Search - Loreena McKennitt :: Parallel Dreams

Loreena the Celtic songstress weaves dream-music

C. B Collins Jr. | Atlanta, GA United States | 10/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lorenna McKennitt is the Celtic Queen of the 21st Century. She links us to the romantic, sad, and tragic Celtic tradition with a contemporary flair. She rearranges traditional Irish folk songs and also writes contemporary works that hark back to that age.



In "Samain Night" and "Moon Cradle" she displays her considerable musical talent with her hauntingly beautiful voice and superb pacing of lyrics. Like the great Jazz vocalist, Ella Fitzgerald, or the super-star Joni Mitchell, Loreeena's control and pacing is fantastic causing the listener to hold their breath with each pause.



In "Huron Beltane Fire Dance" we are treated to a contemporary tune with Irish undertones.



In "Annachie Gordon" this traditional work is not rushed but is fully developed over 8 minutes, as Lorrena weaves a tale of love for a handsome young poor man, Annachie, by Jeannie. Jeannie's father insists she must marry a rich man rather than the pretty poverty stuck Annachie. Jeannie argues with her parents but they insist she marry. After the marriage she refuses to sleep with the Gentelman she marries and she warns her family that she will die if she can not love Annachie. As her brides maids undress her for the bridal chamber, she falls dead from a broken heart. When the maids tell Annachie he rushes to her body, kisses her cold lips, and then also dies of love. Wow! These folks knew how to love didn't they? At least Romeo and Juliett had poisons and swords. McKennitt's treatment of this song is very straight and traditional without irony but rather as a soft tale of love's power.



"Standing Stones" is actually a ghost story as young lovers part in the night and as the male lover returns home a dark figure jumps him and stabs him in the heart. As the female lover reachers her home, she sees an apparition of him holding his wet chest and pointing to the stars above as he vanishes in the mist.



"Dickens' Dublin (The Palace)" is an odd but interesting piece. While Loreena sings a sad tale of a poor young homeless woman, an Irish waif recites the Christman story with emphasis on the stable shelter where Mary and St. Joseph seek refuge so that she might bear the Christ child.



"Breaking the Silence" evokes the theme of freedom for oppressed people and is devoted to Amnesty International.



"Ancient Pines" is from the film "Goddess Remembered", and evokes the theme of the earth's final release from the torments of the human race upon its resources and beauty.



The CD is very even in tone and mood, allowing you to dream and drift as she goes from song to song. Her incredible Celtic voice pierces your heart but her delivery could sooth a restless sea."

Fusion music of nuance and mystery!

Brianna Neal | USA | 10/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is with this album that McKennitt's awesome talent as a composer/arranger truly finds that distinctive voice--somewhere in between Celtic, jazz, folk and world music--that is so prominent and beloved in her later work. Most of the music and some of the lyrics as well on "Parallel Dreams" are written by McKennitt in their entirety rather than being arrangements of traditional tunes or poems. There's still a sense of quiet restraint about many of the songs on this album, but this time it's underlain by a pregnant intensity of synth chords and percussion, released into the music just enough to give it an air of mysterious purpose without overwhelming McKennitt's ethereal vocals and nuanced harpistry. Guest musicians include Rick Lazar on udu drum and congas, Ratesh Dasj on tablas, guitarist Brian Hughes, violinist Oliver Schroer, cellist, bass and tamboura player George Koller, mandolin-player David Woodhead, piper Patrick Hutchinson, percussionist Al Cross, and Shelly Berger on pzud. Loreena McKennitt's previous album is "To Drive the Cold Winter Away," and the next one in the sequence, continuing her intriguing development as a composer, is "The Visit." I love everything she's ever done-- she's as true a talent and as creative a genius as you could ever wish for in a musician. But what impresses me most about her is how stirringly and satisfyingly her work has evolved over the years. She just keeps getting better and better! Try also the Celtic / folk / world music stylings of singer and multi-instrumentalist Kate Price and the work of dreamy vocalist / pianist Lydia McCauley.

"

Georgous and eerily haunting!

Lady of the Red Dragons | 12/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Loreena McKnnitt's voice is superb and so poetic on this CD. As all the other CD's of Loreena McKennitt's, the music and her voice is inspiring and beautiful. For anyone who loves the haunting melodies of Celtic music, Loreena McKennitt CD's are a must."