The Irish Democrat
"But, whether performing traditional or contemporary material, her voice is never anything less than honey-sweet and resonant".
THERE'S NO doubt that Ireland is blessed with a deep and rich well of musical tradition, one which continues to nurture a seemingly endless reservoir of young creative talent.
Derry-based vocalist and songwriter Maranna McCloskey , whose debut solo album At Last was released in February, is an example of such talent.

The album features a mixture of traditional and original self-penned ballads, the latter given a more contemporary treatment by McCloskey and producer Brian Baynes. It also includes a single instrumental tune, Cashel Air, composed in honour of her home townland. Her sweet, crystal-clear vocals befit one whose 'apprenticeship' led her to capture three Derry Fleadh singing championships and a couple Ulster titles for good measure.
Whilst still a student, she replaced her school friend and neighbour Cara Dillon in the popular Irish traditional group Oige, with whom she won many admirers.

In 2001, she left her Dungiven home to spend a year in Australia - a trip which inspired her award-winning song Fraser Island, based on the isle's aboriginal history. The song is one of three well-crafted McCloskey ballads on the album, the others being the parting song Our Last Embrace and the title song At Last, which quietly reveals McCloskey's religious belief.

On her return to Ireland, McCloskey bought a house in Dungiven and got a job as a clinical trials technician at the University of Ulster. She looked set for a spell of steady domesticity. However, an invitation to sing at a St Patrick's Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra put paid to that plan.
In the end, the house was sold to finance the album. A bit of a gamble, but given At Last's critical reception, it looks like one that she's unlikely regret.

The traditional ballads featured include the delightful Cá Raibh Tú Ar Fleadh An Lae Uaim?, sung in Irish, To Mass Last Sunday, Lonely Irish Maid, The Home I Left Behind and Magherafelt May Fair. But, whether performing traditional or contemporary material, her voice is never anything less than honey-sweet and resonant. For this reviewer, the juxtaposition of traditional with contemporary material gives the album a distinctly refreshing air, although I accept that the addition of saxophone and cello on some numbers may not be to everyone's taste.

Whatever the style, praise is due for Brian Baynes subtle and masterful production, which provides the perfect setting for McCloskey's beautiful vocal sound. Baynes also contributes guitar, piano, bass, keyboard, mandolin and percussion.
Other fine musicians featured on the album include Eric Rigler (Uilleann pipes and flute), Jon Szanto (drums), Mary Szanto (cello) and Gerard Nolan (saxophone). Some will recognise Rigler for his piping on the film Titanic.

After several plays I'm confident that we're going to hear a lot more of Maranna McCloskey in the future. In fact, if I were a gambling man, I'd put my house on it. After all, she did.

David Granville

Net Rhythms
The golden-voiced Maranna, who lives in Co. Derry (Dungiven), is already a veteran fleadh singing champion and recipient of the www.LiveIreland.com Vocal Album Of The Year Award: some credentials, and well deserved by all accounts.
Her latest album, At Last, marks an exciting new development in her career by showcasing four of her own compositions: these are mostly inspired by her personal observations of life, ancient legends and her own spiritual beliefs, yet they’re expressed in an accessible and non-exclusive language and as a bonus couched in a musically eminently radio-friendly language.

Fraser Island is particularly beguiling, I find. The originals sit well alongside Maranna’s lithe, appealingly contoured treatments of traditional songs, which not only fully reflect the singer’s effervescent personality but also accord ideally with the musical settings. These are formed out of genial acoustic-based arrangements and centred around Brian Baynes’ crisp yet full-toned production, with his own guitar and mandolin and Eric Rigler’s uilleann pipes and whistles well to the fore, and set the seal on a decidedly attractive set.

I do however find that due to the slightly over-poppy nature of a few of the settings (where Gerard Nolan’s saxophone is to the fore and a more insistent backbeat is employed), much of the record leaves a niggling impression of insubstantiality.

It’s only 36 minutes long in total, and its ten tracks breeze by and leave little permanent mark beyond a feeling of a wholly pleasing half-hour spent in convivial company. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I still feel there should have been more to it somehow.

David Kidman 

Folking.com
There are any number of female singers who peddle a blend of traditional and contemporary song, but few seem to strike the balance quite so well as Maranna McCloskey. Bland and clichéd traditional pastiche is firmly avoided on At Last, yet a subtle contemporary treatment is applied that doesn't detract at all from the traditional roots that feature so proudly. What's more, Maranna can actually sing. This may sound a little obvious, but what I mean is that she doesn't allow her voice to wither in the background in a faux Celtic mysticism. When Maranna sings you enjoy the full palette of her soulful voice, subtly morphing to complement the nature of the song. In many respects Maranna could draw comparisons to the likes of Dolores Keane, in as much as she has something worthy to give to any song, regardless of its origin, though it is the sensibilities of the tradition that undoubtedly flavour her work. At Last was recorded in San Diego with a collection of American and Irish ex-pat musicians, and it's this distance from home that takes the music in an interesting direction.
It's to the tradition that Maranna turns to open the album, with a vibrant reading of "Going To Mass Last Sunday," where the cadence of Maranna's voice contributes as much to the playful pace as Jon Szanto's imaginative percussion, or the racing uilleann pipes of Eric Rigler. This is followed with the complete contrast of "Cá Raibh Tú Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim?" (Where Have You Been All Day?), where Maranna turns in a sublime vocal, with a captivating clarity of enunciation. Mary Szanto's cello and an elegant guitar arrangement from producer, Brian Baynes, bring added class, though the sheer beauty of Maranna's voice is truly in a class of its own.
Maranna's own songs certainly warrant further attention, aimed firmly at the discerning, contemporary adult music market. "Our Last Embrace" provides the first opportunity, with a committed vocal played alongside a sultry saxophone. "Hold me / Won't you kiss me tenderly?" -- I certainly wouldn't have to be asked twice! "Fraser Island," Maranna's paean to the Aboriginal history of the island, is already the recipient of an Irish American News award following its inclusion on an earlier EP, and it's not difficult to understand why this expansive lyric would attract such an accolade.
The crowning glory of the album for me is Maranna's extraordinarily beautiful rendition of "The Verdant Braes Of Screen." It's not that there's anything at all wrong with the sensitive instrumental accompaniment, but I'd love to hear the vocal track alone, just to be assured that it really is that beautiful! Maranna's voice never sounds forced, never stretched, never false -- she genuinely has a naturally effortless approach to traditional material, to which few singers could lay claim.
I genuinely hope that Maranna sets about spreading her magic further through the traditional repertoire.

Mike Wilson

The Irish Post
‘All 10 tracks are sung with a true warmth and passion’.

Elaine Sheridan

The Living Tradition
McCloskey's a young woman from Co. Derry with a good grounding in traditional singing, having won at various fleadheanna ceoil. Like many with this background she broadened her scope, joining the group Oige as replacement for her schoolmate Cara Dillon, before going solo.

The CD's ten tracks include four of her own compositions. Her choice of songs is well made for her soft but firm voice, well ornamented without being florid. Tradition plays a large part here.

Her one song in Irish is new to me and I wish I'd heard it before this; it's pure beauty. Her version of The Verdant Braes of Screen is much softer in tone than I'd sing it but better suited to a woman's voice. I resisted the temptation to sing along with it; it wouldn't have done the song or McCloskey any favours. I've not heard Magherafelt May Fair for many years and I'm pleased she included it; it brings back memories of happy times at home.

I'm not too happy about the tempo of Going to Mass Last Sunday; unrequited love needs a less jaunty treatment. And I'm sorry but I just didn't understand her own song, Fraser Island. It's about something bad happening in Australia but there's no real narrative to it so I was left puzzled. Her slow air, The Cashel, named for her home townland near Dungiven is superb but I wish it had been longer; I was mortal sorry when it ended. Another one I'll need to learn.

In the tradition of leaving the best till the last (track), her own At Last is a movingly simple affirmation of her religious belief. It's short but says enough to make this born-again atheist think that the Devil definitely doesn't have all the best tunes. I can easily hear it sung quietly and reflectively during Communion. All in all, this is a really good CD from a fine singer.

Mick Furey

Bright Young Folk

Maranna McCoskey is a singing prodigy from Derry who won several Fleadh singling contests. She achieved early recognition with the well-respected Irish traditional group Oige, in which she replaced Cara Dillon. ‘At Last’ is her first independent album, released in February 2009.
The album is essentially a compilation of Irish ballads in both English and Gaelic, with several self-penned tracks alongside traditional standards which may not be familiar to some readers, such as ‘Magherafelt May Fair’ and ‘Cá Raibh Tú Ar Fleadh An Lae Uaim’. There is a pleasing consistency of style between the the traditional and new material. The original material includes ‘Fraser Island’, a tale about Australian aborigines (first released on an EP in 2003), and the introspective and attractive ‘At Last’, inspired by McCloskey’s religious beliefs.
The great strength of the album is Maranna McCloskey’s clear and beautiful voice, which is highlighted by the use of comparatively simple instrumental arrangements. In fact, it is a slight disappointment when this simplicity is undermined with, for example, the inclusion of a saxophone on ‘Fraser Island’ leading to an overproduced sound.
This album is well worth a spending some time with, although with a running time of only 36 minutes, more could perhaps have been included.

Mike Hough

Rock N' Reel ***

Former vocalist of Oige (she replaced Cara Dillon), Maranna McCloskey offers telling evidence on At last to show why she was chosen to fill their former singer's shoes. Opening with the euphoric drive of traditional cut "Going To Mass Last Sunday' also provides an indication of why she is the recipient of so many Irish music awards.

The gentle melodic sweep of Gaelic song 'Ca Raibh Tu Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim” displays the beauty of both the language and McCloskey's voice, while the joyful, heady acoustic rush of “Lonely Irish Maid” simply reaffirms what a class act she is. The stately maturity of “Fraser Island' is perhaps the finest example of the album's self-penned material in what is a fine collection of Irish folk music.

Danny Moore

The Irish Post

DETERMINED: Maranna McCloskey invests in her future.
Brave Maranna is on a winner with new album

MARANNA McCLOSKEY is a name to watch out for. Her album At Last was judged Vocal Album of the Year by www.liveireland.com which just happens to be the world's biggest Irish music internet site.

The Derry-based lass has a beautiful voice and she certainly knows how to use it to full effect.

A former member of traditional band Oige, with whom she played lots of festivals in Europe, this is her second solo album.

It is an album where traditional sonqs rest easily beside contemporary original material and that really is down to the combination of voice and production.
It kicks off with a driving version of Going To Mass Last Sunday featuring some lovely uilleann pipe playing by Eric Rigler.

Strangely enough my favourite track is Our Last Embrace which is one of four tracks written by Maranna herself and which features nice saxophone.

That is what I mean about traditional and contemporary being comfortable side by side.
I am sure many musicians would say that self-belief can be both a blessing and a curse and given that Maranna McCloskey sold her house to finance this album I would say it is certainly a blessing in this instance.

I hope she manages to sort out some gigs in Britain in the near future.
She is booked to appear at the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival in August and somehow I suspect that in the long-term her brave decision to fund her own recording will prove to be a good one. It certainly deserves to be.

Joe Giltrap

Irish Music Magazine

Derry’s, Maranna McCloskey is out with her new album, ‘At Last’. Recorded in San Diego, the album contains nine songs and one tune, The Cashel Air, penned by Maranna for her home townland. This former lead singer in the well-remembered Northern Ireland group, Óige, brings her warm alto to the fore in both traditional classics such as, Lonely Irish Maid and The Home I Left Behind, and four of her own songs, including the title track. The album has debuted to rave reviews (include this one among them) and major Awards including Vocal Album of the Year for both LiveIreland.com in Dublin, and Chicago’s Irish-American News. She is already set to appear at this year’s Milwaukee Irish Fest. Coming from a highly musical family, as is often the case, she has been at work as a laboratory clinical trials technician for the University of Ulster.
All that may well be about to change. The well-deserved response to this gem is spreading throughout Ireland and England with the respected Copperplate organisation representing her, and in America through a number of outlets featuring her music. An outstanding album receiving plenty of radio airplay, the future is bright for Miss M. The secret? This is an incredibly warm and beautiful voice from a woman who truly understands the tradition. A massive winner. Her fans have been waiting a long time for this album, and it is here - At Last.

Bill Margeson