Mairead's family album "Devil's Bit Sessions" became available to download today on PledgeMusic! I downloaded it as soon as I got home from what had been a mentally exhausting day at work.
Mairead's new family album was just the thing to cheer me up!
I really enjoyed it!
The album consists of 19 traditional irish music tracks. It features Mairead and her and her family and spans 3 generations of music. It was recorded at her family home and apparently over the course of a weekend. It's a little less than an hour in length and as advertised on her PledgeMusic page, it includes chats, laughs, and a 'Bit' of history.
The songs are pleasant-sounding and upbeat. It's head-bobbing, toe-tapping fun! There's not a track on the album I didn't enjoy.
I was pretty impressed with the sound quality they got out album considering it was recorded at home rather than in a studio. I wonder if the "Tracks and Paths from Devil's Bit Sessions" (the "making of" mini-DVD exclusive to pledgers) explains how they pulled it off.
Some songs, including the first one, include Mairead and her family chatting and sharing stories about the song they performed. It had been a while since I read the description on the PledgeMusic site, so I'll admit I was a little surprised at the end of the first track when they started talking.
Storytelling is a key aspect of Irish music. While the music itself often does the storytelling, I thought the discussions contributed to the family atmostphere of the album and enhanced the overall experience. Enjoying music together at home as a family has been important to Mairead and is part of Irish culture. I suppose the discussions could have been separated from the tracks themselves (possibly included as bonus tracks). But I didn't mind it within the tracks themselves. Lots of albums include introductions and audience reactions (Yanni Live at Acropolis comes to mind).
I felt Devil's Bit Sessions had a more traditional-Irish sound than Hibernia. It's an interesting contrast between the two albums. Hibernia played like a movie soundtrack. It featured powerful orchestrations and sweeping melodies. Devil's Bit Sessions feels exactly like it was meant to: like family, gathered together, enjoying music and sharing each other's company. Both albums are distinct and enjoyable experiences.
On a minor technical note: as a perfectionist, I felt obliged to clean up a bit of the metadata in the downloaded tracks (track name formatting and a few of the track numbers). I doubt it would matter to anyone but a perfectionist like me.
Outside of Celtic Woman, I don't listen to enough traditional Irish music to comment on this album relative to the other albums in the space. I suspect that fans of traditional irish music will enjoy it. Hopefully the album will be successful far beyond the loyal Celtic Woman fan base. However, I think Mairead has already achieved one of her most important objectives with this album and with Hibernia: to realize her dream.
Thank you Mairead, for letting us in to your family and sharing this personal experience with us. Thank you for your kindness and your boundless talent. Wherever your journey leads from here, I am and always will be proud to be one of your fans. <3
