Published on Jan 27, 1999
I saw clips of some videos by Maire Brennan (on CNN’s “World
Beat”, an excellent world music show), got hooked and looked for
her in Tower Records. She wasn’t in the Pop/Rock section. She
wasn’t in the World Music section. Bizarrely enough, she was in the
New Age racks.
New Age is the fashionably hateful genre defined by its heavy
use of synthesizer music. Record stores throw into “New Age” what
wouldn’t fit anywhere else. It’s too bad because most of New Age
is cheesy half-produced stuff. But when it transcends to
make its own sound (Enya is basically her own genre), it works.
Enter Brennan.
Even if you’ve never heard any of the songs of the
Celtic-infusion band Clannad, in which she sang lead, her voice
will seem familiar. She happens to be Enya’s sister; Enya, in fact,
had joined Clannad as a keyboardist for sometime before breaking
away to develop her own sound. But their techniques are distinct.
Perfect Time uses less vocal texturing, more live
instruments (YAY!), and the songs have more traditional structures.
Nothing otherworldly or transcendant, just good 5 a.m.-radio
music.
The title track is a beautifully crafted love song with
alternating solo and textured vocals, unlike any kind of ballad on
the radio. “Our World” is a similar song but slightly more generic.
There is a LOT of Christian influences in the lyrics but nothing
controversial or put-offish; “Song Of David”, a psalm, is sung
entirely in gaelic.
The instrumental track “Doon Well” doesn’t quite bring out the
band’s best; it’s a little too polished, structured and repetitive.
The instrumental version of “The Big Rock” sounds positively Enya,
but without the stamp of otherworldliness. Another noteable song is
“The Light On The Hill”, with its ballad-like lyrics and refreshing
arrangements should establish the Brennan sound (that unfortunately
isn’t found in most of the album).
I apologize for all the Enya comparisons but she is a handy
reference point. “Perfect Time” is a good album in its own right,
but being more of a World Music album, it doesn’t quite have the
universality of a solid New Age album. It should be interesting to
see which direction Brennan would take after her success with
Perfect Time.