It was 2 years ago around this time of season when I first heard this Irish band, entirely by coincidence too – they came up on a radio station that doesn’t normally play Celtic music.
The song was the album’s eponymous, “Ready for the storm”, a Dougie McLean cover as I found later.
To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. The haunting melody combined with equally captivating lyrics and, of course, Mary Dillon‘s ANGELIC voice literally brought tears to my eyes.
A few minutes later I was still in an awe state standing still, almost mesmerised.
Naturally, the first thing I did when I finally snapped out of it, was to go through their discography and find some *samples*.
I wound up on YouTube where I spent a considerable amount of time listening every single Déanta song hosted there.
The very next day, I called a friend of mine who swears by Mrs McKennitt to let him know that his beloved Loreena has just acquired some serious competition 😛

Fast forward to today:
With most Christmas tunes either being overdone, bland or even tacky [some Hard Rock arrangements too – the TSO project is excluded of course], I thought “Ready for the storm” would be a nice change – Especially if you’re in for some, shall we say, *Metal Detox*?
Dunno if it captures the season’s spirit but it surely offers some enchanting music, overflowing with emotion. Isn’t that the point?
One reminder though:
Depending on your language skills and how much attention you pay on lyrics, you may want to have some Steel Panther ready [any shallow, sleazy, referring to *bodily fluids exchange* album will do] to counterbalance the severe effect of some of the songs.
The melancholy of “Culloden’s harvest” for instance, based at historical events, may prove too much to bear…

Déanta at Wikipedia
“Ready for the storm” at RateYourMusic
“Ready for the storm” at Discogs

Record Label: Green Linnet
Catalogue Number: GLCD 1147
UPC: 048248114721
Mastering SID Code: IFPI L485
Matrix Number: 0JLF6‹7041›GLCD1147 DADR
Mould SID Code: IFPI 8123

Tracklist:
01. The mighty clansmen [3:25]
(a) King George IV
(b) Johnny Harley’s Reel
02. The Landsdowne lass [4:09]
(a) Larmor Plage
(b) The Landsdowne lass
(c) Darby’s farewell to London
03. The lakes of Pontchartrain [5:02]
04. An raibh tú ag an gCarraig [2:43]
05. Hammy’s Jigs [3:08]
(a) The Woodcock
(b) The Kerfunten
06. Culloden’s harvest [5:14] ♥ tearing
07. Let the hair sit [3:47]
(a) The wee rabbit
(b) The fort of the daft woman
08. The maid that sold her barley [2:42] ★ Absolutely brilliant!
09. Eleanor Plunkett [4:22]
10. The party [4:44]
(a) Spike and the Looney
(b) The magic potion
(c) Grainne’s Jig
11. Ready for the storm [3:39] ♥ breaking
12. The Rocky Reels [4:34]
(a) The Lilac Reel
(b) Sean Ryan’s star of Munster
(c) The maid from the Bronx
13. The Benedy Glen [5:51]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
*Legal Disclaimer*

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Jon :

Hi, I’m unable to extract the .rar file as the password provided seems to be wrong.
I’ve tried 21grams.