Album Of The Day: Open Sky by Iona

Album Art of Iona's Open Sky album - A photo that is mostly dark blue; a photo of a series of small rocky outcroppings and islands silhouetted on a dark blue/gray sea. In the sky above, there are pockets of light shining more than the darker clouds. It looks like it could be taken at dusk or pre-dawn. In the middle, in a handwritten font in red is the band's name, and below it in white is printed the album name.

Released 25 years ago today, this is the fifth studio album from progressive rock band Iona. This recording was I think my first ever exposure to the genre of "progressive rock", which mixes a lot of genres, often has long instrumental interludes or even whole songs, and doesn't really conform to radio pop/rock singles and other norms. This album is a beautiful collection of songs that are sometimes rock, sometimes very poignant, lush instrumentals as if from some unseen movie soundtrack, and sometimes is a Celtic folk jam. Joanne Hogg's vocals bring a very ethereal quality to the music and the musicians in the band are superb, playing normal pop/rock band instruments but also violins, e-bow, uillean pipes and so much more. Lyrically, on the songs there are lyrics, they speak of the beauty of nature and of a higher power that made this world. Though Iona has many great albums, I think this is still my favorite overall of their releases, and this is one of my favorite albums of all time, no doubt. Give it a listen and play it loud if you want a great musical experience.

Release Year: 2000
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify

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