The Suite
OCEAN OF SOUND
Immersing in The Ninth Wave, Hounds Of Love’s side two opus, JIM IRVIN surfaces with pearls of wisdom.
Waving, not drowning: Bush in the ocean and (bottom inset) on-stage for Before The Dawn’s The Ninth Wave, 2014; (insets from top) Alfred Tennyson; Richard Hickox; vocal arranger Michael Berkeley.
John Carder Bush, Shutterstock (3), Getty
AH yBreasil, an eternal sanctuar y of peace waiting somewhere far west of Ireland, a group of islands invisible to the human eye but accessible “beyond the ninth wave”. One assumes that, for Celtic LL CULTURES THAT ARE SURROUNDED BY sea conjure myths about what lurks in the wilderness of water. Ancient mariners of several cultures told of “the ninth wave”, the last and most devastating of a series of large waves that can appear unexpectedly. Celtic lore speaks of sailors, this provided some comfort, so that if they did encounter the big one they might wash up on “the Blessed Isles”.