Mearra: Selkie From the Sea is a gripping and beautiful album that features a folk narration from the sea about a selkie, whose power allows her to change into a human, who falls in love with a fisherman. From there, as the album progresses, we follow a set of songs that have continuity from track one to track eleven, that tell a heartbreaking but beautiful story of love and magic. 

 

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I put this album into my car stereo. I figured it would probably come from the folk category, possibly Celtic, but that was pretty much it. 

 

As the album begins I was happy to find that the music wasn’t just some Tori Amos/Sarah Mclaughlin  piano driven formula with fragile songs about love and heartbreak. That’s been done to death and shows no sign of slowing down. 

 

Fortunately Linda Marie Smith’s narrative folk approach is both strong and dramatic in that she is not only singing, but rather she is portraying the voice of all the stories characters and their emotions as the story progresses. 

 

Equally as much so, the music blends into a strange but winning concoction of Celtic, Country, Parisian or even Italian, both seemingly renaissance inspired. Each track has an underlying quality about them, as if certain instruments represent certain emotions or characters, while maintaining an overall fresh feel in the delivery.

 

Be as it may that both the instrumentation and the vocal work by Smith are grand, the story is what ultimately draws you in and encapsulates you into the fold of the stories world. I would most definitely suggest finding a time in your life where you can give yourself wholly to this album if you really want to experience the full force of its charm. It’s such a beautiful tale that’s brought to life with the perfect mixture of theater, score, and vocals. I highly suggest.