I just got this press release on Chloë Agnew, former member of the super group Celtic Women that I had to present to you. She is a brilliant talent from Ireland and it’s my pleasure to bring this to you. Hopefully I will have a personal interview with her myself and give you all the details how she is doing. For now, here is some information and again make sure you check out her video on the front page of our website at www.irishexaminerusa.com, as I know you will love her voice and the lyrics of the song “On My Own”.
Here we go: Every great glam metal album needs an epic power ballad. On Slaughter’s underrated 1999-set Back To Reality, that track was the aching “On My Own.” Like the slower compositions by the unrepentantly badass Las Vegas band, “On My Own” is intense, dramatic, surprisingly lovelorn, and sturdily written. Take away the squalling guitars and the pounding drums, and you’re left with something that could fit on the soundtrack to a romantic musical. And if you don’t believe that, you should check out the Chloë Agnew version of “On My Own.”
Agnew, who is known around the world as one of the stars and lead singers of the long-running, award-winning Irish traditional ensemble Celtic Woman, has converted the Slaughter album cut into a track worthy of the conservatory. Instead of raw rhythm guitar, she sings over precisely articulated piano, and instead of a skyscraping six-string lead, she substitutes radiant cello. In place of Mark Slaughter’s swaggering, menacing vocal, she’s giving us something gentler, more careful, more feminine. But it wouldn’t be accurate to call the cover a transformation. It’s more of an awakening: Agnew and her collaborators have roused a winsome spirit that was always sleeping in the roughneck Slaughter original. That makes the Chloë Agnew version of “On My Own” a pivotal track on Kari Wahlgren Presents Slaught HER Volume One. It’s the sleek, shining, and deceptively sturdy cornerstone of a set of covers of Slaughter material by female artists.
Not all of the tracks on the collection are radical reinterpretations — some of them are startlingly faithful to the original versions. They’re all animated by the fiery, impudent spirit of Slaughter, who remain one of the last and best practitioners of glam-metal. Accomplished voice-over actress (and Slaughter fanatic) Kari Wahlgren produced the album, and she’s developed a revelatory stage show to accompany it. She’s the producer, and director, guiding spirit, and die-hard Slaughter devotee. Chloë Agnew brings her own impeccable style and preternatural poise to the project.
As a member of Celtic Woman, the Dublin, Ireland singer has toured the world and shared in the winning of several Grammy and Billboard Music Awards for world music. She’s appeared on twelve albums with the group and cut many more as a solo artist. In the “On My Own” clip, she’s every bit the international star: performing on glamorous stages, signing autographs, taking bows in front of rapt audiences. As an interpreter of the Slaughter song, she fronts a small chamber-music combo in an austere, beautiful stone-walled room. If it wasn’t for the infamous name on the credits, you might just mistake it for a light classical aria or the theme song for a romantic drama. As I said from the start please check out her video on our website as I know you will love it.
That is why we bring you the best in talent from Ireland and now here is someone else that I am sure you will be also hearing quite a lot about and that is a group called Billow Wood featuring Séamus Flatharta .For this exciting new single, they have teamed up with Séamus Ó Flatharta (HighTime) and Niall McCabe (Niall McCabe band/ Beoga) to create an amazing blend of old Ireland meets new Ireland. Seamus is a gifted Sean Nos singer, and together with the rich folk sounds of Billow Wood, they have created something fresh and new. The marriage of English and Irish has created an altogether raw and rugged feel on a song that sheds light on a familiar topic, “mans relationship with the environment”.
Billow Wood are a male/female Irish band who fuse their unique brand of instrumentation with multi-vocals and harmonies. Taking inspiration from Irish folk melodies and modern contemporary rhythms, they are creating their own unique sound.
‘If You Come Back’ was written especially for this project by the talented Niall McCabe based on Clare Island, Co. Mayo. Working together with Billow Wood they have created a rhythm driven anthem which encapsulates the raw emotion for the struggle to keep our earth alive. The song tells us of how we have “messed up” the relationship with our environment, and make us question our ability to sustain a healthy and thriving world. Now more than ever we are aware of the effects modern humans are having on the earth and environment with rising temperatures and sea levels. ‘If You Come Back’ was mixed and mastered by Alex Browick, and he has created another worldly sounding production.
Hot off the press is the news that Daniel O’Donnell has entered the UK album charts at number 4 just behind super stars like The Beatles, Coldplay and Adele, now how about. Not too bad for one of Ireland’s most popular country music singers from Donegal. He said he is so thrilled that his album broke the top 5 in the UK.
Daniel is overwhelmed that his fans who are loyal supporters have put him back on top. What is so successful about it is that he is just touring England at the same time that his latest album with a hit single ‘Down at the Lah De Dah’ is surging. Once again there no stopping this man. He is so much looking forward to touring Ireland in 2022, he said he just cannot wait. Well done Daniel.