by Steven McDonald
This succeeds in being perhaps the gentlest album I've reviewed in a while, mixing Sterling's work on Celtic harp with environmental sounds recorded by Richard Hooper. Along with Sterling's harp and the sound effects there's cello, synthesizer, guitar, oboe, flute, xyla, voice, tablas, bells and assorted other items. Harp Magic has a determined sweetness to it that leaves the listener in a rather pleasantly relaxed state -- not precisely an album by which to operate the ever-popular heavy machinery, I'd say. The one caveat, overall, is that the sound tends to be a little thin, lacking in the bottom end, but this isn't something that should dissuade a purchase.