The love and care with which Catherine MacLellan and Tara MacLean have crafted “The Storm” is palpable. With a lot of Atlantic Canadians unsure of both their personal futures and the future of the places they live, the gentle duet from MacLellan and Tara MacLean offer us all a bit of solace.
Ballads seem to have become a bit uncommon these days. I think we often shy away from sincerity in our pop music and prefer music which serves to distract us from difficult emotions. Songs like the “The Storm” however, have the opportunity to bring us closer to ourselves and confront those feelings.
The family histories of both Catherine MacLellen and Tara MacLean run deep in the music traditions of Prince Edward Island. Their fathers, Gene MacLellan and Marty Reno were longstanding collaborators and touring musicians who carried red clay on their shoes every place they played. Seeing these two come together represents a generational cadence that fans of Atlantic Canadian music have been in anticipation of.
Their voices sound at home in this song format and the harmonies on the chorus are sonorous with blend that feels so natural its hard for me to imagine the two apart from one another. This is the type of togetherness they evoked in the song.
“For me, this song is about connecting. It’s a reminder to have patience and to know that in time all wounds are healed. There are moments, especially now, when we can’t be with those we love, but we can always reach out. We will find ways to be with one another, in person, virtually or spiritually,” says Catherine MacLellan, speaking of their warm and kind message that couldn’t have been better timed.
This is a song to share with your family and friends when they are in need.