1988 was a big year for Irish bands. Hothouse Flowers released their debut album People and were pitted against other Irish bands with releases the same year. Bands like U2, The Waterboys, The Pogues and even Van Morrison (with The Chieftains) all hit the college radio circuit at the same time. But Hothouse Flowers gave them all a run-for-their-money for “favorite band” that year. Rolling Stone even pegged them as “The Best Unsigned Band in Europe.”

Their style of music was somewhere in between U2 and The Waterboys. It was a bit more rootsy and gospel than U2, but a bit more rockin’ than the Irish folk of the Waterboys. And us college kids ate it up. Unfortunately, us college kids couldn’t afford to actually buy records back then, and Hothouse Flowers hadn’t caught the mainstream America airwaves like U2 did, so the hype eventually died off.

They didn’t completely drop off radar though, releasing a couple of more albums during the ‘90s – some of the band members working on side projects – but nothing stirred up as much interest as their debut album did.

Their latest release, Into Your Heart, sees the potential for a renewed interest, maybe even a revival of that excitement that Hothouse Flowers once generated. A bold and heartfelt effort, Into Your Heart shows what plenty of time and humbling music business exposure can do for a band. Many artists have fallen by the wayside, never to return, at the hands of this finicky industry. But Hothouse Flowers returns with a significant maturity and an even bigger soulful sound. In fact, I haven’t heard anything this soulful since I last spun a Van Morrison record.

Front man Liam Ó Maonlaí vocals are truly the key to the mesmerizing Irish soul sound – a mix of Van Morrison and Joe Cocker, with the falsetto range of Michael Hutchence. But the use of the Dublin Gospel Choir, as well as subtle horns and strings on this album, adds a dreamlike quality to the overall production.

On “Your Love Goes On” Liam leads the Dublin Gospel Choir into a passionate celebration of freedom and love, that by song’s end should cause even most first time listeners to raise their arms to the sky in joyous celebration. “Hallelujah” is a beautiful and soulful song that is again transformed by the pure angelic sound of the Choir’s backing harmonies. “Tell Me” turns on the funk in almost a Beck-like or Talking Heads use of sampled loops and just becomes a bar room group sing-along.

But the Van Morrison influence keeps boiling to the top as the music gets stripped down to the bare minimum on songs like “Peace Tonight” and “Magic Bracelets” – showing the soulful and folk roots of Hothouse Flowers.

In the 16 years between their debut and their most recent, a lot of bands and a lot of styles of music have come and gone – but Hothouse Flowers knows that true soul music is never out of fashion.