IN THE HOME OF MY ANCESTORS

How many Australians do you know, who performed the bagpipe as one of their first instruments?Gavin O'Loghlen is the guy of our story, playing the bagpipes since his early childhood, adding to his armour the guitars, keyboards, flute and percussion over the years.Following the birth of his daughter, he started searching for his roots and discovered that members of his family had sailed from Ireland to Australia during the 19th century.His next move was to establish his own record label Locrian Records and his own group Cotters Bequest in 1996, showing his love for Celtic Music.The debut of his band comes the following year with the indicative title ''In the home of my ancestors'', featuring no less than 10 singers and musicians, with O'Loghlen handling 17 Rock and traditional instruments(!).

As expected, the music is ethereal, almost cinematic Progressive Folk with lovely Celtic soundscapes and great, dreamy arrangements, full of bagpipes, whistles and flutes, featuring a number of KATE BUSH or LOREENA MCKENNITT wannabees on vocals with Angelee Theodoros being the lead female singer.The textures are rather laid-back with nostalgic, Irish tunes, beautiful female choirs and airy acoustic parts in a very MIKE OLDFIELD way, while light doses of crystalline piano themes make the album even more atmospheric.Things do not stop here.Part of the 13 compositions feature O'Loghlen's sparkling electric guitars and smooth keyboards, much in a melodic Progressive Rock approach, adding the album some serious energy, without losing a moment its Celtic-inspired mood.Moreover O'Loghlen appears to have also an excellent voice with a somewhat Irish color and the more traditional tunes become lovely Prog Folk pieces in his hands.Violins, cello and accordions are the brightest instrumental sounds on these pleasant moves.Add a fair dose of majestic grandiosity in a pair of instrumental tracks, offering a really imaginative world, coming from the far past.

An album created with love and sincere passion, coming from O'Loghlen's respect to his roots.The result is quite satisfying, essential for fans of Celtic Folk or MIKE OLDFIELD, and of course warmly recommended.

An impressive debut by this Celtic rock outfit, "Home of My Ancestors" is inspired by Gavin O'Loghlen's research into his family background. In 1854 his paternal great great grandfather left County Clare, Ireland for Port Adelaide, South Australia, spurred like so many by the potato famine of the 1840s. A similar journey was followed by his maternal great great grandfather not long after. Let's just say the music of his ancestral home fairly simmers in his blood, such that it's hard to believe Gavin doesn't hail from the emerald Isle himself.

Herein is a mixture of the ethereal and the earthy, the reel and the ballad, the brocaded and the straightforward, all of it united by a BIG sound befitting 10 performers, and a crystalline production. Pipes, fiddle, accordion, whistles, acoustic guitar, steady rock drumming, and even keyboards support the glistening melodies and the vocals of Angelee Theodoros among others including nO'Loghlen himself. After a slow start, which would become standard in future recordings, the miraculous "Carraig Chaisel" offers more than a hint of the band's wherewithal, morphing from a virtual hymn to a neo classical piece worthy of MIKE OLDFIELD, or perhaps a Celtic SAGRADO CORACAO DA TERRA might be even more a propos. The uptempo pace is maintained through the bouncy instrumental "Cloghans" and the tongue in cheek political history lesson of "The Two Donkeys of Slaibhe Elbha". Other highlights are "Ballinskelligs Bay" and "And the Donkeys Inherit the Earth", confirming the band's comfort with song and piece equally.

Unfortunately, the musical aspect seems to take second stage to the narrative for the last 4 or 5 tracks, those with a year after their names. They might have been better constructed as liner notes for the most part, the exception being "Winter 1847", which points to further more progressive directions with its multiple themes and its reflective and succinct piano work.

Gavin O'Loghlen seems to have wholeheartedly adopted his musical heritage whether through nature or nurture, but anyone can find a home here if open to a sound bigger than folk and more rootsy than prog.