What a long, strange trip it's been for Sinead O'Connor.

Back in the late '80s, she went from dulcet-voiced Irish lass to global pop diva in a heartbeat -- then tumbled from grace almost as fast after a string of famously self-destructive spectacles.

Now, older and presumably wiser (certainly kinder and gentler), Sinead is getting back to her roots. Sean-Nos Nua (title translates as "old style but new") is a set of 13 traditional Irish ballads, elegantly reproduced and reinterpreted by O'Connor and a superb assembly of players (including the legendary Christy Moore) who paint delicately understated backdrops to these poignantly beautiful tales.

Wrapping her pure, icy crystalline vocals around the warm sounds of acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin -- and then offsetting this old-school approach with echoing, drowsy production that strikes a balance between ambient electronica and New Age -- O'Connor unveils a side you never expected to see: The approachable, vulnerable and just plain pretty side.

Just when you thought she couldn't get any stranger. (More on Sinead O'Connor)

Track Listing
1. Peggy Gordon
2. Her Mantle So Green
3. Lord Franklin
4. The Singing Bird
5. Oro, Se Do Bheatha 'Bhaile
6. Molly Malone
7. Paddy's Lament
8. The Moorlough Shore
9. The Parting Glass
10. Baidin Fheilimi
11. My Lagan Love
12. Lord Baker (with Christy Moore)
13. I'll Tell me Ma