01	Star Of The Sea						03:32
	02	Trovommi Amor						04:38
	03	Temptasyon						03:19
	04	San'c Fuy Belha Ni Prezada						01:35
	05	All For Love Of One						03:38
	06	The Lament						03:27
	07	Musa Venit Carmine						03:26
	08	Kilmeny						03:59
	09	Lhiannan Shee						02:56
	10	Umlahi						02:14
	11	Cittern Segue						00:52
	12	Return Of The Birds						03:45
	13	Tam Lin						04:24
	14	Scarborough Fayre						03:23
	15	Come My Sweet						03:20
	16	Mark Hur Var Skugga						03:42
	17	This World Fareth As A Fantasye						04:07
	18	Away						02:20

The Mediaeval Baebes

Biography by MacKenzie Wilson

The Mediaeval Baebes are one of orld music's treasures. The vocal ensemble's exquisite storybook beauty came to life in 1996 when ex-Miranda Sex Garden chanteuse Katharine Blake aimed to set her fascination with the Middle Ages to music and theater. She and 11 additional musicians and singers — Miranda Sex Garden's Teresa Casella, Audrey Evans, comic writer Marie Findley, Nicole Frobusch, Ruth Galloway, Karen Lupton, Claire Ravel, Australian native Cylindra Sapphire, Carmen Schneider, Nichole Sleet, and New Zealander Rachel Van Asch — defined a contemporary musical approach while incorporating Middle Ages Paganism and spiritual moods and sentiments. Their 1997 debut, Salva Nos, was the fastest-selling debut on Virgin's classical distributor, Venture, and became one of the most fantastic classical recordings of the year. Two years later, Worldes Blysse was released and that, too, became a success on the British charts. Third album Undrentide, which called upon production from the Velvet Underground's John Cale, was issued in fall 2000. Frobusch, Lupton, and Sleet had also left the Baebes family, and Blake's vision had scaled down to nine women. The newly downsized group kept on, scoring the music for the 2000 black comedy American Psycho. A fourth album, The Rose, followed in spring 2002. Named in honor of the Medieval symbol of love, the Baebes' linguistic wizardry was also tweaked. Aside from singing in Italian, Latin, German, Middle English, and Medieval French, the Baebes added Medieval Welsh and Russian to their musical palate. In fall 2003, the John Cale-produced and the group's first ever holiday album, Mistletoe and Wine was released, their fifth for Nettwerk. By the occasion of 2005's Mirabilis, the Baebes' lineup included Blake, Casella, Evans, Van Asch, Sapphire, Findley, and newcomers Maple Bee and Emily Ovenden. The album continued their mystical blend of ancient linguistics, folkloric tradition, and lush soundscapes.



Review by Johnny Loftus
The Mediaeval Baebes combine elements of Western European myth and folkloric tradition with linguistic fancy and overdone sensualism. An example of the latter: in photos the octet will stand at the threshold of a leafy green forest, like an artisan's glistening porcelain figurines fashioned to please the provincial lord. On the other hand they'll perform in haunting a cappella, singing in Middle English, archaic Latin and Italian, Cornish, or even Manx, a unique Gaelic dialect originally spoken on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. So the Baebes are a study in contrasts, their work running fluidly between past and present. Mirabilis continues that conversation, collecting folk ballads, pagan dance music, ancient love songs, and parcels of pure mystery. Where some earlier albums emphasized synths and worldbeat textures too much — whether as a crossover tactic or at the whim of a producer — Mirabilis is happy with its zithers and recorders, finger cymbals and glockenspiels, and above all features voice. When a keyboard does surface ("Kilmeny"), it's as a mood accompanist. Opener "Star of the Sea" feels too much like a single, its Medieval English lilt too "period film" obvious. But the Baebes are better with something like "San'c Fuy Bellha Ni Prezada," with its unadorned vocal and twining autoharp, or "Musa Venit Carmine," sung in Latin, in the round, and stippled with dynamic percussion. These selections are exuberant, even catchy, but the mystery that lies in the heart of the Mediaeval Baebes' sound is never sacrificed. "Mark Hur Var Skugga" is even better. A vocal trio harmonizes in an ancient Swedish tongue over the pluck of a zither and a violin's mournful sway; it's weird, cool, and beautiful. The ethereal "Lhiannan Shee" is another highlight — its layers of beckoning voices are like lures to a spirit world — and "Cittern Segue" is a gentle interlude played on the titular instrument, a Renaissance relic which sort of sounds like a mandolin crossed with a harpsichord.