Hill of Thieves (Cara Dillon album)
| Hill of Thieves | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Cara Dillon | ||||
| Released | 26 January 2009 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Genre | Folk, rock, pop, Celtic | |||
| Length | 45:06 | |||
| Label | Charcoal Records | |||
| Producer | Sam Lakeman | |||
| Cara Dillon chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Limited Edition / US release cover | ||||
 |
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Hot Press |
  link
|
| Maverick Country |
[1]
|
| The Guardian |
link
|
| MusicOMH |
 link
|
| The Sun |
link
|
| The Mirror |
link
|
| Belfast Telegraph |
link
|
| CityLife |
link
|
| Uncut |
link
|
| Mojo |
link
|
| Irish Independent |
link
|
| Irish Times |
link
|
| Q | |
Hill of Thieves is the fourth solo album by Irish folk singer Cara Dillon. It is her first full-length release on Charcoal Records, her own record label, formed in 2008. The album was recorded in 2008 and first became available in October 2008 at her live concerts. It is also the first release since she gave birth to twin boys Noah and Colm at 26 weeks, after going into labour onstage at the Swindon Arts Centre, UK. It has been the most successful of her first four albums in relation to chart performance, entering at No. 7 in the UK Indie Album Charts (see below for more.)
The album marks a return to a purer traditional production and arrangement style, with a significant absence of drums, electric guitar and bass, backing vocals & harmonies, and notably only one original composition. It features a range of guest musicians from the folk music scene, including Seth Lakeman and brother Sean, Brian Finnegan of Flook, Zoe Conway, Eamon Murray of Beoga, and John Smith. The album also features Dillon's core live band, comprising Sam Lakeman, Ed Boyd, and James O'Grady.
Many of the tracks released on this album had already become part of Dillon's live setlist between 2006 and 2008. "She Moved Through The Fair" first was performed on Dillon's After The Morning Tour (2006), and following the change in the live band line-up in 2007, "P Stands For Paddy" became another constant of the live sets. As well as this, "Spencer The Rover" and "False, False" were familiar songs from Dillon's 2001/2002 live set, which included Seth Lakeman on tenor guitar, violin, and backing vocals. Dillon first performed the title track, "The Hill of Thieves" in Brian Finnegan's The Singing Tree at the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, as part of Celtic Connections 2008. The song has since been voted as one of the Top Ten original songs to have come out of Northern Ireland by listeners of BBC Radio Ulster in the Great Northern Songbook and was performed by the Ulster Orchestra in the Ulster Hall in August 2012.
Following the birth of her twin boys Colm and Noah Lakeman at 26 weeks and several months of uncertainty of their survival, Dillon and Sam Lakeman took a career break to adapt to their new roles as parents. Dillon states that with her children being the main priority, everything else took a back seat, and when they did return to making music, she wanted to record an album in the style of those albums that had comforted her during this troubled time, and these were albums she had grown up listening to, by Irish folk legends such as The Bothy Band, Planxty and Dolores Keane. She also wanted to reassert her artistic authority and freedom after deciding not to renew her contract with Rough Trade records and form Charcoal Records with husband, Sam Lakeman.
...
Wikipedia