LOREENA MCKENNITT | THE ROAD BACK HOME ALBUM REVIEW
Album Review: Loreena McKennitt- The Road Back Home
Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian Singer/Songwriter who has sold over 14 million records worldwide with her beautifully unique blend of Celtic songwriting. While she was studying at a University in Winnipeg she discovered folk music and fell in love with it. After performing at the inaugural Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1974, she travelled to Ireland to experience Celtic music firsthand as she had developed an interest in that style of creative writing and composition. After arriving in Ireland and embracing the Celtic music scene she developed a deep passion for Celtic music and wanted to learn as much as she could about this musical art form and learned how to play the Celtic harp among other instruments.
Her first album, Elemental, was released in 1985, followed by To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995), and The Book of Secrets (1997).
In 1995 her music was expanding to television, her version of the traditional Irish song "Bonny Portmore" being featured in the Highlander TV series, which would be followed up by the 1994 film Highlander 3. McKennitt's single "The Mummers' Dance" which was released in 1997 received airplay in North American markets and was used as the theme song for the short-lived TV series called Legacy. The song was also used in the trailer for the movie called “Ever After”. Her music has appeared in the movies The Santa Clause, Soldier, Jade, Holy Man, The Mists of Avalon, and Tinker Bell. It was also featured in the television series Roar, Due South, and Full Circle (Women and Spirituality).
credit: Richard Haughton
Her latest album The Road Back Home was released on March 8, 2024 and is the subject of this review.
You wouldn’t know it by my last name, but I am mostly Irish. My maternal grandparents were both 100% Irish and their parents were born in Ireland. They fled due to the IRA, seeking refuge for themselves and their children in America. Growing up as a little girl, my grandparents used to play Irish music in the car wherever we’d go, and we’d dance around in their living room to their Irish records. It was fun, but Celtic music wasn’t something I appreciated until I was much older and unfortunately, they were passed on by then. Though now, I can’t listen to without thinking of them. Celtic music has an ethereal beauty to it that steps into both the physical and spiritual realms. There’s a deep connection to heritage and ancestry tied to it, and sometimes you feel almost as if you are in a fairytale. Music has a way of transporting us, and I often feel as if it’s the closest we’ll ever get to time travel.
This is a captivatingly beautiful album.
I was stunned by Loreena’s near ethereal vocals in the first song on the album, Search for Lambs. It’s hard not to feel the emotional gravity this song carries. Celtic music tells a story, and this one sings of love. “How gloriously the sun doth shine. How pleasant is the air. I'd rather rest on my true love's breast. Than any other where. Now thou art mine and I am thine. No man shall uncomfort thee. With wedded bands, we'll join our hands. And married, we shall be.” Words on paper do no justice to this song. While the music itself feels sad, Loreena’s vocals are so expressive of love eternal.
I also really enjoyed the folky feel of As I Roved Out and the story this one told, which was a little frisky. “Then I got up and I made the bed, and I made it nice and aisy, then I got up and laid her down, saying, "Lassie, are you able?" And there we lay till the break of day, and divil a one did hear us. Then I arose, put on me clothes, saying, "Lassie, I must leave you" They had themselves a time…she got him drunk, then he took her to bed. A tale as old as time. I loved everything about this cute song. The flutes in this song really stood out to me and added a beautiful layer to the vocals and drums. Bonny Portmore is probably the most beautiful song on this album. Loreen delivers fairytale like vocals with this lovely song. “Oh, Bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand. And the more I think on you, the more I think long. If I had, you now as I had once before. All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.” Bonny means beautiful and this is an ode to Ireland’s Great Oak of Portmore and its demise to a windstorm in 1760. Her vocals are so delicately beautiful and the marriage of the harps and flutes in this song just elevate and enhance their beauty.
I thoroughly enjoyed this album and look forward to checking out more of Loreena McKennitt’s works. She is a truly gifted singer, and I highly recommend this album even if you aren’t a Celtic music fan. I am so glad I was asked to review this album, which allowed me to be introduced to this amazing singer.
Review by Allyson Romano