Personnel: Maire Brennan (vocals, harp, keyboards); Ewan Cowley (vocals, guitar); Sinead Madden (vocals, fiddle); Dee Brennan (vocals, percussion); Paul Jarvis (vocals); Anthony Drennan (acoustic & electric guitars); Maire Breathnach (fiddle, viola); Tiarnan O'Duinnchinn (Uillean pipes, low whistle); Mairtin O'Connor (accordion); Dennis Woods (keyboards); Joe Csibi (acoustic bass); Keith Duffy, Tony Steele (electric bass); Paul Byrne (percussion).
Recorded at Pulse Recording Studios, Windmill Lane Studios and Mo Studios, Dublin, Ireland.
WHISPER TO THE WILD WATER was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.
Máire Brennan sets a series of prayers in English and Gaelic to music on her second album for the religious label Word. The musical style is informed by Celtic music and hymns, but also uses elements of rock, as Brennan sings with considerable echo, sometimes suggesting the round tones of Judy Collins. The massed backup vocals with their ethereal sound often recall the work of Brennan's sister Enya, though her songs are more focused. The tone of generalized religious devotion in the lyrics and Brennan's angelic singing sometimes make the music sound like it comes from centuries ago, despite the occasional electric instrumentation and 1990s production values. ~ William Ruhlmann
The fourth solo release by harpist, keyboardist, songwriter, and accomplished vocalist Maire Brennan offers yet another dense and evocative soundscape populated by the channeled spirits of Celtic landscapes and lore. Like the folk-pop amalgam pioneered by Brennan's family band Clannad (who have been putting out albums since the early '70s), WHISPER TO THE WIND brings the minor-key modes and floating, ghostly melodies of Irish traditional music into a contemporary context.
Meticulous production and instrumental arrangements (where old meets new with loops, samples, and electric guitar alongside Uillean pipes and whistles) provide a fluid, crystalline backdrop for Brennan's tender soprano. Pulsing rhythms ("Hard To Break The Seal") and ethereal, ear-friendly ballads ("Where I Stand") showcase Brennan's pop sensibility, yet her roots are always close at hand, as on the Gaelic-sung "I Lathair De," a duet with her mother. WHISPER highlights Brennan's strengths as a songwriter, without sacrificing the abstract, atmospheric quality of her sound, a combination sure to please fans of Enya, Clannad, and Brennan's other solo work. minimize