CD REVIEW
Reviews of BEHIND THE CLOSED EYE
Hot Press
November 1997
ANÚNA with the Ulster Orchestra, Behind the Closed Eye
Danú Records, Adrienne Murphy
Behind the Closed Eye is for lovers of nature and gentleness. Experienced reinventors of Irish traditional music Anúna have joined in a cross-cultural production with the Ulster Orchestra to create a beautifully rounded album which carries the listener through a changing landscape of season, mood, history and lore. Much of it is inspired by the poetry of Francis Ledwidge, an Irish poet from Slane in County Meath.
Behind the Closed Eye opens with the warm laziness of August a soft ode to a beautiful woman, in which Michael McGlynn adds his even, solo voice to the rich harmonies of Anúna. Woman as inspiration is carried into the second track, Aisling an instrumental piece, full of nobility and tinged with sadness. This song, along with so many in Behind the Closed Eye, connects us to the ancient nature poets of Ireland, and the spirits that they beheld in the land. It's an album that takes you on a journey back, whilst remaining contemporary through its classical, orchestral rendering of Irish tradition in its widest, most inclusive sense.
Many of these songs are as gaeilge [in Irish], though the words transcend their individual meanings to become a gateway to dreamlike, serene states of mind. My personal favourites are the songs which use the words of poet Francis Ledwidge, who died fighting in the first world war at the tender age of 30. Its fitting that Behind the Closed Eye - a brilliant testimony to the combined talents of so many gifted people - should be released during the week that we remember those vanquished in that senseless war.
With this beautiful album, Anúna and the Ulster Orchestra have healed some of the innocence lost.
The Irish News [Belfast]November 1997
ANÚNA up the ante with superb new offering
Joe McKee, November 25th., 1997.
If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive stocking filler, or perhaps something a little out of the ordinary as a seasonal gift for a workmate, then you might like to consider a new CD from the vocal group Anúna accompanied by the Ulster Orchestra.
Anúna have been around for 10 years, but made the big time as the choir in that famous Eurovision slot which gave life to the whole Riverdance thing.
Under the direction of talented director Michael McGlynn, Anúna have since gone on to create a special and highly distinctive niche for themselves, somehow managing to straddle very comfortably the sometimes mutually exclusive domains of classical, folk, traditional and contemporary music. In the beginning they made a big thing of their Irishness and tended to sing items which concentrated on chant and a romantic view of ancient Celtic mysticism.
Having said that, I can heartily recommend their latest album, Behind the Closed Eye. The singing is beautifully focused and recorded in a sumptuously warm way.
Anúna produced in the past, in my view, a cool, monochrome, almost chaste sound. This disc shows a fuller, more sensuous sound that I found very satisfying.
There are a number of nicely taken solo numbers, including a couple by McGlynn who also wrote all the music. These are all delivered in an unfussy, relaxed almost folksy style of singing. Lesley Hatfield leading the strings of the Ulster Orchestra, with harpist Lucy Wakeford, percussionist Malcolm Neale and a trio of wind principals, provide a superbly up-market backing group.
On the strength of this new disc, I look forward to seeing members of the Ulster Orchestra increasingly involving themselves in projects of this calibre.