[.ca] Mirror Pool

From Amazon.com:
The Dead Can Dance chanteuse ditches her partner, Brendan Perry, for this solo outing. Mixing middle-eastern drones, Balkan stringed instruments, Chinese percussion, and the European classical tradition, it's a singularly beautiful and mesmerizing album that occupies a genre all of its own. File next to Chant and Jan Garbarek, and be sure to alert progressive-minded classical buffs. --Jeff Bateman

HOLY:
This music is so fundamentally powerful that I struggle to put it into words. I am a fan of various genres including hardcore punk and metal - yet this CD can tear me to shreds when I listen to it. Pure, raw, spiritual emotion pummels you endlessly through the unearthly vocals of Lisa Gerrard. Her range, talent, creativity, and dynamics here are supreme. She is unparalelled. Her backing musicians are jaw-droppingly talented as well. This CD is an example of a powerful artist at the top of their game. This takes feminine vocals over the top and beyond. Very much worth your time if you are into spiritual musics from around the globe.

quintissential Lisa Gerrard:
Here where she's solo she is able to explore her brilliant inner world of music at its truest. The dominant features are its fierce uniqueness, darkness, & world influences. There are also many beautiful, triumphant moments glittering through the album & some ambitious & perfectly successful experiments. Her voice is great. The composed polyphony is really incredibly wonderful. The instrumentation is eclectic & instruments well-chosen. She's a great musical visionary, & I think on her solo cd's she's able to do a lot she couldn't do in Dead Can Dance.

beautiful:
beautiful, lush arrangements performed with grace and mastery of voice. Takes you into highly pleasurable and uncharted musical landscapes. a wonderful accomplishment.

New Discovery:
When i listen the music of Lisa, is wonderful. I think that belong to the human essence. The voice and the sounds remember our origins. It a unique experience of beauty and sublime. Thank you Lisa for your music.

Dreamy:
I had heard that _The Mirror Pool_ was "darker" and more "sad" than Lisa Gerrard's later duet album, _Duality_, and so I was hesitant to buy it. How very silly of me. There are two kinds of sad music. One type of sad music drops you into a blue funk even if you're perfectly happy when you start listening to it; it makes you feel morose and depressed. The other type of sad music is comforting when you are actually sad, and if you listen to it when happy, you will find it not depressing but simply beautiful. Sarah McLachlan is a perfect example of that sort of "sad music". And so is Lisa Gerrard, though her style is 180 degrees from Sarah's. And as far as "dark" goes, this music does not conjure up a hellish cavern or "goth" catacomb, complete with the smell of brimstone. (I'll leave that sort of music to my teenage brother.) Lisa Gerrard's music evokes the darkness of a moonlit night, or a candlelit room. It's "romantic" dark, not "oppressive" dark. I liked it very much. Though it's a sublime experience to listen to this album from start to finish, here are a few of my favorite tracks: "La Bas: Song of the Drowned"--With its low, chanting vocals and haunting church bell, "La Bas" reminds me of nothing so much as the mythical island of Ys, sunken beneath the waves, whose ghost bells are said to be heard from the shore. "Sanvean: I Am Your Shadow"--I actually didn't like this song at first. With its swooping melody and mournful tone, I at first thought it was too melodramatic. But I found myself humming it all day after my first listen; it followed me like the shadow of the title. After a few more listens, it became one of my favorites. "Largo"--Lisa Gerrard sings a Handel piece, and proves she has the pipes to put a lot of these "pop opera" divas to shame. "Laurelei"--I just love this one. It has a hypnotic melody and a morphing tempo. It's rather long but never seems to get old. "Nilleshna" and "Gloradin"--the last two tracks, which together close out the CD on a soothing note. I highly recommend this beautiful, entrancing album to anyone who likes beautiful, entrancing albums.

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