Exclusive Moya Brennen Interview

July 2004

Moya Brennan - everyone knows that dreamy, heavenly voice. You might have heard her on film soundtracks, television commercials, TV themes, Clannad albums or her acclaimed solo works. She has just released a new album, Two Horizons, and on 9th July, 2004, she enthusiastically spoke to word-on-the-web about it.

Moya, when I listen to your music, both your solo material and the albums you have done with Clannad, I find it to be very spiritual. Where do you think that spirituality comes from? And how do you feel about music in worship?

The spirituality comes from the earth and God’s creation. I grew up with Christian music; my parents played in churches. As for worship, I think it‘s important to respect each other’s ways. We need to learn to do that and not be worried about the rules and regulations which will just tie us up in knots. I’m a great believer that we all need to worship and pray in different ways. There’s no such thing as one great church where we’re all going to worship together in the same way. Somebody might want to get up and dance. Somebody else might want to sit down and meditate quietly. I always have this vision of the Lord with great sadness seeing how we don’t get on, sometimes for no reason at all, when he gave us the two most important commandments: to love God, and to love our neighbour. If we kept those commandments, we wouldn’t think that our four walls have to be everyone else’s four walls.

I understand that your new album, Two Horizons, tells a story, but you’ve told it in such a way that it’s open for interpretation. Why did you want to do this?

A couple of reasons. I was with Word, a Christian label in America, and it was great for me to do the two Word albums. People thought I’d just become a Christian. It opened up different doors for me, and I wrote a book about my walk with the Lord. I would do evenings with Moya Brennan, and I would talk about my life and sing some Clannad songs and some Christian songs. I’m very humbled by the fact that I have been doing quite a lot in Northern Ireland, and I have been seen by both sides as their own. Being brought up as a Catholic, and the fact that people see me as the singer from Clannad, people feel comfortable to see me.

But I got very disillusioned in America that the Christian scene is only for the Christians. I didn’t want people to see me as, oh, she’s all religious now, and not want to hear what I’m all about. When it came to the latest album, Universal didn’t want specifically a Christian album. This doesn’t stop me being a Christian. I knew the album would contain some sense of a spiritual journey, but it’s turned out to be more than that. People listen to a Clannad album and they can close their eyes and be taken somewhere else. So I wanted to write about a journey. It took me a while to realise where I would go with the story.

Two Horizons relates to Tara. Tara is a high area. It’s just incredible. You can see for miles. I was there very early in the morning with the full moon on one side of me and the sun rising on the other. It felt like right in front of me there was a coming together, a standing together to make things stronger. Tara is an ancient place of the high kings of Ireland. People might see this music as New Age, so I prayed about it. The song “Bright Star” - anybody who knows me as a Christian knows exactly who I’m talking about. But it’s also talking about the harp, using the emblem of the harp, the sound of it, its relationship with spirituality. I know the Lord is so much a part of this. Everything is possible in this world when Jesus is with you as your brother and the Lord is with you as your Father. It’s the album I’ve taken the longest in making.

I see you have performed on the soundtrack of the new King Arthur film. How did that come about, and what do you think of the film?

I enjoyed this movie. It took the magic out of the story, which is something that Hollywood and Disney had brought into it. It’s about a real man who was a Roman knight and an English monarch. He was with the Romans and defended England against the Saxons. When you get a phone call from Hans Zimmer saying, “Can you come to Los Angeles and do some work?”, I did it! You’re talking about someone who’s amongst the top five film composers in the world. You’ll hear my voice when Guinevere appears, and Hans and I wrote the end track together for the closing titles. It was a fantastic opportunity for me. One minute I was touring, I did the soundtrack, and then I was out working with the Rwanda Blind Mission. We raised money for a 34-seater bus which was desperately needed. They want me to go back to Rwanda with part of my band to do a concert.

How are you bringing Two Horizons to the stage? Will it work as a live experience?

In America I’ve played it with a five-piece band: myself, a guitar player, a keyboard player, a fiddle player, and another harp player along with myself. One lady said to me after a performance, “I’ve listened to this album three times today wondering how you were going to do this on stage. And it was just like the album.” We don’t use backing tracks. It’s real. And to me, that was the best compliment I have ever been given. The main thing is my voice. My voice is carried out there with some harmonies in the background, with the other four singing with me.

How does the Bible help you, both in your Christian life and with your music?

Well, the psalms are absolutely incredible. If you need any inspiration, you just sit down and read them. Song of Solomon as well is beautiful, but the psalms have so much in them. My two Christian albums have words from the psalms in Gaelic, from my mum’s choir. I read them when I need inspiration, when I need strength, especially if I’m not surrounded by other Christians to give me that strength and fellowship. One day in a hotel room I opened Psalm 27. It’s my favourite psalm. Who can touch me if God is with me? That’s the way I find strength.

Moya, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us.