“So, after 2020’s The Man In The Mountain we now greet The Woman In The Moon. Irish singer songwriter Bróna McVittie’s eagerly anticipated third album certainly does not disappoint in any way. Her evocative and experimental approach to traditional Celtic music sees her including an even wider range of styles and influences as she navigates her way out of the pandemic with a range of self-written and traditional songs, each one imbued with her inimitable signature whilst preserving an undisputable air of authenticity.
Her 2018 debut, We Are The Wildlife, focused on landscape and nature. The Man In The Mountain saw McVittie using the classical purity of her harp and the richly accented clarity of her vocals to create a stunning Celtic opus enhanced by Scandi trumpeter Arve Henriksen and with electronic instrumentation from experimental duo Isan. Critics compared her voice to both Clannad’s Moya Brennan and Broadcast’s Trish Keenan.
The Woman in the Moon sees further musical journeying as she brings in Brazilian drummer Marius Rodriguez and jazz double bass player Oli Hayhurst. The result is a beautiful, and sometimes slightly eerie, journey that sees her Irish ballads and love songs assume astral dimensions whilst remaining firmly grounded in her Celtic roots. With McVittie’s harp playing nestled comfortably alongside jazz, South American, and even Indian influences, comparisons with Alice Coltrane are inevitable, although her slightly trippy, folk-electronica aesthetic mean that several tracks remind me strongly of Goldfrapp’s ‘Seventh Tree’ album.
All but two tracks are self-penned, the two exceptions being the traditional ‘Star of the County Down’ (which was given a much livelier reworking by The Oysterband on their 1993 album, ‘Celtic Junkies’) that opens the album, and the beautiful Gaelic love ballad ‘Tiocfaidh an Samhradh’ (‘Summer Will Come’), with is underlined by a mournful double bass and gentle brush strokes on the drums.
The ponderous and moody title track loses its drums on the album (although they do feature on the single version, which is also included on the album), so remains distant and spacious, lending an air of otherworldliness thanks to atmospheric steel guitar from Myles Cochran.
‘Your Heart Wants To Go’ is a deliciously light love song thrown in for good measure, but its romantic reality abutts the cautionary tale of ‘The Fairy Glen’ (‘Gleann na Sidhe’), which is inspired by the ‘Leannan Sidhe’, a mythical demon from Irish folklore who reputedly takes a human lover.
‘In The Winter’ is a song of hope that pairs up neatly with lockdown ballad ‘Looking’, one of two guitar-based songs – the other being ‘Pushing Up The Daisies’ which, despite its morbid coloquiality, is about the preciousness of life and those you love.
Closing track ‘Phantasmagoria’ is an instrumental which begins with sounds of early morning birdsong to which is added harp and trumpet. The birds gradually sound more and more jungle-like as the instruments begin a call-and-response game. It is a truly atmospheric way to bring ‘The Woman in the Moon’ to a sonically exotic conclusion.
Bróna McVittie’s ‘The Woman in the Moon’ is yet another pot of pure gold sitting at the end of her cosmic folk rainbow.”
Read the review on Fatea Records