The Bottom Line
Karan Casey, the elfin songstress whose lovely voice helped bring bands like Solas to international fame, is back with a collection of sparsely-arranged traditional (and tradition-based) Irish ballads. The album is elegant and powerful, but at moments, is decidedly saccharine, and there's not much here that hasn't been heard before, in some form or another.
Pros
- Powerfully elegant vocals
- Top-notch backing band
- Nice album pacing and sequencing
Cons
- Teeters between "lovely" and "painfully precious"
- Not much that hasn't been heard before
Description
- Sparse instrumentation allows Casey to shine
- Sparse instrumentation, conversely, gets a little dull
- An instant favorite among old-school folkies
- May not be such a hit among fans of down-and-dirty Irish music
Guide Review - Karan Casey - 'Ships in the Forest'
When I first plugged Ships in the Forest, Karan Casey's latest release, into my CD player, I listened for a moment and thought, "Wait a second... did I miss something? Is this a greatest hits album or a retrospective or something?" I glanced quickly at the press release and discovered that, no, it's all new work. Not a great sign. Though I'm a fan of Casey's, and would be content with a recording of her singing "Happy Birthday," I was really hoping to hear something new, and I feel like I've heard this record before.Admittedly, she's stripped the music down to the basics on this album. Guitar, piano, cello, and just bits and snips of pipes and concertina (which is played by her husband, Niall Vallely) are delicately arranged and performed, so it doesn't sound like your average raucous Irish music extravaganza. The problem is, I like raucous Irish music extravaganzas, especially when Karan Casey is involved. With the sparse and chilly (though really fantastic) instrumentation, Ships in the Forest often sounds more like a tried-and-true Judy Collins record than a masterpiece of Irish music (especially considering the high proportion of songs included on Ships that Collins and her cohorts have long since beaten to death).
There are definitely high points here -- the a cappella Irish-language ballad "Maidin Luan Chincise" is an exquisite example of Casey's vocal prowess, and the backing musicians really shine on the musically upbeat (though lyrically devastating) song "Town of Athlone".
