Customer Reviews

Nature's Bride

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Listening the first time, I pictured Shannon performing, not in a studio, but in a friendly cafe. The more I listened to her lyrics, the more I revised that image, placing her instead in a wooded clearing, a guitar in her lap and her back against a tree. She is very earthy, with a love of nature that soars in her songs.

Shannon is a free-spirited singer who brings a fresh voice, a Celtic spirit and a jazzy flair to folk music. If she can keep from becoming jaded by the industry, she should be a star to watch for many years.

With Nature and British Folk as her dual muses, Wyn Shannon is a refreshing artist in the Celtic folk genre. Banish those prior images of new age-meets-Celtic, or "Chick singing her heart out while strumming a guitar". Instead, get ready for superb musicianship and lyrics that prove a 19th century Romantic poetry kinship. Fans of British folk artists such as Martin Simpson, Bert Jansch, and Incredible String Band will appreciate Wyn Shannon's complex chord structures and virtuoso picking. I was equally floored by Wyn Shannon's voice--gorgeous in its tone and reminiscent of the legendary Anne Briggs. The CD package is a lovely object to behold, with Lily Hodge's photographs of Wyn Shannon surrounded by verdant greenery. Opening up the lyrics booklet, I was pleasantly surprised by how well they read with or without the accompanying music. "Damn to the years of melancholy..." the album opening with this verse immediately clears the cobwebs of the mind! I love the entire album for the way it twists and turns and takes the listener through love, getting lost (and loving it), social issues, and most importantly the mightiness of Nature's pervasive force. The album ends with a thoughtfully-chosen cover: "I Was Made to Love Magic" (as Nick Drake covered it). On this track, Wyn Shannon is backed by a marvelous ensemble, and none of Drake's melancholy is lost on it. "Nature's Bride" is such a beautiful listen from beginning to end, I just know you'll want to be whisked away into the mossy haven too.