Markéta Irglová - Muna (2014)

Muna is an album that takes the Oscar-winning singer's music further into the realm of the ethereal. If her debut Anar explored the dynamic of intimate personal relationships, the 2014 record is a document of spiritual searching. Written over the course of a year, and recorded in six months with producer/engineer Sturla Mio Thorisson, it utilizes full choral, string and percussion sections, plus guests Rob Bochnik (The Frames), Iranian daf player and vocalist Aida Shahghasemi, and Marketa's own sister Zuzi on backing vocals. All told, the album's cast-list runs to some 27 players. In keeping with the choral textures, Muna is an album of saints, angels and psalms (the Lord's Prayer makes an appearance in "Without A Map"). The songs were, admits Marketa, partly inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar."Both lyrics and music are spectacular," Marketa says of the classic musical, "and the exchanges between characters are so seamless, one forgets one is listening to a song and not a conversation. It has inspired me to write my own songs as conversations. " Muna, then, is a conversation between this beloved singer and the audience who has been devoted to her since she first charmed them in her 17-year-old debut in the film Once.