With Clannad apparently parked in cold storage, vocalist Moya Brennan has been busily following her solo career. Two Horizons is much what you’d expect from a Clannad album but with a more prominent role for Brennan’s Irish harp, a latterly-maligned instrument she seems determined to steal back from the Irish tourist trade.
Although not quite a concept album, the multi-strata soundscape of Two Horizons evokes the similar landscape of mythic Tara and along the way features worthy contributions from English guitarist Martin Carthy, Beatle Paul’s sidekick guitarist Robbie MacIntosh and fiddler Maire Breatnach among many others.
The harp is particularly effective on the percussive ‘Mothers Of The Desert’, the eerily ethereal ‘Is It Now’ and the eloquent soundwash of the instrumental ‘Harpsong’. There’s also space for Brennan’s spiritual yearnings which run like a thread through proceedings.
‘Falling’, with its attractive string figures, could be one that finds favour with radio. ‘River’ and ‘Bright Star’ are vintage Clannad, while the second, and more uptempo, mix of ‘Show Me The Way’ displays an urgency missing from that band’s later work.
Two Horizons is a natural development on from her four solo albums and serves as a timely reminder of the contribution both she and Clannad have made to Irish music over the years.