To Drive the Cold Winter Away by Loreena McKennitt

To Drive the Cold Winter Away is Loreena McKennitt's second album, released in 1987. It pays homage to her childhood memories of music for the winter season, the most vivid of which "came from songs and carols recorded in churches or great halls, rich with their own unique ambience and tradition."To capture that remembered ambiance, McKennitt kept the arrangements sparse, celebrating the beauty of simplicity. She also chose to leave the found sounds of life in the performances, which were recorded on location in churches and great halls: The Church of Our Lady in Guelph, Ontario, Canada Glenstal Abbey, A Benedictine Monastery near Limerick, Ireland Annaghmakerrig (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre) in County Monaghan, Ireland