Australian harpist Anna Louis has released a new album which includes harp arrangements of songs by The Cranberries and Sinead O’Connor, Australia’s The Echo reported yesterday.

The album, which she says has a “slightly Celtic, slightly jazz feel,” includes a mix of traditional harp pieces combined with her arrangements of rock songs.

“It is breaking the bounds of where the harp is going,” she says. “Because I use an electric harp I can get away with it.”

While there are some purists who frown upon her turn to covering rock tunes, she thinks she can win them over: “”Yeah, I’ve had a few people look down on me for doing it, but they soon come round,” she says.

She told The Echo that it’s the versatility of the electric harp that has allowed her to go beyond traditional harp pieces into experimental fields.

“Before you would be completely drowned out by the other instruments. Now I can plug it in with effects units and it is something really different and incredibly unusual,” she says.

“The new recording is completely live and was recorded in Barwon Heads… I wanted to catch the ambience of the live sound — I’m pretty proud of it,” she admits.

The album is supposed to be available from her website www.noangel.biz(which appears to be down at the moment). In the meantime, you can visit a mirror of her website here. (LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

We’ll have more on Anna Louis as we know it — hopefully with a tracklisting soon. If you know more about her new album, please let us know.

Source: The Echo (Australia)