Loreena McKennitt
The Wind That Shakes The Barley

She is one of those stars that always shine, bright, perennial, romantic. She is one of those who makes the strings of memory vibrate, whom you listen to with pleasure even when musically you are on landscapes of a different kind. It's a voice that makes you forget how hard everything is and reminds you that in the end we must always look on the bright side of everything. It brings joy using sadness...

It's been 25 years since her debut "Elemental" but the desire to amaze and to tell us tales of her land and antiquity has remained intact, if anything enhanced by years of experiences and research into the most varied cultural and musical influences. The seductive and melancholic voice of Loreena McKennitt has remained the same that has transported us to worlds and places far away in time and space, among the cold and green expanses of England, Ireland, or any other land you have imagined while listening to her music. A return to the past, to the striking simplicity of "Elemental" with fewer instruments present and Loreena's voice rising above all else. How can one remain indifferent in front of the dramatic majesty of "On a bright may morning"?

That sense of magic that pervades McKennitt's works returns here with force right from the "dancer" "As I roved out", with an engaging rhythm and the voice of the muse plucking just enough. Splendid in its sweetness is the title track, an immersive sensory experience in a parallel world made of mists and whispers. The sound of antiquity echoes, the parchments of myth awaken. Heavenly landscapes also in the instrumental "The emigration tunes".

Perhaps never as in this case have we had instrumentation reduced to a minimum, with the magical voice of the muse coming to the forefront, as if to reiterate her return to the scene. However, this also leads to some half-falls like "The star of the county down" with a stale flavor, too similar to some of her past compositions, while the closing "The parting glass" is of a completely different ilk, just striking enough to remain etched in an album of this kind: McKennitt's dreamy voice is contrasted with strings and sweet, barely hinted guitar notes, almost ethereal, which with their metaphysical touch transport the final track to another dimension. A worthy farewell from a record that confirms one of the greatest ever in terms of new age.

In this period of the world and the music scene in general where vulgarization now seems to spread without finding a worthy opposition, where every value and every form of art seems inevitably destined to the scrap heap, there are still those who know how to move. There are still those who with simplicity and nostalgia manage to touch the heart, transporting us to a forgotten reality...

1. "As I Roved Out" (4:59)
2. "On A Bright May Morning" (5:08)
3. "Brian Boru’s March" (3:51)
4. "Down By The Sally Gardens" (5:40)
5. "The Star Of The County Down" (3:34)
6. "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" (6:01)
7. "The Death Of Queen Jane" (6:04)
8. "The Emigration Tunes" (4:42)
9. "The Parting Glass" (5:13)