Nine And Fifty Swans

Tirill Mohn is a singer-songwriter from Norway whose second album is a setting of the poems of WB Yeats. It’s a pity that Mike Scott, and others, beat her to it, because she brings a calm and reflective subtlety to the songs that some have missed.
The tracks that work best are those that reveal her gorgeous vocals, especially ‘To A Child Dancing In The Wind’, which has a convincing Irish folk feel, a languorous ‘Before The World Was Made’ and an ethereal, almost Cohenesque ‘The Song Of Wandering Angus’.
The album captures Mohn’s reverence for the poems, and she has a fine instinct for using guitars, flute, violin and mellotron to evoke their atmosphere. But she also knows when it’s best to keep it simple.