Customer Reviews

An Ancient Muse

5 star:		(153)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

AN ANCIENT MUSE. Just the title seems to suggest songs celebrating the past. Fans have waited a decade for this album, myself included. Many reviewers will tell you it falls short of expectations or explores no new territory.....in some ways I find I have to agree...

The album opens with the sun illuminating ancient landscapes in "Invocation" an instrumental chant both haunting and beautiful. We walk through "The Gates of Istanbul" starting our journey thru the ruins of the Ottoman Empire and the splendor of modern Turkey. The song is steady and rhythmic and Loreena's voice has the same banshee/angel quality it always had...no disappointment here.

The night finds weary journeymen who have camped for the night at a "Caravanserai"...an inn for the caravans of Asia. She weaves a story of the many adventures and scenery she has seen before stopping to rest...on a journey home. Easily her best song....great live performance can be seen at her website.

Next a tale of Scotland's woe...words by Sir Walter Scott set to an arrangement of music by Loreena...as she sings of the tragic love between "The English Ladye and the Knight". This kind of poetic adaption has been done before by McKennitt...."Snow", "Dark Night of the Soul" and "The Highwayman" to name a few examples. Her voice is strong and emotionally charged.....the most beautiful song on the album.

From here on out....the rest of the album delivers some fine songs. However, they are not as striking as the first four. Disappointed? I'm not...these songs will grow on me...I didn't wait 10 years just to tear apart her new album!! So for now, I can say it is worth buying.

If you like stories of history, tragic love affairs, and poetry...listen to Loreena McKennitt's AN ANCIENT MUSE.

After a decade, it's nice to have a new Loreena McKennitt CD!

... even if it IS perhaps her least innovative work to date. Sorry to say it, but there's much familiar ground covered here. In particular, McKennitt seems to be revisiting musical realms already visited on MASK AND THE MIRROR (M&tM). I don't simply mean in the style or choice of instruments; there are melodies and arrangements here that strongly echo tracks from that album (and other albums of hers).

Even so, the CD is a joy to listen to. I love the thematic thesis for this album--McKennitt as the wandering minstrel, collecting old stories as she strolls through the Mediterranean--and ultimately I like this album better than M&tM. McKennitt is one of those artists whom, even when she produces something imperfect, is still producing something much more beautiful and worthwhile than the majority of artists out there.

Now, hopefully it won't be a decade (or even half a decade) before her next one!

A beautiful musical blend between East and West.
This could be the shortest description someone could give about this great CD.
I have bought "An Ancient Muse" few days ago as I was told about its musical sound mixture and was not sure what to expect.
Since I have put this CD in my CD player I am having a hard time playing anything else.

Living in Lebanon, The sound of this album reflects very much the oriental musical atmosphere I live in, an oriental blend well mixed with the European; and since this place was occupied once by the Arabs and Crusaders, From Turkey, passing by Lebanon, Jordan and reaching Jerusalem, the album is a perfect feel of this area in every sound aspect.
"An Ancient Muse" is a very relaxing CD. If you like this musical atmosphere, I highly recommend the Soundtrack "Kingdom of Heavens" which delivers the same musical atmosphere of similar historical background.

Let me preface this review with the fact that I am a big Loreena McKennitt fan, owning almost every CD she has ever released. Because of the powerful beauty of her other albums, I was excited to learn that she had a new one coming out and rushed to pre-order it.

Unfortunately, this album just doesn't meet the high standard of her other works. Though it's a perfectly lovely recording, it lacks the power of previous releases. The main reasons it doesn't have quite the punch to which we are accustomed are the following:

1. There's a lot less of McKennitt's singing on this one than usual. While the instrumentation is quite fine, I am much more interested in her voice than in hearing track after track of wordless music.

2. Her other albums have varying tempos, with some slower and some faster songs throughout; this one features slow songs exclusively, all with similar tempo.

3. The style is very similar on each song, leaving me feeling like I heard the same song already a couple of times with different words by the end of the album.

It really is a pleasant recording, but easy to ignore where the others have my grabbed attention and held it. I really wish I could give this as great a rating as I was expecting, but I can't. I will say that my infant son fell right asleep while listening, so grab it up if you need a good lullaby CD!

I don't like to be that guy who gives a less-than-stellar review to a recording from an artist who hasn't released something in a while. Usually those sort of people are just the ones who aren't going to be satisfied no matter how great the new release.

However I do feel this recording is a little on the weaker end of things. Even the packaging is sparse - it lacks that beautiful illuminated feel of her previous releases, with their myriad of artworks and deep, thought provoking liner notes. With this disc all we get is a simple cover that looks no better than a greeting card, and a small short booklet with lyrics and a few thoughts. It's so very utilitarian. I don't feel like I'm being taken away into a misty, romanticized ancient world. I feel very much here and now. Which is not what I want or expect from a Loreena McKennitt record. Compared to the packaging and presentation of The Visit or The Mask and Mirror, An Ancient Muse feels like an EP release.

The music is good. Not great. Just good. It's very standard Loreena, albeit with a few twists such as the use of a more electric guitars and rock drums. But in the end that only serves to give it a somewhat pop feel. It kills the misty, dreamy world of atmosphere that used to seperate Loreena's music from other artists. Now she just ends up sounding a bit too polished and mainstream. She's almost heading in a somewhat (dare I say it) "easy listening" direction.

I never support the idea of an artist having to stay with a certain formula. I deeply appreciation mutation and innovation. But I don't sense either on this record. It's just the same old stuff with a few new twists here and there. And it doesn't measure up. Maybe, hopefully, she won't make us wait more than a year or two for her next recording...and that one will present a more compelling example of her great talents.

I read about people talking about Loreena McKennitt as if she were like Enya. McKennitt was born in Canada of Irish and Scottish, hence the connection some people make with Enya, and the fact that some of her earlier material has a very distinct Celtic sound. However, in my mind Loreena McKennitt has always stayed at a safe distance from a mainstream sound (a little more common in Enya's work), and this album is another confirmation of that.

After a ten year absence from the studio, McKennitt came back in 2006 with an album inspired by her trips through many Asian and Mediterranean lands. Her musical caravan in "An Ancient Muse" comes with a sound that often reminds of the Middle East. The end result of the album brings her closer to the likes of Dead Can Dance and further from her traditional Celtic sound. Still, this is an album that is bound to rejoice her fans, who will be happy with the well-rounded and balanced nine tracks on it.

It's compelling and exciting to encounter that singular artist with a distinctive and deft sound that merits being deemed a sensibility. McKennit retains that distinction, demonstrating again on `An Ancient Muse' a remarkably comfortable, intimate feel for her quite unique aesthetic, which yields a blend of sounds from where the boundaries about the Middle East, Africa and Europe become less distinct, anchored by a Celtic base. On the best parts of this album, it seems exercised like a rapturous instinct, an ear for turns of melody and rhythm so naturally keen that her creative spirit might well have emerged - an almost corporeal force pulling the bow across the violin or playing the Turkish clarinet. It's a muse that hasn't aged all that seamlessly: After the breathtaking inspiration of `The Book Of Secrets', a certain thinning becomes evident. But, as characterised by the plaintive moan, as of the hollow drone of a wind, that sounds occasionally through these nine songs, it stays restlessly peripatetic, and shows little sign of antiquating.

This is perhaps McKennit's leanest and most consistent album since `Elemental', and, in spite of the lengthiness of a few tracks, counts as a comfortably stimulating listen, especially when considered alongside other efforts dominated by epic compositions, such as `Dante's Prayer' and `Night Ride Across The Caucasus' on `The Book Of Secrets', and `The Two Trees' on `The Mask And Mirror'. The production has taken a small step towards a tone more spare, hence very little here is reminiscent of the lush intoxication of, say, `The Mystic's Dream' or `Marco Polo'. Occasionally, a song feels like it might have benefited from fuller instruments and stronger beats - `Kecharitomene' falls short of being this album's `Marco Polo' as a result, just like `The Gates Of Istanbul' doesn't quite arrest with an invigorating enough groove. What catches one's attention as a result, however, are the songs strengthened by the paring down; and `The English Ladye And The Knight' stands out, probably her best setting of poetry to music because nothing burdens the pace of the ballad, unlike `The Lady Of Shalott' with its real dampener of a meter that her soaring vocals seem to labour through, allowing her lovely melody to lightly permeate the world sketched by Sir Walter Scott's words like a forlorn lament.

Not all the ballads fare as well, however. `Penelope's Song' is unremarkable, in that nothing aside from the lyric distinguishes its particular inspiration: A fairly pedestrian melody driven by piano goes hardly any way toward specifically identifying, let alone depicting, a certain perspective, of a certain female character with a certain experience. Likewise, `Never-ending Road', similarly composed, plays like a quotidian, almost cursory, postscript reassuring the willing listener of future exploits of the like. That they're so unmemorable, however, is precisely why they do not hamper your enjoyment of the album's other, better parts.

More exacting and discerning listeners might charge McKennit with self-plagiarism here, more than that which was committed, inadvertently or otherwise, on earlier recordings. This listener, at least, would rather credit her with effective, discreet echoes on this album, knowing glances back at the earlier days of her cultural odyssey as if in appreciation of the knowledge she acquired from them, occurring frequently enough to make some of these songs personal paeans of nostalgia. Listen closely to `Kecharitomene' and strains from `Between The Shadows' become detectable; indeed even a resemblance in form shows itself like a spectre, subtly nodding to journeys past, a perspective on which has been renewed with time, in the light of experience accumulated since. `Beneath A Phrygian Sky' seems to call out across the years to `The Bonny Swans', seeking some timeless realm where they might commingle and share their respective stories. They possess one common undesirable trait, that of the inexplicable use of a jarring, jangling electric guitar that has never been rewarding. Indeed, this mini-narrative, of McKennit's itinerant persona being gripped by a vision of conflict conjured by a zephyr, a transient gasp from the depths of history, begins unpromisingly with crackling metallic strings exacerbating a tenuous, limp, dated-sounding synthesised beat. Patience is tested slightly before a more organic beat is layered on, buoying a sombre melody that envelops simply telling lyrics. There is a mild thrill on hearing the intriguing and, at least sensibly, helpful tip of the hat to `The Bonny Swans' in the form of the latter's familiar guitar chords, nicely accenting the progression from one verse to the next.

McKennit's signature delights are, thankfully, still to be found: `Caravanserai', though unsurprising, and slightly repetitious-sounding for want of a stronger melody, is evocative enough, especially in its rich instrumentation, to send the sand up before your eyes; and, following the quite stirring `Incantation', the opening beats and twangs of `The Gates Of Istanbul' wash over you with the heady, rousing warmth of revisiting an old friend, a reintroduction to the glory of McKennit's craft that brings a smile of familiarity to the avid listener's face. The aforementioned hollow drone is well placed in tracks like `Caravanserai', reminding the listener and the narrator of how it restively lusts after drama in history, that there is turmoil and impetuosity outside the straightforward, reassuring affirmativeness of songs such as this. It may not be as impressive as incorporating that thematic idea of the turbulence and implacability of the past into the composition itself, but the aural embellishment certainly serves its purpose.

This is a most pleasing record that should bear repeated listens; and those being introduced to McKennit's music by way of it may be afforded something to look forward to in the discovery of her earlier, better work, which they will likely be prompted to. Fortunately, this muse has not gathered dust on the travelogue shelf.

An Ancient Muse, a little off course for Loreena-wish she stuck to her old traditions of pure Celtic music. However, I still give it five stars-ten years was too long to wait for this album. Her angelic voice gets better with age, just like a fine wine.

There is no other musical voice today that speaks such one world magic as Loreena McKennitt in her recent release of Ancient Muse. As a long time fan, I was excited to finally hear her long awaited follow up to The Book of Secrets. Amazing! She did not disappoint me as I was mesmerized and transported to another place in time. A very Middle Eastern sensitivity is apparent through the veils of lyrics floating amidst the strings and percussion variations. The more you listen to this ...the more you can hear, as poetic visions are felt. Her lyrics and music echoe the voices of the great Sufis and ancient troubadours from another era.
Her strengths on this disc are her visionary skills, delicately reflecting the deeper mirrors of the psyche. This is a tapestry of music woven from Celtic, Greek, and Turkish threads. They are ancient elements or divine oracles of truths waiting inside each of us to be experienced. Many times I felt I was somehow elevated into a momentary spiritual portal of revelation. The only down side is I wanted to remain in this state of rapture much longer.
Dont let us wait so long dear Loreena, for you are a true visionary. You speak to all of us about human themes of love, home, and the journey of Life no matter what culture we represent. This ancient voice...this Ancient Muse is timeless!

The first time I noticed the album cover, I was completely intrigued with the distant snow-capped mountains and invitation into a cozy magical tent, you might just happen upon in a magical forest. The music was worth the wait, with moments that delivers on the promise of mystery. Once you enter the mood, it remains consistent throughout and can create a world in which to relax or escape.

"Pray for their souls who died for love,
For Love shall still be lord of all"

The highlight of this album seemed to be "The English Ladye and the Knight" until I heard "Penelope's Song" that is even more impressive. The lyrics are romantic and dreamy:

"Long as the day in the summer time
Deep as the wine dark sea
I'll keep your heart with mine.
Till you come to me."

This track is followed by a purely instrumental "Kecharitomene" with ancient echoes and Celtic worlds mingling as one in an enchanting fusion. The songs have a sacred quality enhanced greatly by the soft beauty in Loreena McKennitt's voice.

The instrumentation throughout is of rare beauty with "Beneath A Phrygian Sky" capturing the very heart of the muse. The entire album is not only a mesmerizing listening experience; it is an escape into mystery where Loreena McKennitt whispers your soul awake.

~The Rebecca Review