CD by Hiraeth
Price £10 from: Merrymoon
121 Upper Mostyn Street, Llandudno, Conwy, LL30 2PE
email: info [at] merrymoon [dot] co [dot] uk
And from Spanish Castles (Reform Street), also in
Llandudno
Review by Hawthorn
A second CD from the musical duo, Hiraeth,
again with Samantha East on vocals and Richard Hopkins on instrumentals. Sam is a practicing Pagan. Both live in North-West Wales.
Sam’s voice is light and clear and is well
complimented by Richard who plays a
range of instruments - drums and guitars (accoustic and electric), bouzouki,
mandolin, and (finally) synthesizer!
The sound is quite varied, from folksy to
punky – some of the tracks, notably “Desperation (The lament of Tristan and
Isolde)” and the final track “Untamed Son” reminding me of Siouxie and the
Banshees, to those of you old enough to remember them. Others, such as “Return
to me” are softer, with more of an acoustic sound. These are enjoyable, but I
enjoyed the funkier tracks more.
The tracks cover a range of themes -some
reflect the duo’s engagement with place – The album opens with “Guardian
blessing”, a piece that Sam frequently sings to some land that she visits
regularly. Similarly,“Rhiwledyn” is about an area nearby to where they live,
where Sam works regularly:
“Walking the paths the ancestors once trod,
In respect I offer
a prayer and a nod
I gather all their
wisdom in my head so clear,
And remember to
embrace all that I fear”.
“Twm Sion Cati” is a catchy song about the
Seventeenth Century Welsh highwayman. ”Taliesin’s Trance” another funky track,
is about....well, you probably don’t need me to tell you. The album ends with
“Untamed Son”, a call to the horned god. The refrain goes:
“He is the feral
deep within
He is the Untamed
Son
Tooth and Claw, and
blood and bone,
Nature’s Horned
One”
So... 10 tracks, in varied styles, covering
different themes that speak to Pagans. A snip at £10!
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