E-mail

Clannad singer preps for U.S. tour

MIKE FARRAGHER

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, April 23, 2009, 12:12 PM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:48 PM

Irish singer Moya Brennan

Irish music fans will get two divas for the price of one when Moya Brennan hits the road with Manhattan’s own Ashley Davis for a spring tour.

Brennan, the legendary voice of Clannad, will be touring behind her excellent new live CD, “Heart Strings.” Davis, who counts Brennan as a huge influence, will be showcasing songs from her newest, “Down by the Sea.”

For fans of Clannad and Brennan, “Down by the Sea” will be a welcome addition to your collection. Of course, the pop landscape is littered with pale imitators of the ethereal Celtic sound that Brennan pioneered, but Davis is not one of them. She is reverent to her influences while clearly finding her own voice.

“It’s nice that someone flatters you with their influences,” says Brennan during an exclusive interview with the Irish Voice newspaper.

“Ashley and I hit it off at a Christmas concert I did at Connolly’s a couple of years ago. She told me she was putting some songs together. I offered her my studio to record and she was thrilled.”

That generosity is not surprising to the people that know her, but Brennan shrugs off any talk of that.

“Some of my band members have recorded in the studio when they were putting their own things together,” she says. “I am fortunate to have a studio and I know how tough it is to break into the music business; it’s tough out there. Life is too short not to help out.“

For anyone whose musical knowledge of Brennan stops at Clannad, “Heart Strings” is a perfect blend of old and new that puts you up to date with the rewards of the Grammy nominated music she has made apart from the band.

“This is a song that’s off my first album and it’s a song about standing up for what you believe in,” Brennan says as a way of introducing “Up Against the Wind.”

The tune has been completely reworked. The driving bodhrans that propelled the original recording have been replaced with a mélange of swirling orchestration, columns of flamenco style guitar and hyperactive flutes.

This live album is not just a ploy to milk the back catalog. It is a transformation of the songs with the help of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, which weaves a wall of strings and flutes behind Brennan’s gorgeous voice.

“It was nice to have a reason to do it,” she says of the live album. “Working with the Liverpool Philharmonic was a chance not to be missed.

“The pressure is on; you usually have three-four nights to choose from. We had one night and got a good lot out of it.

1 2 Next page >

Vote now - Buzz this story up!