Prayers of St. Brendan

Description

Prayers of St. Brendan, sub-titled The Journey Home, is an album by the American singer, songwriter, keyboardist and producer Jeff Johnson, released on Hearts Of Space Records in 1998.

An introduction by Stephen Lawhead:

The great saints of the early Celtic church – Patrick, Columba, Samson, Aidan, and Brendan – were great travelers as well. In an age when most men rarely journeyed more than a few miles from hearth and home, they roamed the world ‘ often with little more than the cloaks on their backs, and the sandals on their feet. For the Celtic saints, each outward journey was also a journey inward. They wandered as pilgrims for the good of their souls, and each new discovery was seen as a discovery of the hidden territory of their own inner hearts. But, as much as they liked to travel, they loved returning even more. It was been said the Celts often left home just so they could enjoy the home-coming. Indeed, a man like St. Brendan would have relished one of the Celtic world’s rare and special pleasures; to see one’s homeland again, and know if for the first time.

This CD has haunted me relentlessly from the first moments I heard the pennywhistle bleats and atmospheric keyboard swells of the aptly titled album opener, «Oceanus». Indeed ‘Prayers of St. Brendan: The Journey Home’ – veteran musician Jeff Johnson’s first full-length release on Hearts of Space – is mighty wide and deep stuff.

And even if you forget the fact that Johnson constructed these keyboard-based melodies to reflect the Homeric, seafaring adventures of fifth century Celtic monk St. Brendan (check out the rich, captivating liner-note read courtesy of writers Stephen Lawhead and Thomas Leupold), you’d still be swept away by his incredibly evocative music.

On ‘Prayers of St. Brendan: The Journey Home’, Johnson’s watchword is restraint. He manages to blend precise instrumental mixtures (as well as operatic, often wordless female vocals) at just the right moments over the course of the album. His genius stroke, though, is repeating a minimal, electric-piano figure at various points on the CD, thereby creating a melodic touchstone on which the record’s ultimately grounded.

Dissecting song titled (there are 11 over almost 47 minutes) doesn’t do much good on ‘Prayers of St. Brendan’ – it’s one of those records that sounds like one long song. But that’s not a bad thing! Johnson’s melodies serve to create a kind of time machine for anyone who wants to take a windswept voyage in St. Brendan’s leather boat upon the ancient Irish sea. Bon voyage! [Dave Urbanski, CCM, November 1998]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/prayers-of-st-brendan-the-journey-home/79405836)

CD tracklist:

01. Oceanus – 4:18
02. I Call To You – 4:02
03. Shall I? (The Journey Home) – 2:25
04. Brendan’s Prayer – 4:31
05. The Isle Of Birds – 3:34
06. Jasconius – 4:47
07. The Crystal Pillar – 3:17
08. O Redemptor – 6:11
09. A Fiery Mountain Part 1: Sheol – 2:58
10. A Fiery Mountain Part 2: Nothing Immortal – 5:18
11. Navigatio – 5:31

Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://jeffjohnsonarkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/prayers-of-st-brendan-the-journey-home

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