Review of Ancient Shadows in VIRUS MAGAZINE

"Ancient Shadows" is the official debut album by this Barcelonian chanteuse. Across nineteen tracks, Priscilla Hernández guides one through her private magic kingdom, a landscape collaged in dark ethereal and new age music. Like Enya, her work bears a vivid ancient allure, yet there's still enough gloomy atmosphere to enchant those audiophiles whose inclinations tend to be a bit more gothic. After an intro of distant cawing crows and pixie whispers, "Away" gently ushers one into her realm. Accompanied by tender piano and dusty, soporific drums, Hernández's voice is a swirling sensual shimmer. Like a stroll across a picturesque country field, it is a gentle journey; later in, the piano ponders a comforting melody before being eased into a Celtic slumber by pan flute-like woodwinds. Comforting as a lullaby, "I'm Right Here" drifts in like a summer fog. Delicate piano trills and twinkles brightly over stopwatch ticks and synthesizer exhales, complimenting Priscilla's ether-light falsetto sighs. Though always tranquil, there are moments where her sound is a bit more consonant. For example, in "Nothing", Hernández's piano tumbles through a hazy dirge, its hammers striking its strings with gentle gusto. As if in this same haze, der voice itself is blurred, vivid yet bittersweet, her emotions mirrored in the flustered sorrow of an intermittent cello. Though as a whole, "Ancient Shadows" is rather like a fantastic daydream, there are moments that lend it contrast, essentially playing the 'ghost' to her 'fairies'. Sweetly sour, "Haunted" finds a falsetto piano stumbling and tinkling like a child lost after dusk in the woods. Stalked by twig-snapping, trip-hop footsteps, Hernández's voice sounds velvet soft and worried, while overhead violins brood like circling vultures. "Nightmare" follows, and despite its swirling psychedelic guitar beginning, it eventually falls into a scattered tapestry of dread. As the guitar transforms into a cackling goblin, Priscilla mutters and whispers feverishly over a turbulent sea of strings. Though less impish, "I Steal the Leaves" is seeped in torch-song calibre blues. Here, Hernández sews at her piano with a wounded heart, her tale of end and rebirth colored by washes of harp, gentle pan flute, and brass gong pillows. With a background in both molecular biology and fairy-flavored illustration, it is unsurprising "Ancient Shadows" offers a wealth of skilled compositions with striking packaging to boot. Hernández's music is imaginative and fairytale dark, her sound echoing the fantastic in a motif that would perfectly compliment such cinematic epics as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and would be welcome addition into anyone's ethereal music library.

Review by Vlad McNeally, 01 Feb 2007

Read the full review here: VIRUS MAGAZINE