Jiggy - Hypernova (2020)

February in the UK can be a dismal time of year, as the second named storm in a week lashes rain against the windows, there’s a pressing need for something to raise the spirits and cheer the soul. Jiggy’s second album, Hypernova, fits the bill perfectly. Jiggy’s early reputation grew from a combination of live performance, for a fortunate few, and their massively popular online videos. Their 2017 debut album, Translate, did just as its name suggests, transferring the energy and originality of their performances into studio sessions that took your breath away. Hypernova pulls off the same magic act, this time with an even larger cast of characters bringing yet more diversity and inspiration.

Jiggy inevitably draws comparisons with Afro Celt Sound System, perhaps no surprise, as percussionist Robbie Harris has been a leading light in both. But they’re a far cry from being identical twins. While both meld world rhythms and instrumentation into the Celtic tradition, two aspects, for me, are significant. Jiggy have put down deeper roots into a distinctly Irish tradition and, while the two bands draw on both African and Indian instruments and modalities, Jiggy lean more towards the Indian. Jiggy describe themselves as more of a collective than a band and, for this album, around the seven core members, they’ve collected five guest vocalists and no less than fifteen guest musicians. I doubt I’ll be able to namecheck them all, so apologies in advance to those I miss.

The album opens with the title track. After a short, ethereal, intro, it breaks into a steady dance beat overlain by a distinctly eastern riff, featuring Éamonn Galldubh’s uilleann pipes with breaks for Aoife Kelly’s vocals, a combination that’s instantly recognisable as pure, gold-standard Jiggy. Track 2, taken at a more sedate pace, introduces the deep, resonant voice of the band’s male vocalist, Eoghan Ó Ceannabhain with a sean-nós piece, Sadhbh, the slightly less traditional sounding accompaniment gently pushed along by the percussive talents of Kousik Chandra Shekar.

Darragh de Brun’s well-known reel, Man of Aran, turns the instrumental spotlight onto Éamonn de Barra’s beautiful flute and, as the track develops, the tune provides the backing to an Irish language rap from guest vocalist Pádraig Ó Conghaile, rapping as MC Muipéad. I have a hard enough time catching the words in English language raps, so I don’t mind admitting that Padraig’s text is a closed book to me. But I’d like to think it’s paying homage to the men and women of the Aran islands who featured in the classic 1930s film.

Aoife’s back on vocals for the Child ballad Who Put the Blood, her voice providing a sharp edge, well suited to the somewhat macabre lyrics. The accompaniment is initially sparse with just bass and drum but is joined periodically by Aoife’s eery fiddle, guest Shahab Coohe playing the multi-stringed Santoor and Éamonn’s pipes. The next track once more introduces something new, Adam Sutherland’s fiddle reel, Road to Errogie. It starts with a rhythm set by the Indian mouth percussion, konnakol, from guest, Ilyas Raphael Khan. When the tune comes in, it’s initially from the whistle of another guest, Alan Doherty, before also being taken up by flute and pipes. The track finally fades with yet another guest contribution, Sruthi Ravali Manda, her vocals producing a very different sort of mouth music, far from percussive, this is light and lyrical.

It is rare indeed for me to review each track of an album in turn, but every track on this album introduces fresh sounds and imaginative arrangements that demand attention. These notes haven’t yet taken us halfway through Hypernova, still to come is Friday’s Child, a composition from Aoife, highly topical in the context of forthcoming changes to the Irish border, a typically idiosyncratic treatment of that old favourite Music for a Found Harmonium and six other equally innovative tracks that you really should take the time to discover for yourselves.

As expected, I’ve only mentioned a handful of the guests, but there’s also one of the band’s core members yet to be acknowledged, guitarist Gary O’Brien. Amongst all the more exotic sounds of instruments from around the world, it’s easy to overlook the pervasive rôle of the humble guitar, hats off to Gary. Given the array of guest musicians, it’s no surprise that recordings were made in many different studios, mainly in various parts of Ireland but also Paris and Berlin. Bringing it all together as producers were Mark Murphy and Robbie Harris.

With Hypernova, Jiggy have pulled off that trickiest of balancing acts. An album that both encourage you out of your chair to get you dancing around the kitchen and, for those that stubbornly refuse to get up, it provides enough intricacies and subtleties to engage the armchair listener.