Emily Magner Hurley - Orainn (self-released)

Never mind that Emily Magner Hurly makes music of such magical magnitude that it feels like it comes from another world, or at least another time, Orainn her latest album, reminds us of many crucial factors about music.

It reminds us that language isn’t a barrier, the album being sung in her Gaelic mother tongue, and that even if you don’t understand the words spoken, voices are instruments too. The rise and fall, the ebb and flow of such vocals, either solo or en mass, are as passionate and evocative as any instrument. It reminds us that classic is a tricky term, although conjuring, in many people’s minds, be-wigged gents of the past conducting and corralling all manner of sounds, it can be as simple and as relevant as one or more voices. As is folk music, though this feels as “of the people” as music can get.

It also reminds us that while music is more often made mainly for entertainment, it can be elevated to an art form like never before. And it reminds us too that while many artists are happy to chase the record company paycheck, garner likes and followers, and pursue the baser rewards of creativity, Emily Magner Hurley has higher, more aesthetic and rewarding, and indeed ascetically rewarding, musical goals in her sights.

Orainn is a thing of simple beauty. A collection of vocal pieces that wander the realms of classical and Celtic folk music with a heady mix of grace and grandeur. It talks with a more primal voice, harks back to earlier musical forms, real or perceived, and is a triumph, both in terms of its composition and its majestic delivery.

Fans of artists such as Enya, Clannad and Mediæval Bæbes will find lots to love here, but even if the music that falls into the realms of classical, vocal, devotional, and ancient, are realms that you are yet to explore, it would be a hard heart that doesn’t immediately fall in love with this album and indeed this artist. I know I did!

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