By Great Big Sea, 2005

Includes bonus DVD -- an exclusive concert and conversation with the band! The Hard and The Easy is the ninth album from Great Big Sea, the Juno-nominated band that fuses Newfoundland traditional music with modern pop in a crowd-pleasing formula both heartfelt and vital. A pure force of nature - much like the ocean surge they take their name from - Great Big Sea's blend of instruments such as guitar, mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, and concertina, along with their vocal harmonies, revels in the melodies they create and the Newfoundland tunes they love.

Their sound bellows joy. After almost thirteen years together, Great Big Sea is releasing a new kind of album, one that spans the spectrum of the Newfoundland songbook. This all-acoustic album of traditional and local songs is a first for singers and multi-instrumentalists Sean McCann, Alan Doyle, and Bob Hallett, but it's also a logical progression.

Newfoundland music and Newfoundland culture are both their genesis and their raison d'etre. A band that has made a name for itself since 1992 by updating the Celtic and, more specifically, Cape Breton tradition, Great Big Sea has long mixed poppy original tunes with traditionals goosed up to fit a more modern aesthetic. On the band's eighth album, The Hard And The Easy, the Canadians focus wholly on traditional Newfoundland folk tunes of all shapes and colors.

All the music is acoustic and most (surprise!) have a seafaring theme to them. These are tunes that band-members grew up playing at home with family and friends, and there is no pretension or airs. The band¹s sense of humor comes through on gems like country-ish "Concerning Charlie Horse" and "The Mermaid," while "Graceful & Charming" is a sentimental ballad.

The Breton tradition comes through strongest on "Harbour Le Cou" and "Tishialuk Girls Set." Adding its musicianship and excellent vocals to the Celtic continuum, Great Big Sea has come up with one for and of the ages. ­ --Tad Hendrickson

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