Author: mrbaxteria2008

To Drive The Cold Winter Away Revisited

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To Drive The Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt’s second album after 1985’s Elemental. At this point, she has already gathered fervent followers. This was also a period in her career when she was still selling albums from the trunk of her car. She was also basking around Toronto to promote her songs.

With a background in theater, McKennitt possesses a dramatic and powerful voice suited for live performance.That voice was still in its pristine period in this recording. To Drive The Cold Winter Away retains the simplicity of old carols and the natural sounds that add a distinctive touch to this album.

According to her Wikipedia page, this album ” pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which “came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and tradition.”

One of the standout tracks is Snow with lyrics by Canadian poet Archibald Lampman -17 November 1861 – 10 February 1899.

Clannad’s Turas 1980 is Out. Hold your Horses!

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When you are a very influential band who bolted out of the musical gates of rural Ireland and eventually created a new musical movement, then unearthing a rare live recording before your mainstream success must be an exciting and bitter-sweet thing.

So many years have gone by and loyal fans still cling to the notion that one day Clannad will release a new album and we will have a big smile once again. Because when that happens it means that the world is still a better place and that part of us-that better aspect of our soul existence is still there like flowers refusing to wilt amidst the onslaught of forces that we can’t control.

This recording was after the last leg of their huge European tour. It’s also the end of the 70s which was a significant era if you are a Clannad fan. Why? Well, I think that the band have three distinct periods. The Clannad of the 70s sounded hardcore in a folk and traditional sense. This was before Hi Fi studio enhancements. They sound really raw and jazzy. In the 80s the band adopted a more pop/rock approach with top 40 hits in the mainstream charts. In the 90s, the band took a more complex, more world/new age oriented sound which earned them their Grammies.

So, Turas 1980 is an important period for the band because they were saying goodbye to their old sound to usher a bigger and more mainstream sound.

You can buy the album here:https://www.amazon.com/Turas-1980-Clannad/dp/B07CF6X8X8

All Souls by Eamon O’Leary is a Celebration of Simplicity and Clarity

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All Souls: A trip to humanity’s light and darkness.

All Souls by Eamon O’Leary is what happens when a crystal clear recording highlights  the beauty of beautiful melodies. The near-minimalist approach is a breath of fresh air, when the current trend of music is mostly about overblown production. His warm baritone voice is suited to such intimate songwriting approach. 

The songs are predominantly melancholic, but there are moments of clarity and joy-a celebration of humanity. It’s as if he is singing about your experiences because All Souls is an album written through experience. You can’t write this kind of stuff in your twenties. No sir. That’s why albums like these are hard to find. 

If you are wondering who he is, here’s what I gathered. Eamon O’Leary is a singer-songwriter from New York’s Lower East Side, originally from Dublin, Ireland. ‘All Souls’ is his first album for Reveal Records. I also found out that it was entirely self-written and recorded with Jefferson Hamer (Anais Mitchell), and Benjamin Lazar Davis (Cuddle Magic, Joan As Police Woman, Okkervill River).  My favorite tracks are Bywater, Marina Blue and The Weary Child.  

Although references to other artists are obvious when you listen to him, he truly has an original sound. If you are the type who prefers simplicity and clarity over embellishment in a production sense, then this album is for you. 

 

 

‘AIDAN O’ROURKE – ‘365 VOLUME 1 Brilliant music for quiet spaces

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365: Volume 1 is a new double album on Reveal Records from one of Scotland’s finest musicians, fiddler and composer and member of LAU,  Aidan O’Rourke.

I usually listen to instrumental or folk music after a quiet run. I say quiet because I am an early riser and I love to be out on my fixed gear bike before sunrise. It’s usually followed by running for support fitness. And in these quiet times, nothing beats the new release of Aidan O’ Rourke’s 365 Volume 1 as ‘recovery music.’ Such is best played on huge speakers with the volume turned down. O’Rourke’s approach to music is unique. He emphasizes on clarity that draws the listener to the surface of the sound. In this recording, the fiddle becomes a paint brush of many worlds, as he paints a joyful picture of rural simplicity, and sometimes the sadness of obsolescence. It’s music for verdant and wide open spaces or quiet coffeeshops.

There are twenty two tunes in this double album, with an approximate playing time of an hour and fifteen minutes. Although his backbone is Scottish folk music, one can still notice Jazz and Classical influences especially with his command of scales, nuance and also an underlying control in the execution of these tracks. He is joined by piano/harmonium player Kit Downes giving this album both an urban and spiritual appeal. There are times when the music approaches  abstract territory like in the case of “There was once a man so old that most of his family and all friends had left.” Yes seriously that’s the title, and majority of the tracks in this double album are like that. 

A beautiful album design gives justice to the music. A remarkably stunning presence both aurally and visually around your coffee table.

Recorded by Mattie Foulds at Caribou Recordings Mixed by Calum Malcolm
Mastered by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios

Produced by Aidan O’Rourke

All music written by Aidan O’Rourke / Kit Downes (Reveal Publishing / SGO Publishing)

Artist Management by Tom Rose

Design by Martin Rowsell Images by Dalziel and Scullion

 

WEB SITE: www.aidanorourke.net AND www.revealrecords.co.uk

Buy the album: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079YVF98P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_sLH6AbS2Q57RH

The Gap Of Dreams by Altan Released!

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I was already aware when their new album dropped. But I haven’t caught the blogging momentum yet at the time. But things have changed lately.

This is HUGE because any Altan release is always worth celebrating and talking about. While most bands in their category have either stopped recording or changed direction musically, they remain obstinate in their passion and vision. They’re like a home you want to come home to when all the world’s in chaos.

Thirteen tunes comprise The Gab of Dreams. Here’s the blurb taken from their release:

“After thirty years of playing on stages all over the world from Dublin to New York, Tokyo to Sydney, premier traditional Irish band, Altan came back to the hills of Donegal to record their new album, The Gap Of Dreams. The 13 tracks transport the listener to the lifestyle of rural Donegal, to a time before electricity when folks would gather together in the mists of winter to tell stories, sing songs and dance into the wee hours of the night. The music lifted the locals’ spirits and helped elevate them beyond the hardships of the day like famine, conflict and emigration.”