RETURN TO ARDA

A late-comer to the fold of 2022 releases, Guitar Idol Dave Brons offers us a collection of top-notch Celtic Prog Folk--greatly enhanced by the full support from Dave Bainbridge and his latest Open Sky Records / IONA gang.

1. "The Primordial Chord" (1:04) kind of weak and hokey start for such an ambitious album. (3.75/5)

2. "Song of the Sea" (5:19) beautiful atmospheric opening with sax soloing. After 75 seconds the rather distantly-placed voice of Sally Minnear enters singing in her angelic way. Tom-tom play, big bass and guitar chords, and keys join in filling in the soundscape around Sally but then, when she stops singing, the band kicks into a nice heavy prog motif with Dave's lead guitar out front showing his stuff. With about one minute remaining, everything returns to the atmospheric aural background to the song's completion.(9/10)

3. "When Snow Thaws" (5:57) gentle pastoral Celtic song with whistles, violin, mandolins, and piano taking on the introductory work before a kind of Celtic version of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra wave of rock power unleashes itself (as well as the uilleann pipes and lead electric guitar). The uilleann pipes lead the Celtic melody-dominated fourth minute before the music returns to the gentle pastoral motifs of the opening. Solo acoustic guitar finishes it off. Beautiful! I like the pastoral stuff bookending the song the best: it's a lot like Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge. (9/10)

4. "Beyond Where the Waves Break" (6:00) nice synth-orchestrated and real orchestrated vehicle for a bluesy guitar solo--though it starts out with a reverbed electric piano introducing the main melody before Dave's electric guitar picks it up. HIs playing over the first half of the song is very sensitive, very spacious, which allows the nuances to really shine. At 3:25 choral voices and orchestration enter and lift the music to a heavenly, cinematic level. Gorgeous! Dave's guitar play becomes quite a bit more adventurous though retaining the thin, humble sounds he started with. Nice finish with the uillean pipes and orchestra percussion joining in. (9/10)

5. "Song of the Earth" (5:00) introduced by Sally Minnear's "soil" narration, acoustic guitar, mandolins, Irish whistle, bass, and drums then back Sally's double-voiced lead. Nice melodies and spacious musical weave. Dave's guitar comes in on fire in the third minute before relinquishing to Sally and the acoustic ensemble at the 3-minute mark. Violin, sax, and Allan Holdsworth-like lead guitar take us to the wind instrument finish. Very nice song. (9.25/10)

6. "The Call of the Mountain" (5:39) opens with some pacifying acoustic guitar work before Dave's "dirty" guitar joins in. At 1:10 the full band leaps forward with Dave and Catherine Ashcroft's uilleann pipes establishing the main melody--which feels very IONA like. Dave then takes the spotlight for a understated bluesy solo before letting the IONA theme return. Great music, great Celtic weave; it's really very much like a new IONA song. Nice Steve Vai-like shredding in the raucous final third. (9.25/10)

7. "Beren and Luthien" (4:43) gentle piano, strings, Irish whistles and uilleann pipes open this one. Could be a song of worship--or a New Age classic. Very peaceful and relaxing--and beautiful! Not even Dave's emotional electric guitar lead can disturb the mood being conveyed. (Reminds me of a New Age guitarist I was quite fond of in the late 1990s and 1990s by the name of Paul Speer--a man who worked with New Age keyboard artist David Lanz quite a lot on releases from the Narada label--particularly a song "Adagio Dolente" that I absolutely love.) (9/10)

8. "Joy Beyond the Walls of This World" (3:48) more atmospheric effected piano to gently open this one but then at 0:39 the uillean pipes, bass, guitar, and drums join in to propel the song into a Celtic rock direction, using an Irish melody line to do so. Then at 1:50 there is a shift into a more fully Celtic reel with pipes, whistles, and violin leading the way before the rock instruments join in with Dave's lead guitar joining the lead weave. Ends rather abruptly--really bleeding into the next song. (9/10)

9. "Into the Woods of Lothlorien" (2:49) more atmospheric electric piano, playing solo, beautifully, to open this one. Quite emotional and beautiful. Well done Dave, Dave, or John, whoever performed it! (5/5)

10. "The Tears of Nienna" (5:00) Steve Reichian minimalistic opening sounds nice--a bit of a change in the musical foundations. Uillean pipes join the guitar and orchestral bass and percussives. Halfway through, Sally Minnear enters with her calming voice filling the soundscape, but then we return to the minimalist opening motif for a long, slow fadeout. Gorgeous! (9.25/10)

11. "On Eagle's Wings" (5:20) a mandolin-based song over which Dave rears his axe's animal sound capabilities. It's a simple, thin support staff until the halfway point when choral vocals and full rock ensemble enter and amp things up into prog bombast. Things quite down again for the final minute. Nice. (8.75/10)

12. "Yavanna's Song" (1:39) a pretty little folk dittie with very gentle picking and blowing from the Celtic instrumentalists. (4.5/5)

13. "Beauty and Starlight" (4:21) quite a bland, standard folk song--one that sounds as if it came from or belongs in a church setting. The first song I've heard which seems to come openly from a Christian rock perspective. Still, it's quite nice--especially when Dave's lead guitar starts expressing itself and the vocals move into choral support mode. (8.75/10)

14. "Gathering in the Clouds" (5:22) another beautiful, quality merger of progressive rock with Celtic acoustic traditional instruments. Sally Minnear's artless, guileless vocalise in the final 90 seconds are priceless. (9.25/10)

15. "Last Journey Across the Sea" (2:38) a simple, beautiful, even celestial finish. The support of Catherine Ashcroft's plaintive uilleann pipes is quite Post Rock like. (4.25/5)

Total Time 64:39

Despite the fact that this collection of high-quality Celtic rock breaks no new ground, it is an excellent display of the best in musicianship and compositional maturity--very much in line with the standards set by Iona and Dave Bainbridge. I happen to find myself really tuning into Dave's acoustic guitar work (GREAT sound engineering!), Catherine Ashcroft's uilleann pipes, and Sally Minnear's vocals--perhaps the best material for and best engineering of her beautiful voice I've heard to date.

A-/five stars. While there is nothing here that is intoxicatingly new or extraordinary about this music--about this collection of beautiful songs--I'm going to welcome this one to the "masterpiece" class: Its its overall quality and consistency are undeniable.