CARA DILLON -
Hill of Thieves
CHARCOAL CHARCD002
Cara’s maternity leave is now over and her twins are thriving – so, after a 3-year break from recording, she’s back in the studio. Like many others (e.g. Emmylou Harris, Maddy Prior), she’s gone for a “back to basics” CD, with none of the lush instrumentation and layering of her previous CDs. It works well, as her balletic voice, with its effortless Irish ornamentation, doesn’t need that level of support.
She’s also gone for a largely well-known set of songs, so we get another angle on She Moves Through the Fair, P Stands for Paddy and Spenser the Rover. The downside of this is that I can’t avoid hearing (for example) John Martyn and Planxty in my mid-brain, but the upside is that Cara does a beautiful job on them. I’m not convinced that she has actually offered a new perspective, but these are nice new versions of classic songs – some of which have worn better than others.
Cara’s husband Sam produced this CD and the supporting cast includes James Fagan and two further Sethmans (Sethmen?) – Sean and Seth.
Alan Murray
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 82 of The Living Tradition magazine. |