Prophecy

Born in Dublin and making her home in New York since 1990, Susan McKeown has been balancing delicately on the narrow edge between folk and contemporary music for a decade or so now.

Her last album, Lowlands (2000), had critics falling over themselves to laud her return to traditional Irish material. Perversely, she’s answered their praise with an elaborately produced album of original songs, complete with electric guitars, bass, drums and more exotic instruments such as “spooky loops” and “mellotron”.

McKeown has a wonderfully rich voice, and she isn’t afraid to make use of its full range and vibrato – a refreshing change from the little-girl breathiness that’s dominated the airwaves of late. On her setting of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Because I Could Not Stop For Death’, she swaps verses and harmonies with Natalie Merchant, who also contributes backing vocals to ‘River’.

Not every track is a success. ‘Seven Cold Glories’ loses its drive in a morass of wordiness; similarly, the abrupt back-and-forth shifts between spare, edgy cello backing on the verses and full rock anthem mode on the choruses of ‘Wheels of the World’ don’t make for a happy combination.

Sensibly, however, she saves the best for last. The lush title track, with its nostalgic feel and dissonant carnival-organ backing, is a gem. McKeown has shown us that she’s as at home in a modern setting as she is in the world of trad; it’ll be interesting to see where she heads next.