Tag Archives: Loreena Mckennitt

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Loreena McKennit – “Troubadours on the Rhine” Review

Loreena McKennit is one of those artists who are utterly timeless and as her latest album appears, once again its Live CD on 9 tracks taken from a radio show performance in Germany. The difference is this time its just Loreena and Brian Hughes on guitars and Caroline Levelle on Cello. Brian and Caroline dabble in other instruments too. This gives you some lovely more stripped down versions but they are in truth, very similar to the originals.

“Bonny Portmore” is as beautiful as ever while”Down By the Sally Gardens” is timeless. “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is more powerful with its more sharper tones whereas “Between the Shadows” sounds even more alluring with its wonderful harp and cello interplay. “The Lady of Shallot” has never changed in its elegance while “The Stolen Child” is given an extra freshness with a more minimal approach. “Penolope’s Song” stays as haunting as ever but exacting to the original whereas “The Bonny Swans” does have a freshness without percussion before “The Parting Glass” perfectly signs off the travelling trio.

It’s a pitch perfect performance from start to finish and Loreena as ever is at the top of her game live, it’s just things are very similar to the originals if not nigh on identical and so if you’re looking for something different you’ll be disappointed.

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Loreena McKennitt – “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” Review

Loreena McKennitt stays forever timeless. Her aural voice and melodic Celtic infused beautiful arrangements are always a joy to listen to. For her latest album”The Wind That Shakes the Barley” McKennitt moves away from the more eastern tinges of her last album and heads back towards the Celtic side of things.

“As I Roved Out” is a joyous romp with finger taps and a general feeling of a pub jaunt. It’s main melody is infectious and its a bouncy start to what is generally a very quiet album. All the Celtic trimmings are out in force and it’s sure to be on repeat.

“On a Bright May Morning” is beautifully understated. Acoustic guitar is underpinned with quiet strings and Loreena generally stays hushed for most of the song. It’s simplistic but that itself makes it memorable. Most of the songs on the album have a tint of sadness to them, or humbleness and here it’s pitched perfectly.

“Brian Brou’s March” is a beautiful harp lead track that is as etheral as it is warming and is a perfect partner for the equally adorable “Down by the Sally Gardens” which is a real tippy toe ballad. The two just flow effortlessly together, feeling rather wintery but still with a warm glass of mulled wine to them.

“The Star of the County Down” is the second uptempo track with percussion in and is complete with pipes, guitars and fast olde lyrics. What is most apparent by this point is that Loreena is playing to her Celtic strenths. Nothing here is breaking new ground but when you’re the master of a style to such a powerful degree, do you really need to?

“The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is really the most abstract and adventerous track on the album. The song is  an atmospheric piece for the most part with just ambient buzzing and small plucks to signal a few chords while Loreena’s vocals soar through the traditional piece. The second half progresses the music a bit but the whole song remains cold and distant, a contrast to the rest of the songs. Excellent. “The Death of Queen Jane” continues the theme of loss that runs throughout the album with a delicate Irish ballad.

“The Emigration Tunes” is a wonderful instrumental that interplays strings, guitars and pipes in repeated melodies. The whole track sounds quite epic although it doesn’t really get into full swing at any one time, it just has that grande sense about it with is production and melodies. All the different instrument changes to take the lead voice is inspired and keeps the track fresh and evolving from start to end. The final track “The Parting Glass” is astonishingly beautiful. Starting off with string dissonance before Lorenna’s vocals glaze over the top, eventually acoustic guitar joins for a very simple and pure track. Loreena’s voice quivers and pauses with every nuance and you could hear a pin drop every time I’ve play it. A haunting yet beautiful end to a humble album.

“The Wind That Shakes the Barley” is McKennitt by numbers. That may sound a bit flat but in essence that means an absolutely steller album of exactly the same time of music you’ve come to know and love from her. For once it’s actually the sparse songs that actually come to the fore for me but anyone who enjoys Celtic flavoured music would have a ball here.

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Loreena McKennitt To Release New Album!

The magical Loreena McKennitt has announced that a new album of traditional Celtic songs is on its way to us soon. Entitled “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”, the album will have nine tracks, of which two are instrumental, and will feature a lot of Loreena’s musicians she’s worked with over the years. A tour will follow in 2011. The track listing is:

1 – As I Roved Out

2 – On a Bright May Morning
3 – Brian Boru’s March
4 – Down By the Sally Gardens
5 – The Star of the County Down
6 – The Wind that Shakes the Barley
7 – The Death of Queen Jane
8 – The Emigration Tunes
9 – The Parting Glass
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Tori Amos and Loreena McKennitt Headline Dranouter Festival

Well the headline says it. The Dranouter Festival in Belgium looks like a great place to be if you can get tickets. Tori Amos will be performing solo (yay) on the main stage. Another Higher Plain favourite Loreena McKennitt will also be present and with both well renowned for their excellent live shows I’m sure that’ll be the place to be on August the 1st!

Other artists included are Martha Wainwright and Jim White.

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Loreena McKennitt – Nights From The Alhambra Review

I was blessed to discover Loreena’s celtic/arabic/alternative world fusion of music after her huge hiatus in time for her most recent album “An Ancient Muse” and so the long awaited release of DVD/CD combo “Nights From The Alhambra” wasn’t quite as long for me as many others but that doesn’t detract from its stunning content.

Loreena performs in the historical stunning Spanish monument of Alhambra. Here she relays her magic of timeless melodies to perfection. Strong vocals, a full world band of all kinds of instruments and a fantastic venue all lend to the atmosphere and charm.

Many of Loreena’s best known songs are here from an uptempo “Mummers Dance”, a spirited “Marco Polo” and the massive climax of “Caravanserai” to the tear inducing elegance of “Penelope’s Song” and eerie beauty of “Cymbeline”. There’s a new song called “Raglan Road” which fits the overall tone nicely too.

Loreena shows everyone exactly how its done on a DVD concert, although there’s no extras the whole audio comes on CD too which is excellent as it’s just as effective as a standalone album. Anyone seeking world music, celtic music or just something that can touch your musical soul – this is a very good place to start.