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Aine Minogue is one of the few remaining exponents of an ethereal brand of Celtic music that was created by Clannad in the 1970s and reached its popular zenith with Enya and the Celtic Twilight collections. It's a sound that favors airs and hymns over reels and jigs and is as much about mood as tradition. A skilled harpist and singer of fragile, but emotive force, Aine Minogue--born and raised in County Tipperary--is steeped in the Gaelic tradition. It's not only lineage, however, but scholarship that brings her a deep understanding of the traditional music she performs. On Celtic Lamentations, Minogue investigates the sound of loss and redemption, from the wailing of Irish keening to the yearning of a Scottish lament. Minogue's albums have always been full of atmosphere. Although she's playing traditional music, her choral arrangement on the gothic "Deus Meus" and inventive instrumentation on "Awakening" give the music an even more timeless appeal. Producer Scott Petito adds his guitars, bass, and keyboards to many tracks, and on the haunting "Awakening," Baird Hersey seems to emerge from the other side with his unearthly throat singing. Minogue is accompanied on most tracks by Irish whistle player Joannie Madden from Cherish the Ladies. Her low whistle on "Griogal Cridh" calls to Minogue's forlorn soprano sighs with a comforting embrace. Minogue is often compared to Enya, but while she doesn't have Enya's remarkably pure pipes, she makes music that is more organic and flows into the serene with joyful ease, even when the subject is lamentations. --John Diliberto