The songstress of Camelot is back, folks, and she’s brought a
bunch of new friends with her.
Longtime readers of the DV will know that I get passionate about
certain artists, especially when I discover them for the first time
— and will remember the great praise I lavished on Heather Dale’s
2000 release,
The Trial Of Lancelot. Now Dale is back with her latest,
May Queen — and boy, if I thought the last one was
good…
Plain and simple, Dale gives me chills. Her voice, rich and
expressive, is a magnificent instrument made for storytelling and
evoking emotion — and emotion there is a-plenty on
May Queen. While
The Trial Of Lancelot was all about the endings inherent in
the Arthurian mythic cycle,
May Queen is about beginnings; as such, Dale allows herself
even more room to unleash the power of her vocals. On songs like
“Kingsword” and “Exile”, it’s like standing against a high wind at
the sheer majesty of the work.
The production and engineering on this CD is excellent. Dale has
branched out in her musical styles on
May Queen; the backing musicians handle such disparate
styles as an almost torchy jazz (“War Between Brothers”) and an
almost snarling, throaty blues-rock (“Prodigal Son”) with equal
skill. Worthy of note is the fact that
May Queen is a much deeper sound than
The Trial Of Lancelot; more multi-layered and textured, with
Chris Evans’ electric guitar work and Jason MacNeill’s backing
vocals (especially on the title track) being worth special note.
Dale has grown as a lyricist as well. I can’t describe the shudder
I had the first time I heard the two pivotal lines in “The May
Queen”. Lancelot speaking of the first time he beheld Guenivere:
“And I was staring at the sun for hours the morning after // trying
to burn it from my eyes…” Wow. Just wow.
Other tracks of note include the sweet and idealistic love song
“As I Am” (I smell an SCA handfasting favorite here); the dreamy
and wistful “Three Queens” — and my personal favorite, “Crashing
Down”, with Mordred recast as a rabble-rouser calling for the
destruction of a dream gone rotten at the core.
May Queen is a powerful statement from an artist whose
talent never fails to amaze me. Check it out today.
For more information or to order May Queen, check out
