Search - Caroline Lavelle :: Distant Bell

Brilliant chamber folk, poetry + more

B. K. | Istanbul Turkey | 10/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The tracklisting is

1. Gently Johnny

2. So Uncool

3. Innocence Sleeping

4. Banks of the Nile

5. Simple Lyric

6. No More Words

7. Too Late

8. The Trees They Do Grow High

9. Greenwood Laddie

10. Timeless

11. Handful of Ashes

12. Farewell to Music (w. Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains)

13. Gently Johnny (Extended Version)



"A Distant Bell" is Caroline Lavelle's third solo album. She has collaborated with many artists ranging from BT ("The Great Escape"), Chicane ("Lost You Somewhere") and Massive Attack ("Home of The Whale") to Vangelis ("Come To Me"), Hector Zazou ("The Freeze, "Lies Will Flow") and the violinist Nigel Kennedy ("Breathing Stone"). She has also contributed to Muse's "Origin of Symmetry", Radiohead's "The Bends", Loreena McKennitt's "Book of Secrets" and the legendary Irish band Chieftains, attending live tours of these artists with her cello and backing vocals.



A versatile sought-after vocalist and cellist by artists of classic, new age, electronic, chamber folk genres, Caroline Lavelle established alongside her collaborations a parallel solo career that has been one of profound experimentation. Merging traditional Irish tunes with electronic blends (on debut "Spirit", produced by William Orbit), she released an album which surpasses all the likes of Enya. Her second album, "Brilliant Midnight" is a brilliant showcase of her own song-writing and producing skills as well as the depths of her personality.



"A Distant Bell", her third solo effort intermingles, again, the traditional British-Irish tunes with that very creative and sensual attitute towards song-wirting and performing that she exhibited in her previous records. All the songs are crafted with a careful sense of perfection alongside many moments of inspirational spontaneity.



To the changes undergone, "A Distant Bell" has a minimum electronics and maximum of acoustics. The majority of the songs are performed with strings, haunting guitars, pianos and Lavelle's wonderful voice. The result is a unique and fresh interpretation of evergreen traditionality. Her distinctive voice accompany the album's emotive melodies so smoothly as to put you into a state of insurmountable captivation of music.



The haunting emotional essence of the record is further reinforced with her well-crafted self-written songs like gentle "So Uncool", the catchy Irish gem "No More Words", "Too Late" and the glorious climax "Timeless", which goes



"But old love grows so long / that the part above the ground has less effect / and time can wither tender shoots / but leaves those roots secure and strong / But the best love has no time / no forwards, backwards but only now / It's strong arms hold you when you walk and / if you fall you're always caught"... This is exquisite poetry clothed with music, at its best! A perfect 50 min. for forgetting the day and embarking on an acoustic chamber folk journey!



Also don't forget visit Caroline's website carolinelavelle.com where you can stream all the the songs on the album plus discover background of her previous albums, her own record label and some B-sides!

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Adjectives for this include...

Tim | Baltimore, MD, USA | 01/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"- dreamy

- ethereal

- otherworldly

- transcendent

- historical

- haunting

- melancholy



And above all else, beautiful. Caroline rocks! This album just blows my mind. It's so, well, just see above. Favorites include So Uncool, Innocence Sleeping and Greenwood Laddie. The Armenian on Handful of Ashes is a bit too much for me to handle and borderline pretentious but that's really my only issue with this album. Caroline is humble, genuine and brilliant. Her other two albums are good too but this is my favorite of the three."

Past and present - shaken, not stirred

Ian Gazzotti | Reggio Emilia, Italy | 11/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very different from the previous two albums, and yet, in a way, similar: "A distant bell" is a Lavelle 100% and one of the finest albums I've ever heard. Traditional songs, poems set in music and original compositions, they all blend in in a wonderful and delicate mix that shows its strenghts hearing after hearing. 'So uncool' will blow you away, 'No more words' will make you dance... 'Timeless' will make you love her."