Album Details

• Artist: Dorian's Wheel
• Album: Raise The Sixth
• Label: indie
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: mark_morton on 2012-08-31

Dorian's Wheel is a traditional Celtic folk band that hails from where else...Kansas! Regardless of the band's locale, there is such a spirited authenticity to the music that when you allow it to surround you, you'd swear you were traipsing through an Irish meadow.

While most people are aware that this kind of music exists, outside of the hardcore New Age and World Music audience, no one really acknowledges it as legitimate music in the same way that they flock to the Nicki Minaj's and Carly Rae Jepsens of the world. And that is what I appreciate about Dorian's Wheel - the fact that it dares to exist in the face of such vehement industry indifference.

Although you may stumble across similar sounds in EPCOT in Disney World or at the regional Renaissance Faire, the closest the mainstream has ever really come to acknowledging Celtic folk music was when James Horner incorporated it into his Braveheart and Titanic soundtracks (and Titanic was more of a bastardization since most of it was performed with a synthesizer). If Disney's Brave had been more popular, then perhaps we would have seen a bit of resurgence.

What we have with Raise the Sixth is a trio of musicians playing traditional instruments (fiddle, bodhran, harp, bouzouki, and the good ol' human voice), playing their hearts out and breathing life into a musical culture that deserves a bit of recognition, beyond what subtle hints of it dwell within the works of Enya and Loreena McKennitt.

Dorian's Wheel has a unique gift in that it can lift your spirits, make you want to chug a pint of ale, and dance your feet off during the course of one song. The band is so well-acclimated to its instruments that you'd really never know they were American. You would honestly swear that the band stepped right off the moors and into a pub.

Hopefully, the band's music will get out to the masses, giving everyone a taste of culture that the country sorely lacks (despite being referred to as "The Great Melting Pot"), and turning us all into a bunch of happy little boozers!

The only thing that troubles me with this genre is that there really are only three ways for a band like this to break huge: get a permanent gig at the aforementioned EPCOT, open a national tour for Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly, or be tapped to contribute to a James Horner film score. I suppose that is why I am taking the proactive stance of exposing Dorian's Wheel to you, loyal readers, so that you don't miss out on a band that performs truly inspirational music.

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