Loreena Mckennitt - Mask & Mirror
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CD Details
Artist: Loreena MckennittEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2006-11-14
Music Label: Verve
Soundtracks:
- Mystic Dream
- The Bonny Swans
- Dark Night Of The Soul
- Marrakesh Night Market
- Full Circle
- Santiago
- Ce He Mise Le Ulaingt?/The Two Trees
- Prospero's Speech
Music reviews of Mask & Mirror
Music Review: All for the love of you
Rating: 5 Stars
"A clouded dream on an earthly night/Hangs upon the crescent moon/A voiceless song in an ageless light/Sings at the coming dawn..."
Listening to a Loreena McKennit album is like being slowly enveloped in a dream of medieval castles, incense-heavy air, and distant exotic lands full of shadows and beauty. "The Mask and the Mirror" is a prime example of McKennit's hauntingly ye-olde music, with lush instrumentation and bittersweet vocals -- not to mention some truly lovely songs.
It starts with the haunting "Mystic's Dream," a love song that is soaked in a dreamlike atmosphere and the sound of monks chanting wordlessly in the background It's followed by the more upbeat but grisly ballad "The Bonny Swans," the vaguely erotic-sounding "The Dark Night of the Soul" is set to lots of floaty string melodies, and the dancey "Marrakesh Night Market" adds a peppy Middle-Eastern flavor to the album ("Would you like my mask/Would you like my mirror?... you can look at yourself, you can look at each other/you can look at the face, the face of your god!").
A more contemplative air enters the album in its second half -- "Full Circle" is a minimalist ballad that mourns and marvels at the sound of worship ("in your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?") while "Santiago" is a sprightly Spanish-flavored instrumental with McKennit only making "la la" noises. She dips briefly into the upliftingly lovely "Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt?/The Two Trees," and ends on a suitably bittersweet note -- a somnolent recitation of "Prospero's Speech."
Loreena McKennit has a magical touch with music -- she can wrap you in velvety dreams, walk you through a candelit medieval cathedral, dance you through a spice-filled Middle-Eastern market and rock you to sleep in an ivy-filled ruin. "The Mask and the Mirror" does all these things and more, and it's honestly hard to find a single false note in the entire exquisite album.
It's also impossible to find a modern pop sensibility in the whole thing -- the music is a lush tapestry of lutes, drums, an aching sweep of violin, guitar, some truly beautiful harp, and a dark swathe of bittersweet piano in "Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt?/The Two Trees." While the songs can be upbeat -- such as "Santiago" and "The Bonny Swans" -- the overall atmosphere is pretty mellow and subdued. Sometimes it's redolent with spiritual intensity, and sometimes it's just sad.
Apparently her visits to Spain and Morocco flavored the lyrics for these songs, there's definitely Spanish, Celtic and Arabian atmosphere; in addition, the songs are grounded in some classic literature, derived from Shakespeare, Yeats, and St. John of the Cross. And her strong, sweetly rich voice always sounds slightly sad, as she drifts through lyrics filled with vivid, striking images ("A painting hangs on an ivy wall/Nestled in the emerrald moss... A clouded dream on an earthly night/Hangs upon the crescent moon").
"The Mask and the Mirror is a vibrant, almost painfully lovely album that drips with medieval-ish splendor and lots of Spanish/Celtic/Middle-Eastern beauty. Utterly haunting.
Description of Mask & Mirror
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