It's obvious Sharlene Wallace has studied Irish harping at great length. But I'd be surprised if she denied drawing at least some of her inspiration from the new age harpistry of Andreas Vollenweider, too.

Like Vollenweider, Wallace paints landscapes and action sequences with the liquid notes she pulls from her nylon harp strings. The result certainly is not conventional, and that's not a bad thing by any stretch.

Several of the tunes on her 1998 release Journey of Shadows are Wallace originals. The rest she drew from various sources, including the Shetland Islands ("Sleep Soon i'da Mornin'"), Appalachia ("Cold Frosty Morning"), France ("Noel Nouvelet") and the Huron tribes of Canada ("Twas in the Moon of Wintertime"). But even these borrowed tunes have been arranged by Wallace to shed new light and life upon them.

The 14-track album begins with an original, "Still Life: In the Silence," which sets Wallace's strolling harp sequences over a double bass line by George Koller and percussion accents by Rick Shadrach Lazar (perhaps best known for his work with Loreena McKennitt). "Still Life: Night Rhythms" uses solo harp for a tune that is both peaceful and strident, elegant and harsh. And "Still Life: Bound Branches," the last in Wallace's "Still Life" series of original tunes, goes further, first adding bass, then percussion and, finally, trumpet to the mix. A trumpet isn't an instrument often associated with the harp, much less paired with it for a stately duet, but horn player David Travers-Smith meets Wallace's challenge and makes it work.

Travers-Smith also adds a touch of trumpet to the album's title track, "Journey of Shadows," as well as the Appalachian tune "Cold Frosty Morning." On the former, I almost thought it a misprint -- the slow tune, plucked gracefully along with Koller's bass, didn't seem to have room for a brassy addition anywhere. But, of course, I was wrong; the tune accellerated, picking up percussion along the way and, by tune's end, the trumpet fit in perfectly. On the latter, harp and trumpet mesh with bass, dumbek and la caja de bomba for a jazzy, happy-go-lucky mix which quickly became one of my favorite tracks on this album.

Other Wallace originals on this album include the frosty-themed "Winter Still" and "Winter Frieze." Both mix harp with bass and percussion; "Winter Still" also gains a piano, played by Evelyne Datl. Datl is also the writer of Wallace's fragile- and mysterious-sounding harp solo, "Ice Lake."

The album includes two tunes by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz. The first, "Una vez en la montana," is a delicate piece harped over guitar and bass. The second, "Milonga para amar," uses percussion and bass to provide a kind of Latino flair not normally associated with the harp, creating a very danceable package.

Wallace has recast Jay Unger's tune "Mountain House" by splitting the melody line between her harp and Carlos del Junco's laidback harmonica. Koller, on double bass, provides the backdrop. "In the Bleak Midwinter/Midwinter Waltz" brings a traditional tune and one written by Dave Richardson together for a lovely harp and bass duet. The traditional Shetland piece, "Sleep Soon i'da Mornin'," gets new life via Wallace's lilting harp, bass and percussion arrangement.

"Winter Danse" is a set of three tunes from very different sources. The first, "'Twas in the moon of Wintertime," is listed as a traditional Huron-Canadian piece. The second, "Danse," is another Wallace original. The third, "Noel Nouvelet," is of traditional French origins. Such far-flung sources wouldn't seem like likely candidates for a single set, but Wallace did a great job putting them together.

Journey of Shadows is an excellent album to get if you like the harp and what something rooted in tradition but with a bit of a twist. Wallace delivers on both counts.