MUSIC: Singing to a Silent Harp

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The music on Keineg's debut album, O Seasons O Castles, is folksy and hypnotic, the lyrics both heartfelt and cerebral. The title is from an Arthur Rimbaud poem that reads, "O Seasons, O Castles/ What soul is without sin!" Several songs on the CD explore sin, including Franklin, which is about a woman breaking away from an abusive partner. "I'm going to find me a good man who don't drink/ who don't shout/ who don't throw my prized possessions about," sings Keineg, who has a throaty alto with just a touch of mysterious smokiness. Not all her songs work, but the ones that do, such as Hestia (titled for the goddess of domestic activity), have an engaging, combative truthfulness. Keineg says she tries to lose herself in her music: "One of the best moments in all of life is when time just stops and you are beside yourself. I live for that moment."

All three singers strive to connect themselves to old, grand traditions. They use Celtic imagery, and Keineg sings one song, the stately O Iesu Mawr, in Gaelic; O'Connor quotes William Butler Yeats on the liner notes of her CD, and O'Riordan pays him tribute in the song Yeats' Grave. This awareness of a particular past helps distinguish their songs from the typical rootless algae of pop music. In his poem A Coat, Yeats wrote, "I made my song a coat/ Covered with embroideries/ Out of old mythologies/ From heel to throat." As modern women conscious of an Irish heritage, O'Riordan, O'Connor and Keineg are creating pop music that's stirring and new and also beautifully traditional. They wear their coats well.