THE angelic voice of Irish folk singer Cara Dillon can now be heard on her fourth CD 'Hill of Thieves'.
Cara, who was part of the West Devon-based band Equation in the nineties, took a career break after the premature birth of her twin sons in November 2006.
She returns creatively refreshed with her fourth CD — the first release on Charcoal Records, the label formed by Cara and her partner Sam Lakeman.
Hill Of Thieves has a significantly more acoustic sound than previous albums and also sees her returning to her roots with an outstanding collection of traditional songs.
Cara delivers some of her finest performances to date with sublime interpretations of classics such as 'The Parting Glass' and 'She Moved Through The Fair', plus a fresh sounding 'Spencer The Rover' which features Cara's brother-in-law Seth Lakeman on vocals, fiddle and tenor guitar.
Guest musicians on this release are equally outstanding and the collection of fiddles, whistle, bodhran and uilleann pipes never fail to deliver a united backing, while Sam Lakeman's guitar and piano provide the foundations for each arrangement.
Other stand-out songs include the title track, Hill Of Thieves, an original song from Cara and Sam, written about her hometown in County Derry; the little known 'Johnny, Lovely Johnny' and an unaccompanied rendition of 'Fil, Fil' in Gaelic.
Cara said she had found the production of this record much simpler than previous albums: 'Since becoming a mother to twins my time was so precious that I found my approach to recording this album changed dramatically compared with previous records. I was more focused when it came to singing and it took only a handful of takes to get the one.'
Cara's planned maternity break came much quicker than expected, when her waters broke while on stage in November 2006.
'Sam and I had planned to take a long break to prepare for the arrival of Noah and Colm but were knocked sideways by their early birth. Our whole world went into slow motion for several months while they were in hospital. It was an extremely difficult time for us all even after they were allowed to come home, but it's been such an incredible journey so far and it seems to get better and better with every step.'
Hill of Thieves will be released on January 26, 2009 via Charcoal Records.