Track Listing

1. Call Of The Siren
2. Out On The Ocean/Rolling Waves
3. The Gladdest Breeze
4. My Grief On The Sea
5. Dissolving/King Neptune
6. The Sands Of Time
7. Sleep (On The Deep)
8. Song For The Night Sea Journey
9. Forgiveness
10. Neptune Reel/Woman Of The House
11. If You Are Near
12. The Siren's Farewelll

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149220 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-01
• Number of discs: 1

Washington Post
"[Jennifer Cutting] creates some of the most perfect folk-rock you're likely to hear."

Album Description
OCEAN was named Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Folk Recording of the Year, and Jennifer Cutting was named Musician of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Best New Artist of the Year at the 2005 Washington Area Music Awards.

Album Details
In Terms of Songs, and the Occasional Instrumental, the Quality is Staggering as the Sheer Emotion and Beauty of the Songs Stands Head and Shoulders above Anything Else in this Vein. This is an Album that Makes Clannad Sound Like Second-raters, So Incredibly Constructed, Played and Arranged that Forty-four Minutes Goes by in the Blink of an Eye, While all You're Left with at the Ends is an Overwhelming Desire to Put the Whole Thing on Again. Transcending Any Categorization, this is a Symphonic-orchestral-folk-olde-worlde Music and Song at a Wide-eyed Quality Level that You Simply Can't Fault. No Matter What You're in to - Prog, Electronic, Folk, Heavenly Vocals, Whatever - If You Want Something Where Songs and Female Voices and Rich Arrangements and Gorgeously Melodic Instrumentation Stand Side by Side in Shining Splendour, You Simply have to Get this Album.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Journey
I just saw Jennifer Cutting perform with the equally incredible Grace Griffith (who does vocals on the album) and the Ocean Orchestra at a store in Hagerstown, MD outside Washington D.C. Jennifer richly deserves all the awards she has won! I, like all in the audience, was blown away! This is truly a transcendent body of work that transports the listener to a magical place in one's soul. I purchased four copies of this CD as Christmas presents for friends.

I also recommend the groups Connemara and The New St. George, and the solo projects of Grace Griffith who, despite the young onset of Parkinson's Disease, has an otherworldly angelic voice and an inspiringly wonderful spirit. In short, listening to this cd will make you feel so good in so many ways. My love, best wishes and gratitude to all involved in this project.

A compelling mystical musical journey
This composition is a truly magical mystical hero's journey into haunting and healing melodies and lyrics! From the cover art, the liner notes, quotations, and without question the music one is immediately taken with the first sounds of the waves and the siren's voice calling you to discover what is next on this wonderful composition. I love it and am telling everyone I know to buy this CD immediately! Hurrah for you Jennifer for staying the course with your vision. May you have much success and continue to compose such visionary music. The world needs this kind of healing now more than ever! Bravo!

The Washington Post (published October 15, 2004)
It took composer and keyboardist Jennifer Cutting seven years and several Atlantic crossings to complete her "Ocean" journey, to meld sea and soul, myth and music into a thoroughly absorbing listening experience. It may take the rest of us nearly as long to fully appreciate the achievement.

No mere folksy, salt-water song cycle, "Ocean: Songs for the Night Sea Journey" is an album-length enchantment, orchestrated with great care, imagination and color. Cutting, well known in folk-rock circles for her tenure with the New St. George, wrote or arranged all of the music, drawing from sources as diverse as J.S. Bach, Gustav Holst and fusion guitarist Steve Morse. Among her own compositions is "Forgiveness," a splendid showcase for special guest Maddy Prior's soulful soprano. But the Steeleye Span vet isn't the only singer who leaves a deep impression.. Grace Griffith brings an angelic voice and yearning emotions to several ballads, beginning with the welcome unearthing of an ancient Irish song, "The Gladdest Breeze." Singers Polly Bolton and Lisa Moscatiello also contribute to the album's haunting charms, while Bulgarian vocalist Tatiana Sarbinska and the Washington-based women's ensemble Slaveya create a spellbinding weave all their own on "Neptune Reel / Woman of the House." Surrounding Cutting is a stellar cast of instrumentalists, many of them based in the Washington area, who share her talent for gracefully incorporating traditional and contemporary influences.

In the liner notes to "Ocean," Cutting writes: "May you lose yourself in its changing waters, only to find yourself again, renewed and restored." It's a wish fulfilled.

Mike Joyce