TO DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY BY LOREENA MCKENNITT
TO DRIVE THE COLD WINTER AWAY by Loreena McKennitt is rich with the reverberating sounds and ambience of the great halls and churches in which the sparse selections, which reflect the simplicity of winter, were recorded. A hall in the woods of County Monaghen, Ireland, the church of the Glen Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Ireland and the Church of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, Canada provide the simple pieces with a kind of depth and honesty that cannot be produced in a studio. Faint, barely perceptible sounds of life going on around the halls and churches during the recording session make the experience all the more intimate.