Fans of Canadian singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Loreena McKennitt can look forward to a complete album for the dark winter months. The album A Midwinter Night's Dream replaces McKennitt's 1995 album A Winter Garden, which contained only five tracks. These are supplemented with eight new songs, which McKennitt recorded in Peter Gabriel's Real Word Studios. McKennitt's arrangements are
… characterized by mystique and eclecticism: atmospheric Celtic and folk music is mixed with exotic Arab-Eastern influences and a pinch of classical. McKennitt portrays winter as a spiritually fertile period: this season forces nature, including humans, to rest and contemplate. McKennitt knows how to put us in the right mood through her lyrical vocals and the beautiful acoustic playing: her musical message of love and nurturing is heartwarming. (SvdP)more