Almost 5 years after the release of IONA's last studio album 'The Circling Hour', the band's latest opus 'Another Realm' is now available. Over a year in the making, this is the band's first double CD studio album, with over 95 minutes of brand new, original music! The band has expressed that in some ways this album is like a new beginning and a renewing of that original vision which first inspired the formation of IONA. With some incredible new songs, both epic and intimate instrumental sections, stunning vocals from a newly impassioned Joanne Hogg, and introducing new band member Martin Nolan on pipes and whistles, 'Another Realm' will take you on a journey that will deeply touch and inspire.

Joanne Hogg - vocals / vocal loops / piano / keyboard / beer shaker
Dave Bainbridge - electric & acoustic guitars, bouzouki, piano, keyboards, autoharp, beer shaker
Frank Van Essen - drums, percussion, violins, violas, electric violin, vocals, glockenspiel, keyboard
Phil Barker - bass guitar, electric upright bass
Martin Nolan - uilleann pipes, low whistles, tin whistles, vocals
Producer: Dave Bainbridge
Label: Open Sky Records

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 1) - As it Was

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 1) - The Ancient Wells

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 1) - Another Realm

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 1) - Clouds

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - Ruach

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - Speak to Me

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - And The Angels Dance

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - Foreign Soil

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - Let The Waters Flow

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - Saviour

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - The Fearless Ones

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - White Horse

Iona - Another Realm (Disc 2) - As it Shall Be

"...It must be said Miss Hogg always did have a near mystical voice and in both Bainbridge and Troy they have two musicians who know how to produce soundscapes, big, vast spaces which fill with melody and passion. If there's anything that Open Sky plugs into it's that feeling of endless horizon and a certain mood of longing. Donockley's own near classical solo album of last year held a similar atmosphere and here it's expanded with slices of exuberant pipe reeling like Castlerigg, or the plaintive harp of guest Billy Jackson as well as Joanne's hymnal vocal that sweeps all before it in eternal waves. In fact the core of the album is a theme which tries to reconsile, the natural, spiritual and actual, no small task, but producer Bainbridge along with the assured hands of Calum Malcolm and Nigel Palmer have a fair stab. All told if you've not been near IONA for a time, this is a good one to open a new account with."
Simon Jones - Froots Magazine Dec 2000

"Open Sky.. shows that the band are not afraid to stretch out further and add new dimensions to the band's sound...if anything, the band are moving towards ever more ambitious pieces that are more challenging and rewarding for the listener... deeply moving..thought provoking synth atmosperes that just make your spine tingle...Iona's new music is totally uplifting and open sky is undoubtely their best yet."
New Horizions (http://www.elrose.demon.co.uk/
CD_Reviews/) May 2000

Band Personnel:
Joanne Hogg - Vocals, Piano, Keyboards
Dave Bainbridge - Guitars, Keyboards, E-Bow & Indian Guitars, Piano, Bouzouki, Autoharp, Vocals
Phil Barker - Bass
Frank Van Essen - Drums, Percussion, Violins, Vocals
Troy Donockley - Uillean Pipes, Low Whistles, Tin Whistle, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, E- Bow Guitar, Portuguese Mandola, Harmonium

Special Guests:
Billy Jackson - Celtic Harp, Clarsach

Producer: Dave Bainbridge
Label: Open Sky Records

Visit http://www.iona.uk.com for more albums &amp; information

Songs Of Ascent, Pt. 3

Formed in 1989, IONA take their name from the small island off the west coast of Scotland. From the beginning, their aim has been to write spiritual, atmospheric, yet uplifting music that would stir the emotions, weaving complex patterns that echo the intricate knot work of the great Celtic artists. Often inspired by the great figures of the Celtic Golden Age such as Columba, Aidan, Brendan and Patrick, IONA's music is as timeless as the message that reaches out to us across the centuries.

Uniquely combining rock / folk / progressive / ethnic and ambient elements with the crystalline voice of Joanne Hogg as their focus, IONA create 'a blaze of colours and textures...all the sounds fusing into a single, yearning, heartfelt beautiful cry.'

IONA have built up a formidable reputation as a great live band with their incredible musicianship and disarmingly humorous banter and are noted for their timeless and innovative studio recordings. They have released 6 acclaimed studio albums, three live albums (two doubles, one with The All Souls Orchestra), a beautifully illustrated 4 cd box set and two DVDs. Their seventh (2cd) studio album 'Another Realm' is released in June 2011.

After a period of relative inactivity there is a new urgency and vibe surrounding the band. In a 2010 interview with Dutch magazine iO Pages, band co-founder, producer, guitarist, keyboardist Dave Bainbridge stated; "There is definitely a renewed vision and purpose within the band. A sense that we're back on the track that we first set out upon all those years ago." Judging by the tremendous reactions the band have had to gigs over the past year or so in Holland, Germany, Belgium, the UK, USA, Canada and Switzerland the 'wild goose' is indeed flying again. 

ionaband

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