Genre: Celtic / Pagan / Folk

01 The Hunter/Cernunnos (Invocation of the Antlered God)
02 Dea Noctu (The Goddess By Night)
03 An Fhideag Airgid (The Silver Whistle)
04 The Snake That Coils Within, Without
05 Belen-Gaard
06 Guth na Torainn (The Voice of Thunder)
07 The Blessing and Descent of the Goddess Bridget (Beannachadh agus Sloinntearachd na Brighid)
08 Dve Nevesti
09 Moon Meditation and Prayer (Rioghainn na h-Oidhch: Queen of the Night)

Originally released in nineteen ninety-eight on the now defunct Castle Von Buhler label, which is when I first came across them, what struck me at first was the artwork , beautifully crafted by Cynthia Von Buhler whose work has appeared in such diverse publications as Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, Newsweek and the Washington Post. Luckily my interest in the CD didn’t rest solely with the artwork, when I fist listened to it I was blown away and thought it was a work of sheer brilliance, and those feelings have remained to this day.

The Moors are Scott Dakota, and Sharynne Macleod NicMhacha; musically many genres are explored on this CD blended seamlessly into a mix of gothic, ambient, rock, ethereal, and all the while intimately linked to traditional Celtic and tribal elements. The lyrical themes of their music are exclusively Celtic (or, more precisely, Gaelic), and a good portion of the songs are sung or chanted in Scottish Gaelic. This is not at all surprising in the least as singer/lyricist/multi-instrumentalist Sharynne NicMhacha has studied the language and worked with the Celtic Department at Harvard.

She has drawn from her ancestral memory to produce the mix of songs found on the Moors’ debut disc. Assisting her is rhythm programmer, producer of sonic sculpture, and guitarist extraordinaire Scott Dakota, who has woven ambient loops, tribal drums, and Eastern riffs around NicMhaca’s haunting vocals. Apart from being involved with The Moors, and designing and constructing his own instruments, wide-range fretless guitar and bowed two-string fretless viola are two prime examples. Scott has under his belt many production credits, two of which include such artists as Garvy J aka, Josh Hager. (formerly of the semi cult bands "The Elevator Drops" and "The Rentals) and along with Garvy J produced, and composed the “Goddess” single by the mysterious chanteuse, Sophia Corbeau, which can be heard at Scott Dakota’s Myspace site, I was reminded of Bel Canto upon first listen (post Geir Jenssen) from their ethereal nineteen nine-two release “Shimmering Warm and Bright”.

Another project of note by Scott Dakota and Garvy J is ambient project Hidreamwave utilizing brainwave technology and sacred geometry musical experiments to alter one's consciousness using sound. Sharynne has continued to perform musically most recently with the band Trouz Bras, who combine traditional Breton dance tunes with a rocking rhythm section, complete with bagpipes and fiddle. In addition, on the literary side has written a book called Queen of the Night: The Celtic Moon Goddess in Our Lives, offering an illuminating and in-depth exploration of the role the moon has played in the religion, folklore, and mythology of Ireland and the British isles.