The Irish Examiner, June 29, 2000, Pat Ahern

Talented Neff brothers champ at the musical bit in Soundpost and Bridle ... their excellent and exuberant debut album ... magical music on the pipes and fiddle ...

The soundpost is a small wooden brace which separates the front and back faces of the fiddle; the bridle is a thin ribbon of copper which wraps around the reed of the chanter on the pipes. Each is vitally important in shaping the sound of its respective instrument, mirroring the care taken by the Neffs in their music.

In a sense, there are four distinct parts to this album: solo fiddle from Eoghan, solo pipes from Flaithrí, pipes and fiddle duets (under the vaguely boy band sub-title of Neff Bros); and a full family band with father Éibhear on mandola and mother Muireann on bodhrán and percussion, under the sub-title Teaghlach.

A swelling synth chord introduces Flaithrí's pipes which takes O'Rourke's Reel at a fair lick, Eoghan's syncopated fiddle champing at the bit. Second time round, the fiddle joins the melody and mandola fills the background. The change into The Waterbed, a swaggering reel by the Cork piper Diarmaid Moynihan, is accompanied by some clever fiddle trickery. The Hairy Dogleaf, by the Limerick flute player Francis O'Connor, rounds off the set nicely. The pace hasn't slowed by the following track, a set of jigs and slip-jigs, but the sound is purer, just pipes and fiddle, with the drones and regulators providing the accompaniment. It's here that the real talent of the Neffs shows itself in fine accurate, often exhilarating, playing.

At times, they are like two parts of the same instrument— tight, together, yet distinct. At others, they accompany each other, throwing humorous tricks forwards and back. The Neff repertoire is not restricted to the Irish side of the house. Cantiga da Caniza is a Galician tune which sits comfortably alongside the slip jig The Butterfly (shades of The Bothy Band here, and elsewhere), where the pipes provide a harmony line to the fiddle. Sonerezh Breizh is a pair of Breton tunes with the pipes playing the part of the binou and the fiddle taking the role of the bombarde.

The Eternal wind/The Eagle's View/ The Oak Wood Silent is a set of jigs, double and slip, which opens with a clear Native American feel and, indeed, is dedicated to the Choctaw People. Flaithrí shows his individual skills on a deft setting of Dinny O'Brien's/Chief O'Neill's Favourite while Eoghan gives full rein to his imagination on a set of strathspeys and reels ending with The Gravel Walks and Jenny's Chickens. His rendition of Caoineadh Uí Neill shows great maturity.

... an excellent debut with the promise of great things to come.