Our Love Will Never Die - Round Dance Songs

The third album from Canadian Cree Randy Wood is a solo outing (as his first two were), just voice over the pulse of the drum. There's a lulling intimacy to the songs here, be they lullabies and romantic songs, but putting them in the context of the traditional Cree round dance. For something so sparse, it never feels empty. The constant rhythm is seductive, almost trance-like in its simplicity, and Wood possesses a wonderfully resonant voice, helped by a touch of reverb (and a few multi-tracks, sometimes doubling, sometimes ghostly) that transports. You don't need to understand the words to get the feeling from his singing. If you've felt put off by Native American albums in the past, this is about as welcoming as you can get.