Iona - Circling Hour
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Free Music Notes for Circling Hour
Free Music Review: Iona's Most Progressive Album to Date
Hit: 4 Stars
Going on eighteen years since they first formed, Iona still is one of the great hidden treasures on the musical scene. Despite excellent critical reviews and the enormous, varied talents of each band member, the band seemingly still is known by only a few of us. It's a shame, because arguably no other band around today is more deserving of success. At the same time, part of the problem in this decade rests with the changes in both life and professional circumstances of the band members. Motherhood understandably has limited the time that lead vocalist and songwriter Joanne Hogg can spend on music. Meanwhile, the founding of Dave Bainbridge's Open Sky Records has enabled the band to rerelease its out-of-print albums and generate sales through the web without a middleman. However, because Open Sky is more-or-less a "home shop" and Bainbridge himself undertakes most of the production duties, it takes longer to complete projects.
What both the personal and the professional changes have meant, to the regret of Iona lovers, is that the band this decade has become an occasional outfit for five highly talented individuals who work on other projects (e.g., solo albums, recordings with other groups) in the interim between each Iona project. The Circling Hour, released in September 2006, is only Iona's second new studio album this decade. The last one, Open Sky, was released in May 2000 in the UK. (I am not counting the four-disc box set The River Flows. It contains the band's first three albums and rarities, and was released in September 2002 as the flagship recording for Open Sky Records.) In contrast, the band released four highly original studio albums and one incredible double-disc live album during its most productive period, 1990 through 1997. Nonetheless, The Circling Hour is finally here, and that's reason to rejoice!
In many ways, The Circling Hour is classic Iona, with epic, mostly instrumental pieces mixed with songs throughout. It is also different, however. In the past, Iona has been known for being somewhat undefinable due to its mix of musical styles -- progressive rock, folk, Celtic, and jazz. The jazz influence first decreased with the departure of co-founder David Fitzgerald after the band's second album, but only altogether disappeared after Mike Houghton left the band in the late 1990s. The other three elements have always been in place, however.
The Circling Hour is much more monolithic. The Celtic and folk influences have diminished; just for one example, uilleann pipes are heard less often this time around. This album is unquestionably essentially a piece of progressive rock -- you can hear the ghosts of Kansas, Yes, and many other great bands of the 1970s walking the halls of this mansion. Maybe this happened because Dave Bainbridge decided to build the album from the rhythm and bass sections this time around.
This in itself is not a bad thing. Iona can do progressive rock like no one else around today, as England's Classic Rock Society has recognized practically year after year. It's amazing to hear almost every band member play instrument upon varied instrument -- most of them are masters on several fronts. Bainbridge and his inside-and-outside-of-Iona cohort Troy Donockley can play virtually any instrument, it seems. Phil Barker does excellent bass work, and the multi-talented Frank Van Essen is as adept with violins as with drums and percussion. Hogg only plays keyboards, and surprisingly only on one song on this album (motherhood must have limited her participation essentially to vocals this time around), but Iona concerts have proven that she can pick up a guitar whenever she desires. Fortunately, given all this musical genius, Hogg's vocals are as strong as ever.
And those wonderfully soothing acappella vocals open The Circling Hour. "How wonderful this world of Thine/A fragment of a fiery sun," she marvels, enunciating the main theme of the album. A keyboard comes in as she progresses, but the mood is a quiet, reflective one until a cascade of sounds assaults the senses less than one minute into the piece. This opening track, "Empyrean Dawn," is as representative of what you can expect with Iona as any other track they've ever recorded. You can't quite call it a song; it's an instrumental with verses, but the music drives the words rather than the other way around. And by the end of the track's nearly eight minutes, you've gone through quiet depths and free-wheeling heights, ending with a sense of joy that counterbalances the opening meditation.
The songs on the album -- "Children of Time," "Strength," "Factory of Magnificent Souls," and "No Fear in Love" -- are mostly very good-to-excellent in quality. ("Factory of Magnificent Souls" doesn't do much for me, but that's a personal rather than objective reaction.) "Children of Time" is deliriously involving as Bainbridge's and Donockley's wind instruments sweep you away. "Strength" is essentially the same song seen and heard on the band's Live from London DVD, but it has been made stronger with the addition of the album's theme sung at key points of the song. "No Fear in Love" is the most pop song that Iona has done since Journey into the Morn's "Irish Day." In Joanne Hogg's skillful hands, it's a very moving tune and the one most likely to get me to press the "repeat" button.
The instrumental pieces, however, overpower the songs, as was also true on Open Sky. "Wind off the Lake" is one of Iona's much-loved progressive epic pieces and will easily become a fan favorite, if it isn't one already. "Sky Maps" (or "Skymaps" -- it's inconsistently printed both ways in the song listings), a composition of Donockley's, starts out hauntingly beautiful and is a great instrumental with a few lyrics. "Wind, Water, and Fire" is divided into three parts. Part one ("Wind") is dominated by Van Essen's beautifully reflective violin playing. Joanne Hogg's wordless vocals come to the forefront in part two ("Water"), and percussion work (also by Van Essen) starts in the background but eventually pushes in front of the violin and forces Hogg's beautiful voice ever higher. Part three ("Fire") starts out as an all-out progressive rock piece, dominated by Bainbridge's incredible guitar work. We then get Hogg's vocal commentary on the meaning of the three parts before the peaceful conclusion to this extraordinary piece. The album's concluding track, "Fragment (of a Fiery Sun)," is also quiet and restates the main theme of the album.
The theme, mentioned in the very first two lines of "Empyrean Dawn" and throughout the album, is one of wonder and joy at the world we see around us. Iona always has delighted in creation, but never more so than on this album. The meaning of "the circling hour" is more nebulous. "Children of Time" references the communion of saints and defines "the circling hour" apparently as our time of death when we join that communion on the other side of the veil. Later, however, in "Wind, Water, and Fire -- Fire," "the circling hour" is the time of human rebirth and purification by God's Holy Spirit. Hogg mostly adapts lyrics from hymns and Celtic pieces this time around.
Yet the Celtic Christian influence, always a key component of Iona, is not as pronounced this time around. This is not to say that the message is generically spiritual. By the end of the album, you have a clear sense of wonder in creation not being just a good end in and of itself, but one that points to God and Christ, and their work with humanity. Absent this time around, however, is the sense of following a particularly Celtic Christian person (e.g., Brendan, as in Iona's third album, Beyond These Shores), hymn (e.g., "Be Thou My Vision," as in Iona's Journey into the Morn), prayers (e.g., the ecstatic visions and supplications of Columba, as in "Open Sky") or work (e.g, the Book of Kells, as in Iona's album of the same name) throughout the album. I, for one, miss the more highly developed themes of previous albums. In the past, I felt that each new Iona album revealed a new aspect of Celtic Christian history or spirituality to me. That's not true with this album.
That criticism is just about the only thing that keeps me from giving this album five stars. In practically every other way, this is an outstanding album on the musical end that should belong in any music lover's collection. (Hogg's best lyrics to date were on Journey into the Morn.) Iona is immensely talented; let's hope that we do not have to wait another five-and-a-half to six years for their next studio release!
Free Music Review: Joyous. Moody. Elegant.
Hit: 4 Stars
Although I am familiar with Iona, I haven't heard any of their previous albums in their entirety. I do recall that they differ slightly from their The Circling Hour in that more emphasis was given on long, ambiant passages on their earlier material, such as Open Sky and the much revered Journey into the Morn while their new release is unafraid to delve into uncharted territory, lending itself to both energetic pieces and the more trademark sounds of their former work.
The Circling Hour sees the band return with a somewhat more joyous energy, churning out rhythmically dynamic cuts focusing on the incredibly beautiful vocals of Joanne Hogg. Her silky smooth tone, plaintive delivery, and unmatched melodic power make for a unique combination, and it is only understandable why songs like "Strength" and "No Fear in Love" must have been written specifically with her voice in mind. Hogg shines like the brightest star in the sky on "Strength", a song featuring gently strummed acoustic guitars, a nice shaker sound in the intro, and fat rhythms at the end. Likewise, "No Fear in Love" sees Hogg taking centre stage once again while little sections of acoustic guitars, distant percussion work, a nice mandolin melody, and elegiac blues guitar wrap her sweet tone up.
That is not to say, however, this album lacks the band's core stylistic elements. On the contrary, the first two songs "Empyrean Dawn" and "Children of Time" represent everything Iona stands for. Wonderful choir voices, a myriad of instruments (check the darabukkas on the second piece), low and high whistles, pipes, and their unmistakable Celtic element permeat these tracks, venturing into bass-heavy soundscapes where Hogg delivers the lyrics adapted from T.W. Rolleston's 1913 poem "The Song of Maelduin", from which the title of the album was also inspired.
Guitarists Dave Bainbridge and Troy Donockley excel in their performances, throwing in everything from Floydian guitar runs to folky motifs and trance-inducing e-bow addition. On "Wind Off the Lake", at over eleven minutes (and mostly instrumental), they are at their most psychedelic phase, borrowing tons of Celtic influences, blazing Hammond organs, and ethereal wind chimes in order to climax the song with a dramatic finale. "Sky Maps" only serves to thicken this experiment: it is hauntingly beautiful with lucid layers of keyboards, mood-intensive piano arrangements, and the mandatory inclusion of flute. The lead guitar work here is unbelievable.
The "Wind, Water & Fire" trilogy is divided into three tracks, titled "Wind", "Water" and "Fire", and finds the band revisiting their older days creating impossible threads of atmosphere, the first one being entirely instrumental, the second one featuring wordless vocal melodies from Hogg (God - that voice is amazing!), and the last one simply being the heavy finish as guitars, bass, and drums are all woven into the mix. Speaking of which, drummer Frank Van Essen had me drool the first ten or fifteen times I spinned this album. I can't believe I missed out on this guy all these years. Although Iona's music is mostly soothing and relaxing, and therefore not all that suitable for a drummer to showcase his skills, this man proves you can still insert all these subtle cymbal and snare rhythms without driving the song away from its melodic focus.
Though far from being similar, I still recommend Iona to fans of Mostly Autumn, White Willow, Dead Can Dance, Blackmore's Night, and even NIL. All of these bands are equally astonishing and deserve to be heard.
Free Music Review: Encircling, a little bit in circles.
Hit: 4 Stars
This album from my absolute most favorite Christian Band was a little bit
of a dissapointment. It seems nothing in my mind can top their "Journey Into
The Morn", their fourth release. I love this band and will buy anything they
release. Giving them 4 stars is not a put down but just compares them with
previous albums. My only criticism, is sameness. But we do want the style
repeated which caused us to embrace them initially, right! Again I was a little
disappointed after such a long lay off. I thought there latest would shake the
world, at least my world. But it is a great album, and I would recommend a buy,
and while you're at it. Buy all their releases. Steve Ward
Free Music Review: Another good CD from Iona
Hit: 4 Stars
If you're a fan of Iona, the progressive rock/Celtic/Christian conglomeration from Ireland, you'll find this a nice addition their other albums. The music is rich with lyrics and melody, and (of course) the musicianship is excellent. It's very well layered with harmony and rhthym.
If you've not heard Iona before, I recommend it. Iona has a melodious context that comes out of Irish folk, but electrified and put to a driving pop/rock rhythm. Lyrics range from traditional Irish to overtly Christian and socially conscious.
Saw them in concert, playing many of the tracks from this album -- very good.
Free Music Review: Greg
Hit: 3 Stars
Being a fan of progressive "art rock" bands like Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, and 70s Genesis, I was excited to discover a truly Christian progressive rock band. I have 4 of Iona's earlier CDs, but shortly after listening to "The Circling Hour" I was disappointed. In fact, I sold the CD back to the used CD store. For one thing, the vocals sound weak and lilting when compared to their earlier powerhouses like "The Book of Kells", and "Beyond These Shores." The lead guitar seems to wandering at times, providing little sense of direction in the music. There are some moments of fine keyboard and piano, but these are few and far between. I've really enjoyed the lengthy, cinematic pieces of music that were present on "Open Sky" and the earlier albums, but "Circling Hour" does not seem able to capture that which Iona does best. This is not to say the album is without talent--it's just that Iona is capable of much better.