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Reviews
Review - Primrose
Rob Weir
Sing Out!
Spring 2002
Need more proof that good things come in small packages? Check out Patricia Murray’s Primrose. Murray hails from the postage stamp province of Prince Edward Island, but her voice packs a powerful wallop and her songwriting isn’t bad either. Her composition 'Yonec' tells the tragic tale of a 12th century lass locked away in a tower by a jealous older husband, where she is visited by a magical lover. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that Murray’s scale-climbing voice enchants as much as any spell. She again turns her pen to the fairy world for 'Hag at the Churn' her contribution to the folk literature warning mortals not to mingle with the Otherworld. Murray is comfortable singing in either English or Gaelic and her version of 'Fear a Bhata' breathes new life into an oft-recorded chestnut. Murray slows it down from its already customary deliberate pace to allow her upper palette soprano to resonate and ring.
The album sports solid instrumentation throughout. Its only downside is certain hesitancy in choosing non-original material. There’s no faulting Murray’s glorious covers of traditional and recent compositions, but songs like 'Caledonia,'. 'The Lowlands of Holland', 'My Johnny', and 'I Courted A Wee Girl' have been done so many times as to invite comparisons to other recordings. She even rounds off the album with 'Auld Lang Syne', though she wisely uses Robert Burns’ original tune rather than the popular culture arrangement. Primrose is a thoroughly enjoyable album that will no doubt lead new
fans to revel in Murray’s voice, but it won’t be her breakout recording. That one will need to be as adventurous in choosing traditional material as Murray is when writing her own.
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