It is to Brídín Brennan’s credit that she has decided to forge her own musical path instead of taking the easy option and following the high roads taken by her sister Enya and the family band Clannad. Only on the first and last track of her debut album do you pick up the undeniable sibling influences.
In between, Brennan has generally opted for a soft pop focus, with touches of what Americans now misleadingly refer to as r’n’b, and in doing so she’s in danger of ending up in Blandsville. ‘Where’s Your Love’, the breathy ‘Another Day’ and ‘It’s Too Late’ make pleasant if anonymous contemporary pop fodder, while ‘Deep Deep Sleep’ and ‘Power Of Three’ hint at a more adult easy listening approach.
‘You Can’t Hurt Me’ has attractive widescreen strings, sampled from Glen Campbell, behind a wistful melody and workaday lyrics, and ‘Got What You Wanted’, the only track in which Brennan doesn’t share writing credits, is pleasant MOR pop which shows off her attractive voice. ‘Hang On’ has the immediacy that pop tracks need, with an arrangement that builds well, but ‘Breakdown’ is the only song that works up a sweat, a welcome break from a parade of soporific ballads.
Brennan has a faultless voice, but she’s poorly served on her debut by songs that sound like they came off a production line in LA., and in the end Eyes Of Innocence fails to live up to the high standards of originality already achieved by the family business.