Bróna McVittie announces new album Supernatural

Bróna McVittie has announced the upcoming release of her album Supernatural on October 16. Her fourth solo album, the tracks on Supernatural correspond to the tales in her recently published illustrated folklore collection, A Way with the Fairies.

McVittie is a singer-songwriter and harpist, though a biologist by training, from County Down. Her anthology and her music draw on Irish and European folklore. Most of the songs on Supernatural are based on Irish ballads, poems, and myths, including Yeats' 'The Stolen Child' and Joseph Campbell's 'My Lagan Love'.

Using both electronic and traditional sounds, McVittie translated each tale from her book into song form. The tales "form a unified creative world in which the supernatural is not distant fantasy, but something embedded in daily life", according to an official description.

Three tracks on the album feature a second artist who brings their own musical style and cultural traditions to the project. These are Spanish flamenco guitarist Antonia Jiménez; Ukrainian bandurist and singer Anastasiya Voytyuk; and Lithuanian vocalist and composer Jausmė.

Voytyuk's contribution is 'White Bird', inspired by a Ukrainian folk song about a dove whose lover is killed by a hunter. Jausmė composed and performed 'Brothers (Broliai)', adapted from a folk tale similar to the Irish tale 'The Twelve Wild Geese'. Jiménez performs her original composition, 'Haeda', inspired by a Spanish legend about an altruistic witch.

McVittie's music has been described as "cosmic folk, weaving harp, guitar, ethnic instrumentation and electronic textures into music that evokes birdsong, open skies and elemental forces".

The album is available for pre-order here.