The Juno Award legend Loreena McKennitt has enjoyed a 30-plus year career, and here the Canadian returns to her roots with Celtic flavored songs that bring us back to her early days of ’60s- and ’70s-influenced songcraft.
This live listen opens with “Searching For Lambs,” where Caroline Lavelle’s stirring cello and vocals accompany McKennitt’s expressive pipes and warm accordion in the very thoughtful climate.
“Mary & The Soldier” follows, and is populated by Errol Fischer’s violin, Cait Watson’s whistle and Pete Watson’s guitar for the dreamy, Celtic delivery, which flows into the poetic intimacy of “On A Bright Morning.” A very rich tune in which Miriam Fischer’s accordion and percussion is used with much emotional power.
The middle tracks belong to “Custom Gap” and “Bonny Portmore.” The former recruits Romano DiNillo’s precise Bodhran drum that injects even more culture into the gracefulness, while the latter is a soothing traditional that comes with gorgeous singing from McKennitt and bare but impactful musicianship.
Further still, the fuller “The Star Of The County Down” places Fischer on banjo for the harmonic and timeless folk nods of the eloquent storytelling, and “Si Bheag, Si Mhor/Wild Mountain Thyme” exits with a medley and mesmerizing duet with James Keelaghan that’s comforting and familiar.
An album that was born when McKennitt played four folk festivals in southern Ontario in the summer of 2023, the spontaneity, presence of local musicians and old songs that were never recorded only further solidifies McKennitt’s position as one of Canada’s national treasures.
An artist who has sold over 14 million albums globally, McKennitt’s blend of folk, pop, Celtic and world music sounds better than ever here, where the sound quality is just as first rate as the songs themselves.