Siobhán Long reviews Fionnuala Gill's new album

FIONNUALA GILL

Whispers of Love **

No label

As lead vocalist with Riverdanceand Secret Garden, Fionnuala Gill is steeped in that elusive world that's boxed under the intangible "Celtic" banner. Her solo debut is a soft-focus collection that draws cheek to cheek such bulwarks of the traditional repertoire as Mo Giolla Meárand a scattering of contemporary songs, from Brendan Graham, Secret Garden's Rolf Lovland and Ronan Hardiman.

All are subjected to a kind of precious treatment: the album's over-weaning, tiptoeing sentimentality serves to drown the songs rather than distil them of their essence.

Gill's choice of David Gates's Ifto bookend this collection merely underscores the saccharine mood she struck with each preceding track. A pitiful waste of what is evidently a crystalline voice.  www.fionnualagill.com

Download track: Shining Water