Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998
From: "Sarkas, Harry" (HSarkas@panasonic.atlanta.com)
There is a short review of "Perfect Time" by Máire Brennan in the Features section of the 26 June 1998 edition of The Irish Times. The article is also available on-line at the following url:
http://www.irish-times.com/irish%2Dtimes/paper/1998/0626/fea2.html
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Máire Brennan: "Perfect Time" Word/Universal
The same big, autumnally sighing overkill production which launched both Clannad and Enya is brought to bear on this new solo album from Clannad's great frontwoman who, on the evidence of every song, has gone into religion in a big way. The emotion of the chalky, anthemic voice is all there, even if it's as much obscured as enhanced by the sonic gush and big, doomy percussion. The choice of single in Heal This Land is a little hick, as there are better tracks in Irish. I was personally taken by the Donegal Gaelic of Psalm 67, backed up the scrubbed, Sunday-morning authenticity of the Derrybeg church choir, and the raw harmonies of Grá Dé. But the rest of it can be ponderous enough.
Mic Moroney
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998
From: "Sarkas, Harry" (HSarkas@panasonic.atlanta.com)
The following is a brief review of Maire Brennan's new album "Perfect Time" which appeared in the 25 July 1998 issue of The Atlanta Journal / The Atlanta Constitution newspaper.
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Maire Brennan, "Perfect Time"
When Bono, the lead singer for the Irish rock band U2, first heard the voice of Maire Brennan, it almost killed him. In a magazine interview, Bono said he lost control of his car and skidded into a roadside ditch when he heard Brennan's voice on his car radio because he was distracted by its beauty.
Brennan's voice does that to people. It is haunting. And it can be heard on the soundtrack of the film "Patriot Games" and through the music of Clannad, the Irish band that helped kick off the Celtic craze in the United States (at one point Brennan's sister Enya also sang for Clannad).
With "Perfect Time," Brennan has ventured into the world of Christian music for the first time. Though it is her first solo Christian album, it sounds like Clannad's music. It is full of luscious background harmonies, dreamy synthesizer textures and assorted acoustic instruments that evoke images of a mist-shrouded Irish countryside.
Several of the songs on the album blend English and Gaelic language lyrics. Two songs, "Song of David" and "Na Paisti" ("The Children"), are sung completely in Gaelic. The album's title track is the strongest song. It opens with the gentle sound of an uilleann pipe and rich background harmonies. Brennan sings about abandonment to God with a childlike simplicity that makes the song even more endearing.
On "Heal This Land," Brennan tackles a more difficult subject - religious conflict in Ireland. She does this over the trademark Clannad sound: soothing harmonies and floating synthesizers. "O Lord, you can heal this land," Brennan sings. "Honor and glory tied up in chains. Blind to the future that keeps us in pain."
I liked this album, but only in measured doses. Brennan's voice and music are soothing and polished, yet for an extended listen it sounds too soothing. What is missing is a sense of emotional abandonment. Brennan's music and vocals have an icy beauty that never quite thaws.
John Blake
(Copyright 1998 The Atlanta Journal / The Atlanta Constitution)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998
From: "Sarkas, Harry" (HSarkas@panasonic.atlanta.com)
There was an interesting article posted in the U2 newsgroup and mailing list about the next U2/Brian Eno Passengers 'soundtrack' project. (I could not find the original source of the article but the original author is listed.) Among the interesting list of performers to contribute is none other than Maire Brennan!
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By Barney Hoskyns
U2 and Brian Eno are past the planning and confirmation stages of the new Passengers 'soundtrack'. No Pavarotti this time, but confirmed are French New Ager Jean-Michel Jarre, Tricky, and Howie B. The three in addition the Passenger regular, Brian Eno will work the 'backbone' production aspects of the new album. The striking contrasts between the four men's music is a conscious attempt at 'experimental new musics'. In the vocal department, Bono will play opposite Bjork, Maire Ni Bhraonain of Clannad, Miho Hatori of the New York/Toyko indie Cibo Matto, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, and Billy Corgan. It is rumored that Eric Clapton and George Harrison are being pressured to chip in a song. The new passengers will be devoting a third of the new album to instrumentals, a third to duets, and a third to solos featuring Passenger frontman Bono. Though this format will not be strictly enforced, for one song will be a sung solo by Bjork who's voice has been described by Bono as a "bent verbal limb"; and it is even rumored that U2 guitarist, the Edge, will be singing his own song. Bono has said that U2's most resent album 'POP' was ". . .the anti-thesis to what we were trying to do with the Passengers . . .we hope that the next [Passengers soundtrack] will be an anti-thesis to both POP and the first Passengers." He went on to say that he wanted the Passengers 'forum' to be ". . .a place where artists can be artists, without the constant pressure to market themselves." Ambient sound artist, Brian Eno, who was said he was inspired by Ticky's last project, 'Nearly God', elaborated on the concept, "Passengers allows the musicians who are involved to return to their roots, to experiment, we got a lot more people involved in [the second Passengers soundtrack] in the hopes that each persons style could play off of eachother, to produce something in between, and original at the same time." Though it is confirmed that Bono will be involved in the soundtrack to the next Batman installment and Terminator 3, it is doubtful that the resulting songs will be included in the second Passengers project. Because the format is rather speculatory and constantly changing, the expected realease date of the new Passengers album is in the Summer of 1999.