Invocation

ANÚNA: “Invocation” (Danú)

Michael McGlynn reckons Invocation is just a teaser, a palate tickler that will pave the way to much finer work from Anúna further down the track. Used now to accolades being thrust in their direction from all quarters, every one of them bewitched by the alogarithmic harmonies and the medieval melodies, McGlynn is more that bold enough to cross 6th Century poetry with Yeats’ ‘Inisfree’ and Thomas Moore’s 19th Century songs. In fact it’s his audacity that’s probably got Anúna where they are today. After all, when was the last time you heard Jurassic Hits FM playlisting monkish chants?

For sure there are alleluias, A thiarnas and Críosts scattered all over the proceedings but once you cotton on to the general idea that you’re not expected to don a mantilla or cross yourself once every 15 seconds, all the religious references lose their baggage and the album all but levitates under its own oomph.

‘Sleepsong’ is the first to make its mark on the conscious, a lullaby of languid harmonies telling of a brief interlude in the antics of Diarmiud and Gráinne. Their scéals never sounded this enthralling in my dog-eared copy of Teoraíocht.

‘Song Of Oisín’ and ‘Wind On Sea’ are evocative in a way that can only be effective when harmony and melody supersede spoken language almost completely, John and Michael McGlynn’s twin pairs of vocal chords urging and coaxing Aingeala De Burca’s violin along the tide with them.

Occasionally though, the monastic emphasis overpowers at least these secular ears. The operatic origins of ‘Quis Est Deus’ sound strident, dissonant even, though granted it is far from its intended setting. ‘Under The Greenwood’ has similar effects, this time the medieval chants even more incomprehensible to the untutored ear.

Still, Invocation is a revelation, in the best spiritual sense: uplifting, alluring, intriguing, seductive – almost. It’s music that inspires and balms at one and the same time. And it got rid of a splitting headache I’ve been carting around with me all day.

Better than a soluble Disprin, that’s for sure!

• Siobhán Long