Search - Kate Price :: Time Between

Lovely, quietly haunting ballads that hint at things to come

Brianna Neal | USA | 09/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Time Between" is an early release of Kate Price, who, like Loreena McKennitt, went on to combine her love of traditional-style balladry with a tour-de-force of world music inspirations. Here, though, her melancholy moods are gentle and her compositions elegant but simple. Price sings in a light, lilting voice, often harmonizing with herself, and also plays piano, keyboard, hammered dulcimer and Hummell (that's a folk zither, I think). Joining her on these original compositions are Brian Mann on keyboards, accordion, David West on guitar, Lorenzo Martinez on percussion, Ed Rockett on bodhran and djembe, and Charl Ann Gastineau on some wonderfully sweet, heart-wrenching violin descants. The sense of misty magic and wistful wonder characterizing this album is aptly reflected in a poem featured in the liner notes: I'll meet you then, in the time between / where wilted fields are evergreen / where both the light and dark are keen--the warming sun in the cold ravine / where long forgotten things are seen / obsidian and tourmaline / with a heart both anguished and serene / you'll find me in the time between. Sounds like a worthwhile place to hang out now and then, especially as a well-earned escape from modern-day stresses! Kate Price just gets better and better in her subsequent releases, "Deep Heart's Core" and "The Isle of Dreaming,"--deeper, richer and more exotic, so be sure to try those too. And if you like the scope and style Kate's work, you're sure to like anything by Loreena McKennitt! For more hammered dulcimer, try also the work of Jerry Read Smith, and the soulful fusion stylings of Trapezoid.

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