In the early years of this website's existence, before I was married or had children or gardens to worry about, I reviewed CDs at an astonishing rate and, consequently, CDs regularly overflowed my mailbox. Then, life took a turn and, in so many ways, became richer and fuller ... but reviews were written less frequently and, sad to say, a great number of CDs ended up in boxes with the silent vow that I would find time someday to get to them. When I can, I keep that promise....

When I received my copy of Coig's debut album Five way back in 2014, it quickly went into almost constant rotation in my car. (Back then, my car still had a CD player.) Coig, a young and oh-so talented quintet from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, had already impressed me at a live performance at the Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, back in 2013, and fiddlers Rachel Davis and Chrissy Crowley had blown me away in solo performances dating back as far as 2007. Combining their talents into a band with a handful of other Cape Breton musicians just made a good thing even better.

But, as sometimes happens, music falls by the wayside -- I won't go into the deeply personal matters that, in 2014, distracted me from my review duties -- and by the time I got back in the saddle, Five had been shelved among my many Cape Breton CDs. Although I played it sometimes, I assumed I had reviewed it when it arrived ... and I was recently horrified to realize I had not.

It's time to rectify that oversight. Coig isn't quite the same today as it was back in 2014 -- oh my god, that's more than a decade ago! -- but let's examine the band's fiery debut.

First, let me introduce the band as it was when this album was recorded. Even if you haven’t heard of Coig before, these are five names you should know if you have any familiarity with the Cape Breton music scene. They are Chrissy Crowley (fiddle, a bit of viola, some backing vocals), Rachel Davis (fiddle, viola and lead vocals), Colin Grant (fiddle, some backing vocals), Darren McMullen (guitar, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, banjo, flute, DEEP BREATH, whistle, baritone guitar, upright bass, and some lead and harmony vocals), and Jason Roach (piano, harmony vocals).

I listed them in alphabetical order because there isn’t really a “star” of the band. Each is amazingly talented, and each is among the forefront of young Cape Breton musicians.

Coig (which means "five" in Gaelic) was never meant to be a band; they assembled for a one-off promotion of Celtic Colours and decided to keep going. They debuted as band in 2012 and, in 2013, began assembling their first album.

The album begins with "The Oracle," a fairly straightforward set of Scottish and Cape Breton tunes. It starts off at a stately pace, then kicks into high gear. That pitch continues through the next set, "Bad Day at the Beach," and then switches gears for a beautifully sung Gaelic milling song. Next, a "big blast of reels" called the "Oak Tree Set," and "Under Ceilidh Pressure," which Davis wrote while "locked in a Gaelic College dorm room, with a bottle of Jost Ceilidh red wine and an hour to come out with a tune" to pair with a Carmel Mikol song for the Roots to the Future project. Although the resulting tune is sorrowful, the two tunes that follow are anything but.

Davis sings again on "She Loves Me (When I Try)," a Dougie MacLean song she learned after the Perthshire Amber festival. Then there are some Irish jigs, a strathspey, a slow Irish slip jig, a set of French-Canadian tunes featuring the piano, McMullen sings a song popularized by Paul Brady ... just a lot of music. You'll find traditionals, covers and originals in the mix. All blended together seamlessly in that magical Cape Breton way, a style of music that Coig has certainly perfected. It comes to an end with "MSR," more than eight minutes of musical excellence to close the album.

But wait, there's more. The album also includes two bonus tracks, each lifted from previous albums by Crowley and Davis. Already had them, but still a pleasure to hear all the same.

At the end of the day, you can't go wrong with anything by Coig or any of its members solo or in other projects. These five musicians are among the cream of their generation, and they continue to do their tradition proud while stretching its boundaries in new directions.