Published on Apr 24, 2001
I hate writing reviews like this.
See, there’s not much wrong with the latest solo effort from
Karan Casey, the lead vocalist for Celtic band Solas.
Unfortunately, it suffers from a common problem to the ethereal
female Celtic vocalist style of music; there’s not much notable
about it, either.
Like a good number of CDs in this genre, it’s quickly listened
to, and just as quickly forgotten, smooth and vaguely mystical like
a
ten-dollar tarot reading at a traveling carnival. There’s
very little distinctive about it. Yes, Casey has a beautiful voice.
One wishes they’d give her something to sing that’s distinguishable
from Enya, and one wishes for a little less beauty and a little
more soul.
The Winds Begin To Sing is at least well produced; Casey’s
voice is that lovely, a clear, ethereal presence that lingers over
words lovingly. The musicianship is competent, though nothing
stands out. Production is minimalist, which is usually the right
way to go on music of this kind; nothing gets between you and the
vocals and
instruments. Unfortunately, after about four songs, you wish
something would get between you and
The Winds; say, a double espresso.
Casey’s biggest weakness is that she seems utterly dispassionate
on this CD, as if she’s mailing in the performance because it’s
time to do another solo album. (My sudden mental image of the
Dunkin’ Donuts guy from the eighties mumbling ‘Time to do another
solo album’ should probably be considered evidence that I’m
warped.) Her performance on traditional selections like “Who Put
The Blood”, “The King’s Shilling”, and “Eppie Morrie” seem to lack
any real soul, and traditional songs like these were designed to
tell stories and evoke emotion. In that,
The Winds fails.
It’s only when Casey sings in Gaelic that she seems to be more
comfortable. “Eirigh Suas A Stoirin” is a very good track, and
“Buile Mo Chroi” a great one. I almost wonder if Gaelic is her
first language and English her second, though I believe that’s
almost impossible nowadays, even in Ireland. She also turns in a
wonderful performance on “You Bought Me Up” and “The Snows They
Melt The Soonest”.
A final track deserves mention, if for nothing else for its
oddness. Casey covers Lewis Allen’s “Strange Fruit”, a song about
lynchings in the American South. While she does very well on it,
it’s still somewhat jarring in the middle of a CD full of Celtic
music.
The Winds Begin To Sing is, taken in toto, not much better
than average. It has its high points and its low points, but in the
long run suffers from having too little personality in it. Next
time, one can hope Casey takes that achingly beautiful voice and
shows some feeling with it.