The Circling Hour

Description

The Circling Hour is the sixth studio album by the British progressive rock/Celtic fusion band Iona, independently released on the band’s own label Open Sky Records in October 2006.

It opens with a hushed, almost whispered voice followed by an explosion of sound, followed by a pipe/ guitar driven crescendo building into the main theme of the opening song. Ladies and gentleman, Iona is back! The band has just released their first studio project since 2000’s Open Sky. The album is called ‘The Circling Hour’ and could very well be the best collection of songs that this group has ever released. Whereas ‘Open Sky’ was a very moody atmospheric collection of tunes mixed with ambient soundscapes, this newest collection is very song centered hearkening back to the days of Beyond These Shores or Journey Into The Morn. The core of the band remains the same as on the past two releases. With us on this musical excursion are Dave Bainbridge, Joanne Hogg, Troy Donockley, Frank VanEssen & Phil Barker. Guest vocalist Heather Findlay makes a brief appearance toward the end of the last piece, otherwise this a totally self contained album musically speaking.

Lyrically, the album uses as a jumping off point an old hymn entitled “How Wonderful This World” by Fredrick Pratt Green. It is a theme that recurs throughout the album. Other lyrical contributor’s are David Teems who co wrote the lyrics to «No Fear In Love» with Joanne. Steve Stockman contributed the lyrics for the tune entitled «Factory Of Magnificent Souls». Stocki’s lyrics on this tune are nothing short of brilliant, I almost said magnificent but that would have been cheesy. Although as I said this is a very song oriented project, all of the traditional Iona nuances are present. Jo’s voice has never sounded better, Frank’s percussion and drumming are impeccable, Phil keeps things together with some fine chunky bass lines and what can you say about Troy & Dave. The harmonic pipe and or whistle/ guitar playing that has become an Iona standard has never sounded tighter or better. I’ll say it again this could very well be the best album this band has ever released. It is just as good as if not better than Dave’s solo project ‘Veil Of Gossamer’, it’s just that good. By the way did I mention that the packaging of this disc is awesome too. In particular the picture on the page for the song «Skymaps» by Tim Martindale is amazing. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another six years till the next release. [Chris MacIntosh aka Grandfather Rock, The Phantom Tollbooth, 2006]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-circling-hour/1807809951)

CD tracklist:

01. Empyrean Dawn – 7:49
02. Children of Time – 5:33
03. Strength – 5:59
04. Wind off the Lake – 11:02
05. Factory of Magnificent Souls – 5:02
06. Sky Maps – 6:39
07. No Fear in Love – 5:59
08. Wind, Water & Fire – Wind – 3:30
09. Wind, Water & Fire – Water – 3:00
10. Wind, Water & Fire – Fire – 7:14
11. Fragments of a Fiery Sun – 2:45