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When I imagined listening to Kathleen Ryan's The Rebirth of Light, I had an idea about listening to the opening number just as the sun were coming up. But either I would have to sleep late (not going to happen), or listen to some CDs out of order, or just fiddle around drinking coffee for awhile. Everything seemed to involve breaking some rule, or other, and this just started me down the road to wondering if I have too many rules again. But then I noticed Rebirth's cover art had nothing to do with sunrise: it is a photo of (presumably) the Aurora Borealis, the light born of the Sun's interaction with the earth's magnetic field. (I first experienced the Aurora during The Great Tanana Moosehunting Adventure of Ought-Three (don't worry: no actual mooses were harmed during the making of this adventure!), but that is another story altogether.) But anyway, it made me feel good that I knew that there was only a bit of irony and no contradiction whatsoever in listening to Ms. Ryan's Rebirth in the middle of the night. It even made me wonder if this was an intended irony: of a light shining inexplicably through the darkness.

In any event, Kathleen Ryan's soothing style is quite suited to early morning listening. She plays with a firm deliberativeness well-suited to the early morning. Of the traditional carols included on this release, I enjoyed The Coventry Carol best. I also enjoyed the moody spiritual, Somebody Talkin Bout Jesus. But I particularly liked when she took a turn on keyboards with Come All Ye Shepherds. It was a little bit like listening to a Caribbean pan band.

Of her own work, I enjoyed The Rebirth Of Light, a languid, contemplation that fits my post-operative world view quite nicely. Her elegant piano and keyboard style is a great fit for me, generally. There is no victory for darkness here. Though Ryan's set concludes with even more irony, in the ever-familiar Silent Night, I know what every moose in Alaska knows: even in the darkest, coldest night, light finds a way.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

Composed and Performed by Kathleen Ryan
Produced by Kathleen Ryan
Recorded and mastered at Tranquility Base, Mountainair, New Mexico
Recording Engineer Alan Clute

This CD was originally published in 1997 and is republished with additional material in 2007

Kathleen Ryan

The Rebirth of Light,
Piano and Keyboard Solos for Christmas

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Track List