If I had heard this album first, instead of skipping to their more recent album, Alchemy, I'd definitely have urged Stonecircle not to change a thing. If you read my review of Alchemy, you know how extraordinary I found it. And yes, the Utah-based band -- through the musical growth of three original members and the addition of new players, who expanded and filled out the sound -- certainly made major improvements from one album to the next. But damn, this first album is good.

Lauren Buffington was one of the early members and her vocals here are every bit as crisp and clear as her later work. She sings beautifully, evoking an obvious comparison in some tracks to Annie Haslam of Renaissance. With her on Stonecircle's first album are George Schoemaker, the only other founder who stuck around for Alchemy, on guitars, harmonica, percussion and vocals; Todd Capson on mandolin; and Doug Jole on cittern, fiddle and vocals. Kelly McKean provides fiddle on three tracks, Guillaume LaTour plays violin on one, Helene LaTour adds cello on one as well, and Paula Schulte plays flute on six.

Overall a great album, there is a standout series of tracks in the middle, beginning with "Seven Sleepers," a Jole original filled with mystical imagery. It, combined with a cover of Loreena McKennitt's "All Soul's Night," should have pagan listeners lining up to add this CD to their collections. The next track, the traditional "Down By the Sally Gardens," sounds almost like a sacred interpretation of the song, something you might hear in a lofty Irish cathedral. "Persephone's Dream," a Schoemaker original which ends the album, is another top-notch track.

In other words, seek out Stonecircle and grab everything recording they release. It looks like Buffington, Schoemaker and the musicians they surround themselves with can do no wrong. ... (Well, nearly so. The band's hidden track at the end of album, a twangy novelty song about a scraggly dog, isn't bad, although somewhat out of place -- but it breaks a cardinal rule of good CD production. Tagging the song onto the final track with a lot of dead air -- before and after the song -- is a major irritant when listening on repeat mode. By attaching it to "Persephone's Dream" instead of giving it a separate track, there's no way to program around it without cutting out a good song as well. Shame!)