Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The fine arts department of Prairie Bible College in Canada have linked with Irish singer Fiona O'Leary and Onora who are a nine piece Celtic band. The end product is a couple of albums that mix English, Irish and Gaelic songs together with a faithful Celtic sound. Harps and hammered dulcimers, bodhrans and accordions, etc all do their thing. There are prayers and songs, some familiar and some not. There's "St Patrick's Breastplate" (done to the tune of "Morning Has Broken" which is, errr, interesting), "Oh For A Thousand Tongues" and a laid back version of "Be Thou My Vision". In truth the whole collection has managed to avoid going for the obvious choices of songs and has a genuine traditional sound unlike a lot of Celtic recordings where the addition of a tin whistle seems enough to deem it "Celtic". If you're looking for something worshipful to chill out with at home after a busy day then this would hit the mark. However, I'm left wondering if the whole exercise of creating easy listening Celtic albums has all been done before and the best that can be said is that this album is nice.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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