Verdant

Their legion of steampunk-rock, SF-con fans will thrill to the throbbing menace of Clockwork Love and the soaring tongue-in-cheek bravado of Her Majesty’s Airship Corps. Longtime pagan-music followers will surely be pleased with Cast Away (reprised from Arthur Hinds’ excellent 2008 solo CD, Poetry of Wonder), as well as a fuller, bloomier version of Freya Shakti than available heretofore. Not to mention the off-beat mystical churnings of Omega or the sweet, Moon-inspired lullaby, Shephredess of Dreams. But those listeners who favor Emerald Roses energetic, harmonious Celtic stylings may be happiest of all, with renditions of She Moved Through the Fair and The Wind That Shakes the Barley that are so good they are scary. Yet maybe the best number in the collection is The Empty Isle (Blasket Song), a haunting poetic meditation on transience, with all the sad yearning of the Irish soul compressed into less than four minutes. Something for everybody in this wonderful CD!

There is absolutely no way you can listen to The Peat that Smokes the Barley without dancing.

Verdant is another hit from an amazing band, Emerald Rose. Clockwork Love is a the best new song on the cd. But the live version Fraya Shakti is more fun then the original, if that is even possible.