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Kiss Closed My Eyes

by Laurel MacDonald

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1.
Kyrie 05:48
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2.
Òran na h-Eala 04:25
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3.
Mo Chùbhrachan 04:15
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4.
Yet So Beautiful 05:25
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5.
Kiss Closed My Eyes 13:55
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6.
Aslumber 05:22
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7.
An Ribhinn Àlainn 07:22
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about

“Startlingly hypnotic composition by one of the indie scene’s most original artists.” - John Sakamoto, The Toronto Sun

“MacDonald’s range is enormous, drifting to and fro between crystal clear whispers and heart-wrenching wails. It’s like listening to someone spin gold.” - Kevin Press, Venue

“densely textured and exquisitely woven” - Larry LeBlanc, Billboard

“MacDonald possesses a voice of real beauty - pure and string with an edge of harshness” - David Toop, The Times (UK)

“breathtaking work defying description” - Kerry Doole, Impact

“Kiss lurks in the infinite blank space between everyday objects where the only transcendental possibility is in the echo of one’s own voice.” - Bob Tarte, The Beat

With Kiss Closed My Eyes Laurel MacDonald uses her voice to create extraordinarily direct, often abstract, and utterly compelling expressions of emotion. Where lyric is used, the language is hauntingly elusive; much of the singing is in Gaelic, and one piece uses an early Christian liturgical chant sung in Greek. Vocal textures range from a delicate whisper to a ghostly soprano to a raw, pleading lamentation. The mood shifts from one of gentle vulnerability to one of driving emotional intensity.

And then there is the eccentric array of instrumentation: you will hear the reedy pipes and cantankerous creaks of an antique harmonium, the spinning, whirling turns of an Irish whistle, the richly strident timbres of a hurdy-gurdy, the lush resonance of a bowed bouzouki.

Fragments of the Celtic, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Indian musical traditions are woven into tapestries of found sound, the manic manipulations of producer Philip Strong. A delayed guitar barrels through a fragile soundscape of staccato whispers. The unearthly ambiance of a subterranean reservoir provides the setting for a prayer. A spellbinding chorus of radio noise and an intoxicating piece of plunderphonics grip and seduce the soul. Such are the cacophonies of another world.

Kiss Closed My Eyes is by turns ethereal and pandemonic. The murmuring, wailing vocals may well make you weep; the riveting soundscapes will leave you breathless. It is crucial, often heart stopping music, and it is an essential sonic experience.

credits

released March 1, 1995

Produced by Phil Strong

Laurel MacDonald - vocals, bodhrán, bouzouki, harmonium
Phil Strong - percussion, vacuvox
Catherine Keenan - hurdy-gurdy
Rob Piltch - guitar
Loretto Reid - tin whistle
John Oswald - reservoir vox

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about

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Laurel MacDonald Toronto, Ontario

Laurel MacDonald is a singer, composer and video artist. She has released 5 critically-acclaimed CDs and has performed extensively, most recently in She Sings as She Flies and Patchwork (both with Mary Jane Lamond), in her solo project Videovoce, in the dance productions SDX (Kaeja d’Dance) and Moving Parts (Fujiwara Dance), and as a member of the Georgian ensemble Darbazi. ... more

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