Reviewed by Philip Croft

First of all, although I have classed this album as Celtic, to be honest it could fit under almost any category going. To quote the blurb sent out with the CD, "We've tried to describe our sound, but we haven't figured out how to cram pop-Celtic-bluegrass-country-classical into one word." Or as it says on their website, "This debut recording includes everything from bluegrassified 16th century chant to Appalachian lullabies; from richly textured lyricism to hair-raising virtuoso instrumentals." Personally I thought this sounded like Iona going more mainstream with Robin Mark on lead vocals. (Okay, some of the songs feature the female lead vocal of Sarah Crannell but Dave Matre seems to be the more prominent lead of the two.) As you might expect given the classical background and training of many of the nine (yes nine!) band members the musicianship throughout is of the highest order and the band are already beginning to get recognition, airplay and awards Stateside. For me the mixture of quite so many different styles doesn't always work but for a debut album this is certainly boldly adventurous.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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