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Lost Souls (Digipak)
*Fanboy Alert*
After 12 years, Loreena McKennitt is finally back with a collection of new compositions. It doesn't sound as though she has skipped a beat. The Canadian vocalist/multi-instrumentalist has created yet another incredible hybrid of Celtic/World/Folk/Prog. The production is always impeccable on her recordings and Lost Souls is no exception - Bob Ludwig mastered this. Her extensive band creates a clearly defined sound that carries over from album to album. Against this backdrop of acoustic and electric instruments is Ms. McKennitt's mesmerizing voice. Listening to Lost Souls time stands still. That seems to be the trademark of a Loreena McKennitt album. It transports you out of your daily life. I swear I can feel my blood pressure drop when I listen to this! Its been a long time but worth it. BUY OR DIE!
"The Canadian singer/songwriter's first full-length collection of original material since 2006's Ancient Muse, Lost Souls sees Loreena McKennitt delivering another richly detailed and alluringly cinematic set of worldbeat-infused, modern-folk pieces that hearken back to career-defining albums like The Visit, The Mask and Mirror, and The Book of Secrets. It's the latter LP that's echoed the most -- McKennitt states in the liner notes that a number of the songs were written around the time of The Visit-- with the elegant balladry of "Lost Souls" and the moving Canadian Forces Central Band and Stratford Concert Choir-assisted "Breaking of the Sword" invoking that album's emotional high point: Her lush musical rendering of the Alfred Tennyson poem "Lady of Shalott." Once again, McKennittlooks to poetry for inspiration, with W.B.Yeats and John Keats providing the narratives for "The Ballad of the Fox Hunter" and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," respectively, while she cites the works of authors Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees) and Ronald Wright (A Short History of Progress) as the motivation behind the evocative and ecologically minded "Ages Past, Ages Hence." While McKennittcontinues to incorporate Galician and Middle Eastern themes into her work -- opener "Spanish Guitars & Night Plazas" builds to a lovely flamenco crescendo, and "Sun, Moon, & Stars" invokes the sights, sounds, and smells of a Moroccan bazaar -- the bulk of Lost Souls is spent wandering the English countryside. It makes sense, as McKennitt's early work was predominantly Celtic in nature, and despite a dizzying area of exotic instrumentation -- nyckelharpa, oud, kanoun, lyra, hurdy gurdy, etc. -- it's clear that the rolling hills and temperate moors of the United Kingdom, as well as the extensive vistas of her Canadian homeland, are where her heart resides." - Allmusic