Album: The Circling Hour

Band History

March '05   /  Writing for New Album Jo and Dave get together to continue writing for the next studio album. A short feature film on the Lindisfarne Gospels aired as part of the programme 'The 700 Club' on the cable channel CBN is accompanied by some of the band's music.

Troy is on tour throughout the UK with Barbara Dickson in February and some of March.

The band plays a few dates in Germany.

Dave is busy working on editing the Live DVD music and mixing the Troy and Dave 'When Worlds Collide' album.

October '05   /  New Album Tracks Quite a bit of work is done on the new studio album, with most of the drum tracks and vocals being completed in Dave and Frank's respective home studios, Troy and Dave add more of Troy's pipes and whistles and Joanne completes most of the main vocal parts - her first singing since her operation.

Jo also records vocals for a new version of the track 'Journey Into The Morn' for the new 'Songs for Luca 2' album. This features a new extended, rocky instrumental section on which Dave hopes to feature some very special guests....

January '06   /  New Album Recording Recording continues on the new album at Dave's Open Sky Studio (and in February).

Dave mixes two new pieces of music for use with the menu animations on the forthcoming 'Live In London' DVD - featuring Frank's great drum rhythm from the track 'Strength' and some improvised vocals from Jo.

Rick Wakeman contacts Dave to say that he will be playing a track from Dave's 'Veil of Gossamer' solo album on his Planet Rock radio show.

March '06   /  The Circling Hour Completed Recording is completed on 'The Circling Hour'. Dave flies to Los Angeles to work with John Kellogg (who has worked on 5.1 surround sound mixes for Chicago, Foreigner, Deep Purple, ELP, The Black Crowes and many more) on the early stages of the album mix. John brings a new clarity and directness to the sound, whilst retaining the huge dynamic range the band are known for.
July '06   /  The Circling Hour Mixed Dave and Troy fly to Los Angeles for a week to oversee the final stages of 'The Circling Hour' mix with John Kellogg.

Jo and Frank work together on material for a new solo album from Jo (Raphael's Journey) at Jo's in Ireland. Frank is arranging, recording and co-writing some tracks with Jo. Dave joins them to help on the arrangements for the songs Jo will be singing on their forthcoming 'Songs of Praise' appearance.

September '06   /  The Circling Hour Released 'The Circling Hour' Iona's first all new studio album since 2000's 'Open Sky' is finally released. The album contains a full 65 minutes of new music with a seamless blend of songs and instrumental sections, with all the band members excelling themselves in their performances. There are some truly emotive and breathtaking moments, not least the guest appearance, right at the end of the album, by Mostly Autumn singer Heather Findlay.

The band plays some dates in Switzerland.
Joanne sings two songs on BBC TV's 'Songs of Praise' - both are from Jo's solo album 'Looking into Light' ('I Ask no Dream' and 'Almighty Father'). This time she is accompanied by Troy, Frank and Dave.

January '07   /  Germany Special & The Circling Hour Publicity The year started on a positive note with a one hour IONA-Special on new years day on Radio Ems-Vechte-Welle () which broadcasts from Germany. Presenter Stephan Glück put the show together and it featured new interviews with Joanne and Dave plus lots of music.

Tim Kubit from WITR FM's Night Vision in Rochester, NY in the USA writes to let us know that The Circling Hour is included in their Top Ten Prog CD's of 2006. Tim tells us that it was in 6th position, beating some very stiff competition!

Joanne is featured on the cover of issue number 60 of Koid 9 magazine in France. The magazine features the most in depth interview Dave has ever done! See

are also featured on the cover of issue (no. 64) of Big Bang magazine in France, along with an article on the band, Circling Hour review and interview with Dave. See

Tracks from The Circling Hour album have been regularly played on the Spanish radio station Radio Enlace 107.5

Norweigian Magazine Tarkus feature a Circling Hour review in it's current issue (no. 39)

Eclipsed Magazine in Germany review The Circling Hour and include a short interview with Dave. The full interview with Dave is found in another German publication The Progressive Rock Newsletter.

History by Album:
Iona  ('90)
The Book Of Kells  ('92)
Beyond These Shores  ('93)
Journey Into The Morn  ('96)
Heaven's Bright Sun  ('97)
Woven Cord  ('99)
Open Sky  ('00)
The River Flows: Anthology Vol. 1  ('02)
Songs for Luca  ('03)
Veil of Gossamer  ('04)
Iona  ('04)
The Circling Hour  ('06)
Live In London  ('06)
Songs for Luca 2  ('07)
Live In London  ('08)
Life Journey  ('09)
Raphael's Journey  ('10)
Another Realm  ('11)