The Secret of Kells, by Bruno Coulais & Kila
Amazon; Apple Music; Discogs; Spotify

This is the soundtrack to the movie The Secret of Kells. It came out in 2009. I'm not sure when I got it, but it must have been sometime in the mid 2010s, and I believe it was a gift. I listened to it again to write this review in 2024, on St. Patrick's Day. I don't have specific things to say about every track, but I like all of them. The whole album is just some really good, traditional Celtic music, which is something I always like (or love).

1. "Opening Brendan": This is just over a minute long, and the second track isn't much longer. I didn't notice any break between the two tracks, and they both sounded pretty much the same to me.

2. "Brendan and the Secret of Kells"

3. "The Goose and the Abbot"

4. "Aisling Song": This is the only track with singing (in a mix of English and Irish, I guess), and it's the one track I always remember from the soundtrack. And I love it. Very ethereal.

5. "The mist Doors"

6. "Vikings": Ooh, this one's scary!

7. "The Chi'Rho Page": This one has some, like, chanting or whatever, and sounds rather sacred.

8. "In the forest"

9. "Brother Aidan"

10. "Brendan and Abbot"

11. "What are you doing in my forest?": At least part of this is kind of like an instrumental version of "Aisling Song".

12. "The Eye"

13. "The Monks": Unsurprisingly, this also has chanting and feels very religious.

14. "Build up to the Attack": This is, as you would expect, full of foreboding.

15. "The Story of Colmicille"

16. "During the Attack": I expected this to be scary, but it wasn't, particularly.

17. "Kells Destroyed" I expected this to be mournful, and it may have started out that way, but it moved on to a sort of urgency, followed by some chanting, and then... something subtler, I dunno.

18. "The Book of Iona"

19. "The Book of Kells": I'd say this one's tone is sort of all over the map, but it's all good.

20. "Epicy": This one's rather frantic, and sounds to me a little like Spanish music. But the Celtic aspect is definitely still present.

21. "Cardinal Knowledge": This is about 7 and a half minutes, the longest track on the album. It puts me in a sort of party mood. It cuts out around 5:10, then silence. Around 6:50, an Irish poem, "Pangur Ban", is read. The words, along with an English translation, are in the liner notes.