kind of material.

Interestingly, this song is followed by a lovely account of the Boys Of Belfast march, which combines stately elegance with forward momentum very appealingly, and the ensuing Charlie Lennon Camden Town polkas bring us back to the dance floor with gradually accelerating gusto. What of the other vocal tracks? Well, the song praising Johnny Seoighe has a gorgeous keening quality, whereas in contrast Brona also clearly relishes the cheeky nuances of Bean An Tí (Woman Of The House).

The more I listen to this latest incarnation of the lasses, the more I come to appreciate the inner subtleties and dynamics of their new lineup, so this CD is proving a grower! David Kidman October 2011

R2 Rock'n'Reel
The Lasses' fourth album sees a change in the line-up, with the arrival of Co, Down vocalist/harpist Brona McVittie and Co. Kerry flautist Elma McElligott bringing their considerable talents to this highly-rated outfit. With Pete Quinn's percussive piano setting feet tapping-or, indeed, stamping - there are some cracking tune sets here.

That's not to say there's a lack of subtlety, though-far from it. When McElligott's flute shifts the first barn dance set into its second tune, it'll bring a smile that shivers through your whole body- lovely stuff. In McVittie, the Lasses have a singer whose light command of her material can't fail to hit the spot every time. 'Bean An Ti, for example, with its lilting accordion lines from Maureen Linane and swelling fiddles from Elaine Conwell and Karen Ryan, will fix you to the spot.

A return to full mobility, however, is guaranteed by the chipper jigs and reels that the Lasses play so well, and which have got capacity audiences on their feet throughout Britain, Ireland and beyond.
Oz Hardwick ****

Folkworld
"London Lasses" is an often recorded Irish reel. Uilleann piper Willie Clancy did it decades ago (FW#41), recently I heard it from flutist Steph Geremia (#40), to name just one example. Ten years ago it also became the band name of some lasses from London's Irish scene, plus a male member, thus The London Lasses and Pete Quinn. Their fourth album, "By Night & By Day," saw the addition of Kerry flutist Elma McElligott and Northern Irish vocalist and harpist Brona McVittie to the existing line-up of fiddlers Karen Ryan and Elaine Conwell, accordionist Maureen Linane and pianist Pete Quinn. "By Night & By Day" starts with three reels, first a composition from Paddy O'Brien, "Hanley's Tweed," that I hadn't heard before, followed by two popular reels from the Irish tradition, "Lad O'Beirne's" and "Launching The Boat." More fanciful, next are two barndances, later on a march, some polkas, nicely adding to the jigs and reels. A frequently employed composer is Charlie Lennon (#34), e.g. his "Reg Hall's Polka" is celebrating in its name the London Irish musicians, Reg Hall being a veteran piano player on the session scene. There's one Carolan tune, no it isn't, "Planxty Joe Burke" is also from the pen of Charlie Lennon for his 1993 "Island Wedding" suite and dedicated to the box player Joe Burke (#34). There is a recording of Mayo band Céide of it (#33). Besides those instrumental cuts, there are four songs as well: the English language songs "Ballyronan Maid" and the popular "A Stor Mo Chroi" (English despite its Gaelic title), and the Gaelic "Johnny Seoighe" and "Bean an Ti," lyrics and translations are included in the sleeve notes. The overall pace is very gentle, it never gets too wild. so you wouldn't think about bustle in the streets of the British capital. It's more rural like. Or is it the spirit of the 1950's when the London Irish invented the pub session? Walkin' T:-)M


The Living Tradition Nov/Dec 10
The fourth album for this London based Irish band boasts a new line up - with Elma McElligot (flute) and Brona McVittie (vocals and harp) joining long-standing Lasses Karen Ryan (fiddle and mandola), Elaine Conwell (fiddle), Maureen Linane (accordion) and, of course, Pete Quinn (piano and keyboard).
Of the 13 tracks, four are songs, two of which are in Irish. They are nicely sung with thoughtful arrangements - the harp and piano working tightly together to provide much of the accompaniment. Brona sings a lovely version of Ballyronan Maid, and Paddy Tunney's version of Bean An Ti, which has a jaunty feel. There is a very endearing quality in her voice, in this song particularly, which grows with listening.
There is a nice mix here of jigs, reels, polkas, barndances etc, all of which are nicely paced and played to perfection. The absence of a guitar makes the group sound quite different - at times they are reminiscent of bands like Liadan or Deanta, and at other times there is a definite ceili band feel. Charlie Lennon's Planxty Joe Burke is a cracker of a tune, played well. And we are treated to a slowed down version of the Humours Of Ballyloughlin, usually done in D, but brought down to C to be played on a C flute, which transforms the sound, giving it a warmer feel.
They don't let rip quite as much as I would like them to, it is all quite controlled - maybe that is part of their charm. But there is an elegance in their playing that really draws the listener, and the whole album is really quite charming indeed. Fiona Heywood

www.liveIreland.com
The best female group in Irish music is The London Lasses. Easily. No debate. A sextet---well, there is one guy, Pete Quinn. But, this is about the women. Incredible musicians and singers. Never mind that they are all gorgeous. Well, that helps. The fourth album is By Night & By Day. This music is so wonderful, it stuns us that all the major Festival venues in America are not booking and flying the Lasses in. The festival bookers are totally asleep at the wheel. Now, you’re not. Get this spectacular piece of musical, trad business. Marvelous. Bill Margeson

The IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York City 21.7.10.
Historically, the Irish who intended to emigrate had three principal destinations: England, which was closest; America, obviously farther; and Australia, farthest of all. Irish immigrants made their enduring mark in all three, but England posed the least expensive but more politically problematic option, marred by stereotyping, suspicion, discrimination, and condescension.
Tyrone-born Paul Brady addresses that problem in his searing song "Nothing but the Same Old Story." This is his comment about that song, inspired by the period he lived in London after January 1969: "We [Irish] were still an underclass, and we kept mostly to ourselves. Things in Northern Ireland were falling apart. People kept their heads down."
It would be naive to presume that relations became halcyon afterward. Old enmities and prejudices are stubbornly resistant to change. Even the President of the United States is dogged by racism, masked or not. Paul Brady often found refuge from racism in such London Irish pubs as the White Harte and the Favourite, "where you could hear the best in Irish traditional music from the older players who had come over in the '40s and '50s."
An album perhaps best encapsulating Irish traditional music made in London during Brady's time there was "Paddy in the Smoke," recorded at the Favourite and issued in 1968 by Topic Records. The vibrancy of the diasporic music on that album is unmistakable.
Still, the word "Paddy," probably meant to be sardonic or droll in the album's title, carried the seed of a persistent slur for many Irish. Think of "paddywhackery" and "paddywagon," hardly benign terms in origin. Also consider how African-American rap and hip-hop musicians have tried to rob the N-word of its odiousness by using it freely. The dilemma is that racists are empowered by such efforts, which they construe as "permission" from the offended and victimized.
Epithets aside, some of the greatest Irish traditional music in the world was being made in London, nicknamed "the Big Smoke," after WWII. The London Lasses and Pete Quinn, formed in 1997 to tour America, reflect that inextinguishable impulse to perform and record Irish traditional music out of England's capital today.
Their new album, "By Night & By Day," is their fourth since 2000. Over the past decade the group has undergone some personnel changes, but the founding core of fiddler and mandola player Karen Ryan and fiddler Elaine Conwell, who are former music students at London's Irish Centre, and keyboardist Pete Quinn remains intact. The other current members of the sextet are Maureen Linane on button accordion, Elma McElligott on flute and backing vocal, and Brona McVittie on lead vocal and harp.
The nine instrumental tracks on "By Night & By Day" reveal considerable skill. Five of those nine are outstanding by any reckoning: the reel medleys of "Hanley's Tweed / Lad O'Beirne's / Launching the Boat," "That's Right Too / Esther's Reel / Miss McDonald," and "Maggie on the Shore / Brady's / Rodney Miller's," the jig medley of "Mom's Jig / The One That Was Lost / Doberman's Wallet," and the mixed medley of the jigs "Chapel Bell" and "Gan Ainm," the slip jig "Ladies Step Up to Tea," and the reel "The Piper on Horseback." The weave of fiddles, box, flute, harp, and keyboards is tight, and the occasional counterpoint of McElligott's flute, recalling Kevin Crawford's inventive flute playing with Lunasa, can be detected in the stitching.
Barndances, a march and polkas medley, and "Planxty Joe Burke," Charlie Lennon's musical salute to the great Kilnadeema button accordionist that Turlough O'Carolan might have enjoyed, add textural variety.
Of the four songs sung by Brona McVittie, only one stands out: her poignant rendition of "A Stor Mo Chroi," backed by herself on harp with Quinn's light synth accompaniment. Another song, "Ballryronan Maid," lacks the ludic insight of the singer from whom it was learned, Len Graham. The singing of "Johnny Seoighe" falters through incremental inertness, and the vocal approach to "Bean An Ti" seems tepid or timid compared to the glistening version on "Clannad in Concert" recorded during a 1978 Swiss tour by the Donegal band.
"By Night & By Day," however, offers far too much musical pleasure to ignore. Ten of the 13 tracks are superb and will undoubtedly enhance the already strong reputation of the band. These five London Lasses, plus Pete Quinn, admirably carry forward the legacy of those postwar Irish immigrants who came to London for work and brought with them Irish traditional music beyond price. This is an album you can listen to by night and by day and enjoy at any time. Copyright (c) Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]


The Chicago Irish American News
The best female group in Irish music is The London Lasses. Easily. No debate. A sextet---well, there is one guy, Pete Quinn. But, this is about the women. Incredible musicians and singers. Never mind that they are all gorgeous. Well, that helps. The fourth album is By Night & By Day. This music is so wonderful, it stuns us that all the major Festival venues in America are not booking and flying the Lasses in. The festival bookers are totally asleep at the wheel. Now, you're not. Get this spectacular piece of musical, trad business. Marvelous. Bill Margeson

Irish Music Magazine July 10
The fourth album by The London Lasses and Pete Quinn marks a decade of the band's development. There are a couple of line-up changes since their last recording, Enchanted Lady. Elma McElligott from Listowel takes over flute duties from Dee Havlin, a tough act to follow. Kathleen O'Sullivan is replaced by Rostrevor singer, Brona McVittie, who adds harp as well as vocals. Brona sings four songs on this CD, two in Irish and two in English, ranging from the well-known tear-jerker A Stór Mo Chroí to a very un-Clannad version of Bean an Tí. I was particularly struck by The Ballyronan Maid, an Ulster song which I hadn't heard before: its challenging melody would be a splendid slow air, and the young woman of the title is crafty and liberated enough to make this a very suitable song for The London Lasses. I love the florid neo-classical vocabulary of this type of ballad, with bright Phoebus adorning the firmament as the nymphs and cherubs disport themselves on the sylvan slopes of Strangford. The last line here is especially pleasing for its blunt pre-Victorian take on courtship: The time is nigh when I'll enjoy my comely Ballyronan maid.

When she's not singing, Brona joins Pete Quinn to form the rhythmic backbone of the Lasses. Their firm rhythms and carefully chosen harmonies provide the platform for fiddles, flute and button box to strut their stuff. A glance at the album cover shows the grace and poise of these ladies, and their playing is every bit as elegant. Karen Ryan and Elaine Conwell open proceedings on twin fiddles: Hanley's Tweed, Lad O'Beirne's Reel, and Launching the Boat which was the title of a one-off album by Síona. Elma takes the lead on Mom's Jig, a sprightly composition of the much missed Jerry Holland. The deeper resonances of the flute feature on her slow and languorous turn of The Humours of Ballyloughlin. Maureen Linane's 2-row box starts a joyous pair of barndances, Lord Leitrim and If There Weren't Any Women in the World: in which case, of course, this would be a solo CD by Pete Quinn. Maureen's assured playing is also to the fore on a gentle interpretation of Liz Carroll's glorious reel That's Right Too, and appropriately enough on Planxty Joe Burke which is one of many Charlie Lennon tunes here.

The girls can get down and dirty too. Reg Hall's Polka cranks up the tempo, as does Esther's Reel with its crisply articulated harp runs. The fiddles let rip on Miss McDonald, Rodney Miller's and the final Piper on Horseback. Frankie Gavin's jig The Doberman's Wallet gets a well deserved outing. The melody is never too wild, and the arrangements are always carefully crafted, but there's plenty of excitement on this recording. One of the refreshing things about The London Lasses is that they are able to handle such a wide ramge of material: and styles. The final set is a good example: the jaunty dancehall piece Chapel Bell, followed by a flowing modal jig and a stately slip-jig, before an up-tempo reel ends this collection. By Night & By Day is a very fine album. The notes are full and absorbing, the artwork is attractive, and the music is perfectly balanced. Pete and the ladies are online at www.londonlasses.net with photos and sample tracks, well worth a visit. Alex Monaghan