Album Review: Cara Dillon – A Thousand Hearts
2 min read
Award winning Irish folk sweetheart Cara Dillon is back for album number five; A Thousand Hearts. The songstress has been winning the hearts of her listeners with her graceful voice since the 90’s, Q Magazine stated that her voice is ‘quite possibly the world’s most beautiful female voice’. It has been five years since the release of her most previous album Hill Of Thieves; her fans have been anticipating a new release from Dillon, so there is a lot of hope for a beautiful comeback.
Jacket So Blue is a great start for the album; it shows off Dillon’s beautiful folk laden voice, the perfect vocal for the nature of the story telling going on and the instrumentation flows freely. Bright Morning Star is quite soothing with Cara’s smooth, sailing voice and simplistic soundscape; My Donald is a more darker sentiment that is in touch with Cara’s Irish roots, there is definitely a traditional Irish influence behind this track. Moorlough Mary is enticing and is a continuation of Dillon’s enthralling style of telling tales, her voice is just so captivating; Shotgun Down The Avalanche is possibly one of the most easy going tracks on the album to begin with, until it escalates at full bloom towards the end.
There is an emotion in Dillon’s voice throughout River Run that entices you, the overall sound of the track differs from what we’ve heard so far; it is the most contemporary the album gets, which is fine. Erigh Suas A Storin is a ditty sung entirely by Cara in Irish, it is refreshing to hear an artist tapping into their traditional homeland mantra; Eighteen Years Old tells the story of a young girl ready to be wed much to her Mothers’ protest, managing again to maintain Dillon’s knack of telling a story. Taimse Im’ Chodladh (I Am Asleep) is a beautiful traditional Irish song, Cara sounds other worldly when delivering the ballad. Shores Of Lough Bran is another Irish folk influence and closing track As I Roved Out ends the album quite nicely.
There is a passion that flows from song to song on A Thousand Hearts; Cara Dillon has a beautiful voice, and that voice is the carrying force of each track. We are taken on a journey from the first second, and that is what is loved so much about folk music, particularly Irish folk in this instance; the lyrics are supposed to captivate you and tell a story, this is what is so great about this album. This album will be treasured by existing fans of Cara, and it should be noted as one of the most beautiful Irish folk releases of the decade; you just feel this connection with A Thousand Hearts that grabs your undivided attention.
