Reviewed by Doug Holland

An all encompassing mood of calm and tranquillity is conveyed on this 52-minute, 12-track offering from one of Ireland's leading vocalists. Always gentle and at times almost melancholic arrangements with light percussion that frequently goes missing completely; piano-based arrangements with strings and guitar enhancements that know their subordinate place, this is sensitive and evocative music. The songs here offer Bourke the chance to delicately weave a fabric of consciousness of time and space, as she explores the myriad of emotions that make up the human condition. Bourke has a stunningly good voice, and she uses it here to devastating effect to unpick issues of what she calls 'the human journey' - resilience, frailty and the need for comfort and to belong, amongst others. The songs themselves are by a variety of writers (including Enya, Eric Clapton ("Tears In Heaven") and material from the Celtic tradition. Even John Lennon gets a look in with the unexpected insertion of "Imagine" into the track, "Angels". As an end-to-end listen 'Echoes In Time' possibly suffers ultimately from a lack of variety. But as an attempt to create almost a world within a world it sometime touches on the truly exceptional.

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