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I liked Of a Child better each time I listened to it. It is instrumentally sparse, and my ears had a difficult time with that at first. But this quality actually makes its warmth and elegance more compelling.

The record is held together by Ms. Wong's haunting flute segways (which led to its "new age" designation). Her flute controls the mood of the record, with the help of judicious variations in tempo and a sparing use of "coffeehouse" guitar (Grant Geissman), piano (Alan Steinberger), and percussion (John Ryskowski). Her arrangements are pensive and suspenseful.

The CD is experienced as a tightly bound set of mostly garden variety Christmas carols (Amazing Grace is unusual, though) sandwiched between two arrangements of the title track, Of A Child: A Musical Vignette, the song that makes everything work. When I heard Kathleen Kelley's voice on this song, I thought about Karen Carpenter. I like Karen Carpenter and I like remembering her during the Christmas season. I don't know if it is the vibrato or the plaintiveness with which she sings the lyrics, but I appreciated Ms. Kelley's performance of this song. The song could even have another verse or two, for my money.

Elsewhere, Ms. Kelley's style is more contemporary pop, with sort of a church soloist feel to it, but that may have a lot to do with the material she is singing. Her voice is quite memorable. I believe I would enjoy hearing her sing a pop or contemporary folk set with a more alternative accompaniment. But she seems quite at home with Celtic-flavored music, and her collaboration with Cathleen Wong has produced a nice Christmas record in that genre.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2003)

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Kathleen Kelley and Cathleen Wong

Of a Child: Season of Grace

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Track List