McKennitt's travels through Spain and Morocco flavor this album with a distinctly Mediterranean tinge, from the opening "The Mystic's Dream," with its dancing percussion arrangements, to "Marrakesh Night Market," to "Full Circle" and the instrumental "Santiago." "Marrakesh Night Market" is an especially strong performance, with an interesting musical texture; the balalaika, udu drum, and dumbek are played alongside a synthesizer. As usual, McKennitt has set a poem to music, this time Yeats's "The Two Trees," with a lovely introduction on the Uillean pipes. There's also "The Bonny Swans," a traditional lyric, and the CD closes with Shakespeare, as McKennitt sets some of Prospero's words from The Tempest to her own music. Excerpts from McKennitt's journals, included in the CD booklet, make for interesting reading as they shed some light on her source material and inspiration for writing each song. --Genevieve Williams
- Track 01. Mystic's Dream
- Track 02. Bonny Swans
- Track 03. Dark Night of the Soul
- Track 04. Marrakesh Night Market
- Track 05. Full Circle
- Track 06. Santiago
- Track 07. Ce He Mise le Ulaingt? (The Two Trees)
- Track 08. Prospero's Speech