"It's simply breathtaking in its beauty and richness, full of exoticism but also simplicity, the sumptuous keys and synths and strings standing next to the familiarity of guitars, harp, whistle and more, held together by the most fluid of rhythm sections while the icing on the cake is provided by three main female vocalists, including a guest appearance from Maddy Prior.
In terms of songs, and the occasional instrumental, the quality is staggering as the sheer emotion and beauty of the songs stands head and shoulders above anything else in this vein. This is an album that makes Clannad sound like second-raters, so incredibly constructed, played and arranged that forty-four minutes goes by in the blink of an eye, while all you're left with at the ends is an overwhelming desire to put the whole thing on again.
Transcending any categorization, this is a symphonic-orchestral-folk-olde-worlde music and song at a wide-eyed quality level that you simply can't fault. No matter what you're in to - prog, electronic, folk, heavenly vocals, whatever – if you want something where songs and female voices and rich arrangements and gorgeously melodic instrumentation stand side by side in shining splendour, you simply have to get this album.
Andy Garibaldi – CD Services/Dead Earnest
Jennifer Cutting - Composer, Arranger, Director (piano, organ, electronic keyboards, button & piano accordions)
Vocalists:
Polly Bolton - lead vocals (England)
Grace Griffith - lead vocals (U.S.)
Lisa Moscatiello - lead vocals (U.S.)
Maddy Prior - lead vocals (England)
Tatiana Sarbinska - lead vocals (Bulgaria)
Sylvie Berger - harmony vocals (France)
Dominick Murray - harmony vocals (U.S.)
Chris Noyes - harmony vocals (U.S.)
Gabriel Yacoub - harmony vocals (France)
Slaveya - choral vocals (U.S.)
Tatiana Sarbinska, Artistic Director
Theadocia Austen
Karen Chittenden
Anne Harrison
Andrea Loewenwarter
Diane Weinroth
Instrumentalists:
Blake Althen - samples, loops programming, electric guitar (U.S.)
Tony Cuffe - acoustic guitar, clarsach (Scottish harp), whistles (Scotland)
Troy Donockley - uilleann pipes, whistles, electric guitar, E-bow (England)
John Jennings - electric guitar (U.S.)
Peter Knight - fiddle (England)
Zan McLeod - bouzouki, electric & acoustic guitar (U.S.)
Sue Richards - Celtic Harp (U.S.)
String Section:
Kim Miller - violin (U.S.)
Peter Wilson - violin (U.S.)
Lisa Ponton - viola (U.S.)
Marcio Botelho - cello (U.S.)
Eliot Davis - cello (England)
Rhythm Section:
Rico Petruccelli - bass (U.S.)
Myron Bretholz - bodhran, bones (U.S.)
Marco Delmar - percussion (U.S.)
Andy Hamburger - drums (U.S.)
Larry Kolota - percussion, programming (U.S.)
Steve Loecher - drums (U.S.)
Dave Mattacks - drums (England)
Steve Missal - drums, congas (U.S.)
CD: SCD2004 (SunSign, 2004). Original version, produced in the US.
CD: WMCD 2027 (Witchwood Media, 2006).