This week I'm finally getting down to reviewing Flame, the debut album from Bonjour Swing.

It's undoubtedly as good an album as I can remember coming out of the Bay in the past 25 years but every time I get ready to write about it, something with a more pressing time constraint comes up. And so it is this week, as I'm going to delay it again by a couple more paragraphs.

Because there's a concert on at Baycourt next Friday and if I don't mention it now then next week's Sun may be too late. And it's a concert that many of you may be interested in.

Pauline Scanlon, the lovely Irish singer who was such a stand-out at the last Tauranga Arts Festival, is returning to town, and this time she's in the company of three other top Irish women folksingers.

Calling themselves the Celtic Divas, the quartet – Noriana Kennedy, Nicola Joyce and Eilis Kennedy are the other three – represent a remarkable cross-section of the best contemporary Irish ‘new traditionalists' and arrive here with an impressive-looking backing band. Without having heard them I see no reason to think that it won't be a sensational night.

They'll be in town on May 25 and if anything even related to Irish music is your bag then I wouldn't miss it. There's more information online at www.celticdivastour.com.

And… back to Flame.

Flame really knocks me out. But that's true of most of the projects involving Marion Arts. When I think back over the past couple of decades there is little that Marion does musically that isn't first class stuff.

She's currently, as well as playing the gypsy jazz of Bonjour Swing, exploring South American rhythms with various Brazilian percussionists. When I first met her many years ago she was flitting between serious folk music and singing 1930s jazz with one of Auckland's most respectable ensembles.

In the meantime she has had a jump swing mini-big band called The Glamorous Mrs B, written and recorded an epic album of songs based around The Lord of the Rings, released a double CD retrospective of music made with her husband Robbie Laven, and, more recently, made an album of classically-themed guitar and clarinet music.

As you can see, her skills and tastes span a world of music. (She also gives ukulele lessons, but let's not go there…)
Many of these ventures have been with Robbie and so it is with the new album Flame, which opens with a flourish and is largely driven by his impressive gypsy jazz guitar. Having been to France to the annual Django Reinhardt festival, he is well-versed in the style and his guitar playing is remarkable.

The album kicks off with an instrumental, ‘Samois Swing', a fine introduction to the ensemble, Robbie and Marion on acoustics, the very able Milan Wilshier on upright bass and the Arts' son Oscar Laven on clarinet. Oscar's playing throughout is one of the album's highlights, be it the clarinet, saxes in three sizes, or trumpet. It is hard not to imagine a big musical future for him.

The album mixes instrumentals and songs of Marion's (and one little waltz from Robbie). She is a very distinctive songwriter, not opting for easy obvious melodies or structures but instead creating complex unusual tunes along with thought-provoking lyrics. The second song, ‘The Stranger Inside', is a perfect example, with a curious introduction giving way to a catchy chorus, flailing acoustic guitar and an evocative muted trumpet.

Further on, songs skip through various gypsy jazz styles, some more obviously French - Marion writes and sings fluently in the language - some leaning towards Middle Eastern sounds (‘The Flame Once High'), some, like the eponymous ‘Bonjour Swing', just a celebration of life and music. There is an enjoyably relaxed live vibe throughout.

This doesn't do any justice– I haven't even mentioned how good Marion's singing is - to a CD that has had a constant place in my listening for the past few weeks. I like it more each time and have been playing it constantly for friends, all of whom are equally impressed.

Flame may be for sale at Tracs or JB HiFi (I'm sure they can get it) or you can order it directly from the Colourfield website at www.fragilecolours.com