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Ion - Immaculada

Rating

RIYL

Duncan Patterson
Enya
Loreena McKennitt

Release Date

01/18/2011

Label

Restricted Release

Tracklist

1. Immaculada
2. Temptation
3. Adoration
4. Damhsa Na Gceithre Ghaoth
5. Invidia
6. Cetatea Cisnadioara
7. The Silent Stars
8. Return to Spirit

Duncan Patterson is best known for his work in the doom metal band Anathema, but Ion is his solo project that features a wide array of musicians playing worldly music spanning multiple cultures, although mainly rooted in Celtic influences. Immaculada marks the second effort from Patterson and Ion, the first being the critically acclaimed Madre, Protegenos, and features eight songs that test the listener’s patience with an average length of six or seven minutes.

Many of the songs on Immaculada are beautiful and serve as mini orchestral pieces with female singing. Patterson must have devoted a huge portion of his time to writing this album and for that he is commended; however, the length and content of these songs completely kills the latter half of the album. For example, “Cetatea Cisnadioara” primarily consists of slow and soft piano accompanied by sporadic singing that repeats for about ten minutes. While the background sounds help fill out the music to create a haunting soundscape, its effectiveness starts to wear off after the first few minutes so the length seems ridiculous given its content. Numerous other tracks towards the end of Immaculada are guilty of the same offense, with too much empty space in the songs that don’t go anywhere, making each song a mix between good and bad.

“Temptation” is a prime example of Patterson at his best, though. The song is an amalgam of cultures and instruments, with more of a Middle Eastern influence than the other tracks. It has a structured arrangement that breaks in the middle to give you a rest from all of the sounds and then successfully climbs to a dizzying build of eerie sounds augmented by waves of both female and male vocals that are aren’t really singing, but creating textures with the sound of their voices. “Adoration” has a similar structure but is a more straightforward Celtic tune that has a very prominent vocal melody and is one of the catchiest tracks on the album.

As a lover of all forms of music who is a first time listener to Ion, this album just isn’t appealing and it’s hard to imagine the average person getting much out of it. Musicians, on the other hand, will probably love it and enjoy picking apart the songs, trying to decipher each instrument making up the many layers of the individual tracks. Patterson’s effort on Immaculada deserves a five-star rating, but only diehard fans of his will really be into this release, alienating the more casual listeners.

--Nicholas Fritz

Author

Nicholas Fritz

Last updated: 01/14/2011 05:59AM