February 5, 2018

Brigid Mae Power’s New Album is Magic

Review: “The Two Worlds” captures raw emotions with plainspoken candor,

Album Review

Brigid Mae Power
The Two Worlds
Tompkins Square

Eerie and mesmerizing, the stunning second album from Ireland’s Brigid Mae Power is a study in how to cast a spell. The music unfolds like a hazy fever dream, with Power’s gently unhinged voice embellished by spare touches of guitar and piano, the better to focus on her uneasy accounts of obsessive desire and gnawing discontent. An apt declaration for today, the jangly yet ominous “Don’t Shut Me Up (Politely)” finds her murmuring, “If there’s one thing I can’t stand/It’s your dealing with everything”; the delicate “So You’ve Seen My Limit” tries to navigate ambivalence as she sighs, “It can be shocking for a heart to go/From open to closed,” adding, “Be patient, while I get my head and heart/Out of this muddle.” Throughout, Power captures raw emotions with plainspoken candor, amplifying their effect through understatement. The Two Worlds sticks with you long after it’s over.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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