Sean-Nós Nua

1	Peggy Gordon 5:37
2	Her Mantle So Green 5:38
3	Lord Franklin 5:00
4	The Singing Bird 4:30
5	Óró Sé Do Bheatha 'Bhaile 3:21
6	Molly Malone 3:33
7	Paddy's Lament 5:28
8	The Moorlough Shore 5:27
9	The Parting Glass 4:33
10	Báidín Fheilimí 3:22
11	My Lagan Love 4:45
12	Lord Baker 11:40
13	I'll Tell Me Ma 2:24

Barnes & Noble

Throughout her varied and controversial career, Sinéad O'Connor has returned to singing about her native Ireland, often with provocative and confrontational perspectives, as in Universal Mother's incendiary "Famine." Sean-Nós Nua, however, is an extended love song to O'Connor's roots, a collection of 13 traditional Irish ballads, most set to restrained, acoustic instruments. Although she's enlisted a raft of expert help, both from the old guard -- Planxty's guitarist Donal Lunny and vocalist Christy Moore (who duets with O'Connor on the 12-minute epic "Lord Baker") -- and younger contemporaries like accordionist Sharon Shannon and Waterboys' fiddler Steve Wickham, the focus is on O'Connor's amazing voice. She sings "Peggy Gordon" and "Molly Malone" with prayerful gravity; "Lord Franklin" and "The Moorlough Shore" sound like gentle lullabies; "I'll Tell Me Ma" and "The Parting Glance" are soft jigs. But this is no exercise in musty folk historicism: O'Connor sets two Irish-language tracks -- "Óro, Sé Do Bheatha 'Bhaile" and "Báldin Fheillimí" -- to dub rhythms and subtly adds electronic textures to others without ever losing the sense of tradition that runs deep throughout Sean-Nós Nua. Best of all, O'Connor has never sung better: She's simultaneously intense and tender, powerful and contained, earnest and beautiful. Steve Klinge

All Music Guide

With all 13 tracks on Sean-Nós Nua drawn from traditional Irish repertoire, Sinéad O'Connor reclaims that combination of fragility and strength that distinguishes her from virtually every other singer of her age and background. Supported by an assembly of brilliant musicians, O'Connor follows the two paths most traveled by modern interpreters of these songs. One, represented on tracks like "Peggy Gordon," evokes misty pictures of mystic Eire by drenching strings, acoustic guitars, and her own voice in the kind of echo normally associated with whale songs; by reading the lyric with minimal and only idiomatic adornment, O'Connor turns these clichéd arrangements into compelling narratives. The other approach is drier, with the instruments more clearly articulated, yet here she excels as well; a hard edge cuts through tunes like "Her Mantle So Green" and even on the whispered "Lord Franklin" and "Lord Baker" to emphasize the tragic flavors that sweeter singers often miss. Throughout Sean-Nós Nua the production treats O'Connor's voice like a canvas on which to paint vivid images. At times the result is distracting, with far too much slap-back, but it also scores on songs like "Molly Malone," where vocal and instrumental textures together trace the tale through poignant light and ominous shadow. It is likely no coincidence that the album ends with "I'll Tell Me Ma," which closes with the teasing line, "Please won't you tell me, who is she?" The answer is clear: it is Sinéad O'Connor, ascendant again. Robert Doerschuk

Rolling Stone

Her most rapturous work in a decade. Milo Miles

Entertainment Weekly

Even when ambient-dub arrangements suggest a ganja-smoking Enya, O'Connor's soaring, slightly parched voice generally cuts through the haze. (B+) Will Hermes