Singer and harpist Joy Shannon has recently been through some significant personal struggles, having to go through medical treatments for breast cancer. She has always found comfort in the works of Tolkien, so decided to write some new material based on some of his writings, plus revisit some of her older Tolkien-based material to create a new album totally inspired by his works. To assist her in this she brought in cellist Kakophonix, from the dark folk band Osi and the Jupiter, as well as guest artists Ruth Tolkien (the great granddaughter of Tolkien), Maria Franz from Heilung, Leila Abdul-Rauf, and Travellers Rest. If that was not enough, she then decided to create two versions of the album, each containing the same six songs, but one is vocal while the other is instrumental.
I fell in love with Joy’s voice and material when I came across her 2024 album, ‘An Chailleach’, where she also worked with Leila Abdul-Rauf and Osi and the Jupiter, but there are just three core musicians here with Joy restricting herself to just harp and vocals, plus we have C.E. Brown on cello and Syd Lewis providing guitar and backing vocals. Although the two albums contain the same material, just one with vocals and one without, they do feel very different indeed, yet both are hauntingly beautiful and mesmerising. They both clearly demonstrate there is no need for autotune or studio trickery when the material and performances are perfect, and with just some reverb we are transported to a place of magic and fantasy.
I first read ‘Lord of the Rings’ well over 40 years ago, and my daughters tell me they clearly remember me reading ‘The Hobbit’ to them when they were tiny, so Tolkien has been important to me for decades (part of me truly wishes the movies had never been made as while they were excellent, it meant everyone became a fan instead of a select club). Joy has somehow managed to bring together the majesty, innocence and wonder I felt when I first started reading his works all those years ago, and I feel inspired to revisit them yet again, this time accompanied by her music. It is beautiful, folk, ambient, transformative and magical, with Enya and Clannad being taken in a dramatically different environment which is very special indeed.
Play this when there are no distractions, late at night with just a soft light to read by, visiting the world of Tolkien listening to the music inspired it. Truly beautiful, in a world of plastic throwaway mentality here is quality and something meant to last for lifetimes. Compelling, incredible, essential.
Rating: 10/10
Links:
https://www.joyshannon.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fiadhproductions