Magical Ring (Reissue)

In the US, the progressive Irish folk group Clannad is best known for two things. The first is being the older siblings of new age star Enya (who was in the group briefly, singing on their breakthrough 1982 album FUAIM, to which 1983's MAGICAL RING is the follow-up). The second is composing one song, Harry's Game, which became a freak hit in the early '90s after being used in a widely seen Volkswagen commercial.

That song, originally written for a British TV movie, is the leadoff track here. With its floating keyboard lines, lovely minor-key melody, and reverb-heavy overdubbed wordless harmonies, it defines the style Clannad would refine for the rest of their career. Not at all far from what pop artists like Kate Bush and the Cocteau Twins were experimenting with at the time, the experimental but relentlessly lovely music on Magical Ring is as rooted in pop and new age music at least as much as it is in Celtic folk.

Tracklist