'100 Snow White Horses' - what a wonderful title for a great work. John Spillane has built a deserved reputation as a skilled writer, composer and performer. He is a proud Cork man who started his career playing with the celebrated Irish Traditional band Nomos. He moved on to pursue life as a solo performer.
He quickly earned a reputation to top quality work, winning two Meteor Awards. His songs have been covered by Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon and many others.
The album title gives a clue to the overall feel of the songs, full of melody, poetry and mythology. John describes the songs as having been written in the Bardic Tradition, in gratitude for patronage by various towns, communities, festivals and artistic events.
The core team involved are Spillane, singer Pauline Scanlon and producer John Reynolds. This is their fourth such work, having worked together on the previous albums, ‘Hey Dreamer’, ‘The Gaelic Hit Factory’, ‘My Dark Rosaleen’ and ‘Island of Dreams’.
Music wise, John handles the vocals and very tasteful Spanish Guitar, while Pauline provides very a striking, and at times haunting voice. Other instruments include Hammond Organ, cello, banjo, flute and flugel horn. All are wonderfully played and recorded. The sound quality and overall production is top class.
Several of the songs draw on Irish mythology – the title track from the traditional air ‘The March Of The King Laois’, ‘We Come In The Wind’ from the ‘Voyage of Bran’, ‘Molly Bawn’ from the Clonmel Busking Festival and another for ‘The streets Of Ballyphehane’. ‘Slieve Gullion’ finds inspiration from gigging in the South Armagh area.
This is a fine work, written and preformed by one of Ireland’s most gifted and hard working musicians. And it’s joy to listen to. Long my he continue on his journey.