The Turning Year: Pandemic Sessions Unplugged: CD
On their fourth recording, Jennifer Cutting’s OCEAN Orchestra create folk music for the “new normal” of a global pandemic. You’ll clearly hear composer and bandleader Jennifer Cutting’s love of Celtic folk, folk-rock, and early music. But her vast complex sound canvases have given way to intimate groups of the 3 and 4 musicians who could safely be
On their fourth recording, Jennifer Cutting’s OCEAN Orchestra create folk music for the “new normal” of a global pandemic. You’ll clearly hear composer and bandleader Jennifer Cutting’s love of Celtic folk, folk-rock, and early music. But her vast complex sound canvases have given way to intimate groups of the 3 and 4 musicians who could safely be recorded in the studio’s four isolation booths, connected to each other only by the sound in one another’s headphones.
The title song, a collaboration with English songwriter Mick Ryan, was recorded in two versions which serve as bookends: robust unaccompanied harmony vocals with the New England quartet Windborne, and contemplative vocal and piano featuring longtime OCEAN member Lisa Moscatiello. In between, you’ll find a new sea song with words by Jennifer and a traditional Breton tune; a classic Robin Hood ballad featuring Steve Winick and Zan McLeod; a pair of O’Carolan planxties with a new song sung by Christine Noyes; and a rich medieval carol reimagined to welcome in the springtime, yet perfect for the feel of the holiday season.
Stripped down, unplugged, intimate… but still undeniably OCEAN.