In My Hands

by

Natalie MacMaster

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If there was ever an artist that put her heart and soul into her music, it's Natalie MacMaster. Her latest release, "In My Hands" is filled with a presence, a life force if you will, that has made this one of the finest cd's ever to come into my collection. Natalie has long been known as one of the best Cape Breton style fiddlers around, and this disc showcases why.

One of the things that makes this disc so good is the fact that Natalie seamlessly brings together traditional and modern sounds, as well as drawing from a variety of different musical styles. The title track may shock some traditionalists, with it's lush musical landscapes and modern instrumentation that could easily be found on a lot of New Age or Alternative discs. The track also marks the first time that Natalie lends her voice to one of her songs, and I really look forward to hearing more of this on her future releases.

The only other song on the disc that contains a vocal is "Get Me Through December" where Alison Krauss lends her voice to this beautiful ballad about a woman looking for the faith and spirit to love again. The amazing thing about the rest of the tracks on this disc is that they bring as much emotion, without the luxury of using words to express them. For example, the beautifully played lonesome fiddle sound of "Blue Bonnets Over The Border" cuts directly into your soul with a sense of loss and sadness that has to be felt to properly explain it.

"Flamenco Fling" will make you want to get up and dance with it's mixture of Natalie's fiddle playing and the flamenco guitars and horns. "Space Ceilidh" brings together a modern drum beat and electrical samples that sound at times like something directly out of Walt Disney World's Main Street Electrical Parade, a purely magical tune.

Country fiddle virtuoso Mark O'Conner joins Natalie on a version of his own "Olympic Reel" and let me just say the results are phenomenal. I've long been a fan of Mark O'Conner, and this track simply bring together two of the best fiddle players in the world. It simply does not get any better than this!

"In My Hands" is an album that will mesmerize you as you listen to it. It is rare for me to find a disc that will take you so well through a wide range of human emotions. To me, the best music has always had a very cinematic, larger than life feel to it, and this disc is like the soundtrack to our lives, taking us from our highs to our lows and back again. As the title track says, "through your voice I hear your stories, and in these hands they become my own. And the old times and old memories, called to life beneath my bow." That pretty much sums up Natalie MacMaster's music, as her bow and fiddle can speak volumes. Do yourself a favor and buy this disc, you won't regret it!

I enjoy Natalie's playing and have all of her albums. I eagerly anticipated this album when it came out. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed with the overall package. This over-produced album tries to demonstrate to the listener that Natalie is capable of more than "just" Cape Breton-style fiddle music, and that she is in fact capable of authentically playing other styles. Just as one speaking another language, though, Natalie's Cape Breton accent is audible in all of the tunes she plays, making them sound odd and unbalanced. I think that the producers knew this at the time, because often the tracks are way over-produced, as if to make you not notice the fiddle! As for her whisper-singing, this half-hearted jaunt into a quasi-pop genre is an utter failiure, although to hear her sing along with the tune does salvage it to some degree. The best tracks, in my opinion, are the more simple tracks, most notably the tracks featuring Sharron Shannon (accordion goddess) and Alison Krauss (bluegrass goddess), where the more understated sounds compliment and support the fiddle in a much more relaxed manner.

It is worth puchasing the album for those tracks alone, but beware of "flamenco fling" and "olympic reel", which make Natalie look less than competent.