Quick tip for foreign artists struggling to maintain momentum or find a groove stateside: When in doubt, hit the creative reset button. It’s worked for artists as varied as Belle and Sebastian and Sinead O’Connor—so too does it save Irish pop-rockers the Corrs from VH1 hell (you remember, “Breathless” and its what-the-hell video staged in an airplane hangar with leering mechanics). Home is positioned as this family band’s—sisters Andrea, Caroline, and Sharon and brother Jim—tribute to their late mother as well as being an extensive sampler of slick pop songs augmented with traditional Irish ditties. Produced by Mitchell Froom and featuring the BBC Radio 2 Orchestra, Home is every inch a Starbucks Record—close your eyes and you can practically hear baristas steaming milk in the background. It’s the soundtrack to a million carpools, field trips, and dentist appointments. That isn’t to say that Home is wholly disposable, but it certainly doesn’t invite close listening. As inoffensive, competent sonic wallpaper goes, Home functions quite beautifully. Since 2004’s Borrowed Heaven came and went, apparently the Corrs’s fan base has long been clamoring for an album of Irish music (if the press materials are to be believed) and this disc should certainly sate them. The band even pulls out a pair of songs sung entirely in Gaelic (“Buachaill on Eirne” and “Brid Og Ni Mhaille”). To their credit, the Corrs avoid overly sentimental choices and don’t attempt to make this project more than it is—no “Danny Boy” or “Riverdance” covers here. Romantic, cheerful, and slightly wistful, the Corrs prove that perhaps you can go Home again.
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