As envisaged, this album oozes its themes of meditation and solitude, provides the listener with the space and inspiration to face up to fears, and as was Joy’s sincere hope, offers solace and comfort during these challenging times of endless COVID isolation. This experience did, in turn, inspire Joy to research the similar ancient use of caves in her native Ireland, all of which led her to create this album which, in her words, “ explores the mythologies of the ancient peoples, as well as the stories we tell ourselves in our own personal caves.” If that was Joy’s intention, all I can say is that she achieved it. The cave’s environment made a full assault on Joy’s mind and her senses such that she felt the presence of those former cave inhabitants, together with their timeless wisdom, walking all around her. During a recent visit to the Greek island of Crete, Joy visited a cave, known to bear evidence of ritualistic use dating back 30,000 years.
She plays Celtic harp, cello and harmonium and sings with a voice that has to be heard to be believed. She and the band have grown a substantial following in the USA, Germany and Argentina, mainly via the medium of regular radio appearances in those countries. Joy has already released seven albums with The Beauty Marks, the most recent of which was 2017’s Aes Sidhe. We’ll come back to the specifics of that inspiration shortly. For The Cave, she discovered an inspiration so personal and spiritual that she decided could be realized only by producing the envisaged album alone. Joy Shannon may be familiar to you as the driving force behind her band, Joy Shannon And The Beauty Marks or, indeed, as the vocalist in UK-based dark ambient/industrial band The Offering. An exquisite collection of dreamscapes and contemplative songs that offer the ultimate in do-it-yourself imagery. An album that contains little more than thoughtful, ponderous Celtic harp, shimmering cello, light finger percussion and, most of all, stunningly beautiful vocals, The Cave provides the surround-soundtrack to an epic movie that you picture for yourself. Irish multi-instrumentalist and singer Joy Shannon has indeed produced an article of great beauty. From a burst of Joy grows a thing of great beauty – The Cave
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