Love, with all its ecstasy, uncertainty and poisonous thrills, is the focus of this album. Nine of the twelve tracks are sung in Irish but all are given fresh contexts. For example, "Oíche fá Fhéile Bríde" (On Brigid’s Eve), about a man stricken with a hopeless passion, is accompanied by a harp, the national instrument of Ireland. The fact that the harpist hails from Colombia grants an unexpected...
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Love, with all its ecstasy, uncertainty and poisonous thrills, is the focus of this album. Nine of the twelve tracks are sung in Irish but all are given fresh contexts. For example, "Oíche fá Fhéile Bríde" (On Brigid’s Eve), about a man stricken with a hopeless passion, is accompanied by a harp, the national instrument of Ireland. The fact that the harpist hails from Colombia grants an unexpected type of sensuality. And when
Susan McKeown’s warm contralto is joined by young Róisín Chambers’ husky mezzo, an unsettling, luscious brand of magic ensues. A major reason why each selection contains such an idiomatic sense of time-and-place is that Susan traveled widely while recording them. “The challenge, and probably the most enjoyable part for me as a producer, was to explore this material in a completely new way.” McKeown explains, “There are songs about girls on the brink of love, women with babes in arms abandoned by lover and family, and one, 'Paudeen’s Woman,' about an obsessed stalker who seems like she's ready to kill. But others are just fun, about women having a good time, playing with love.”
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