Michael Shrapnel - indie-cds.com - 2006

Knowing The Place is a musical logbook of journeys, of travels through landscapes both familiar and newly discovered, of times spent with friends and alone, of tales told through melodies woven like recollected memories.

Hyam's instrumentation and composition draw heavily from Celtic tradition and his intricate arrangements are delivered with freshness and originality. He uses this Celtic spirit as a medium through which to experience and reflect on the Australian landscape. Knowing the Place extends the lineage of the musical traditions of Ireland in Australia and further defines their firm and comfortable place in this country's cultural and musical character. The music has been written and performed with great spirit and emotional depth, not to mention impressive skill and dexterity. Hyams has penned all 11 tracks on the CD and is backed not only by the seven piece Miles To Go band but also by an impressive array of special guests including well known Western Australian players such as Cathie Travers, Wency D'sousa and John Bannister. This pool of talented and creative musicians contributes greatly to the breadth and diversity of the music's arrangement and instrumentation.

Hyams' stringed instruments (guitar, mandolin, dobro, bouzouki) are complimented beautifully by wooden flutes and uilian pipes, cello, bass and percussion. Then from beneath a whirling reel emerges a didgeridoo or electric guitar to shift cultural time and space, geography and mood. We traverse wide and varied terrains in a seamless progression of melody and rhythm. It becomes evident from the sleeve notes that Hyams has drawn great inspiration from his travels in Australia and Ireland with many of these compositions inspired by specific places, people and memories. It is this sense of memory and recollection of place that is the thread that binds his work together.