Song of Solstice: music for changing seasons

What is the sound of seasons changing? It could be what you hear as you listen to Song of Solstice from Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra.

With a gathering of music from Celtic traditions along with songs she’s written, Cutting offers a vision of that which invites contemplation and celebration, consideration of darkness and light in both spiritual and natural realms that accompanies the turn of earth’s time from autumn through winter and back to spring again. To do this, she weaves in strands of musical ideas from Celtic to classical to steampunk, and creates a sound that’s immediately inviting.

Drawing on the gifts of artists from her own Ocean Orchestra as well as a range of guests, many of them from the thriving Washington DC area music scene, Cutting offers complex and layered arrangements which serve the music and open new ways of hearing it. Complex does not mean stuffy or hard to understand: there’s a very good chance you’ll be singing along with several of the pieces, and that the music will stay in your mind long after you've played the recording.

Song of Solstice, the title track, offers a rousing take on celebrating the joys of the colder seasons of the year, and gives a nod to wisdom to be gained from contemplation and patience in the calendar’s darker seasons. As well there's an affirmation of the joys of friendship, whose gifts are often strengthened by winter’s connections. Christmas Day in the Morning, a traditional tune from Shetland set as a quiet instrumental with harp from Sue Richards and bodhran from Myron Bretholz, leads into Song of Solstice, a paring which enhances both.

Green Man is another piece you’ll not forget, a lively song whose origins Cutting drew from ancient Celtic tales as well as ideas that appear in the story of King Arthur. You do not have to know anything about either of those, though, to enjoy Steve Winnick’s cheerful and inviting lead vocal. He is backed by Highland bagpipes, bouzouki, electric guitar, fiddle, bodhran, other percussion instruments, and vocal harmony. Turning of seasons, death and rebirth, and the vibrancy of nature in the midst of winter are just a few of the things touched upon in the song, which offers a fine mood and beat for dancing and drumming as well as for singing.

Time to Remember the Poor suggests a different avenue for contemplation. Gothic steam punk psychedelia fusion is what Cutting had in mind. The words are from a Victorian era broadside, set to a haunting soundscape of voice, guitar, keyboard, samples, bass, and drums, It all seems quite contemporary yet evokes the the atmosphere of Victorian times and the thoughts in the lyrics as well. Lisa Mosciatello is the voice, Al Petteway plays electric and acoustic guitars, Juan Dudley is the drummer, Rico Petrocelli plays bass, and Cutting provides the samples and plays keyboards on the piece.

Putting classic, folk -- especially Celtic -- and rock ideas in conversation and collaboration with each other is a a way of approaching music which has long interested Cutting. For ten years she was bandleader for the award winning Washington DC area based British folk rock group The New Saint George. Later, Jennifer founded The Ocean Orchestra, which has allowed her to take her composing, arranging, and performing ideas of creating music drawing on varied genres in a more Celtic direction, and to invite in the talents of changing casts of musicians in the United States and overseas. “Celtic music for ancient moderns” is how she describes her work.

“I think of myself as a soundscape architect -- I try to get the structures and textures from my imagination out onto the recorded sound canvas, with the help of many amazingly gifted people who all add their own genius into the mix, “ Cutting says. “Creating a song or an arrangement is a lot like putting up a building or designing a landscape, except that my materials are instruments and voices. Hearing it build layer by layer is the ultimate thrill.”

Listening to the result is fascinating, too. Song of Solstice includes six originals by Jennifer Cutting, and varied other works, among them pieces from Celtic tradition including music from France and from Shetland. As with a well designed building or landscape, all the elements enhance each other and invite repeated exploration.

Listen to excerpts from Song of Solstice


photograph of Jennifer Cutting by Irene Young

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Music Road: Another Fine Winter's Night: Matt & Shannon Heaton
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If you enjoy what you’ve been reading here, a way to support more of it:

Road trip music in the district: Washington DC

Before the city of Washington and the District of Columbia came into being, the area around the shore of the Potomac River was a crossroads. It has remained so as the city, and the country, have changed over the years.

The many programs of the Kennedy Center are places where the arts cross and intertwine. Kim and Reggie Harris are part of the Kennedy Center’s workshop program where they offer teachers training in ways music and the arts can help them connect with their students.

African American heritage music is part of what they teach, and they've recorded several albums on music related to the underground railroad of slavery times. On Steal Away they focus on songs such as Go Down Moses, and Follow the Drinking Gourd, which often had dual meanings of spiritual uplift and practical direction as slaves made their way to freedom. On Get on Board! they continue this and continue into songs of the civil rights era, with guest appearances from Guy Davis, Bernice Johnson Reagon (you’ll learn more about her music as the road trip travels to Georgia), Danny Glover, and others.

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Listening to Irish and Scottish music in Old Town Alexandria
Music Road: Billy McComiskey: Outside the Box
Black history to explore in Alexandria, Virginia at Perceptive Travel

This is part of The Great American Road Trip, in which I originally partnered up with A Traveler’s Library to add musical ideas to the book and film suggestions for journeys through the regions of the United States which you’d find there. The Library is closed now, but I think you will still find the journeys through music interesting.

For more about the road trip (and a look at some great road songs) see Great American Road Trip: Music begins

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Billy McComiskey: Outside the Box

Billy McComiskey
Outside the Box


This is accordion player Billy McComiskey’s first solo set in more than two decades. He’s been immersed in playing with others, both in the studio and in concert, so it took him a while. Those years and those experiences have allowed him to bring layers of depth, feeling, and humor to an engaging collection of tunes which runs from reels to jigs to hornpipes to set dances and O’Carolan tunes. It’s a program both well thought out and well worth repeated listening. Many of the tunes are from the tradition, although they are often not well worn ones. The O’Carolan set, too, is especially worth noting, as is McComiskey’s original lullabye Grainne’s Grace. If you’re looking for music that will go well with the turning of seasons and last on into the new year too, Outside the Box is a fine choice. Liz Carroll,Bredan Dolan, Mick Moloney, Athena Tergis, and John Doyle are among those who sit in with McComiskey on the tunes.


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Music Road: now playing: Athena Tergis

Music Road: now playing: Emily Smith: Too Long Away